Records: SQL for Humans™

Records is a very simple, but powerful, library for making raw SQL queries to most relational databases.

Just write SQL. No bells, no whistles. This common task can be surprisingly difficult with the standard tools available. This library strives to make this workflow as simple as possible, while providing an elegant interface to work with your query results.

Database support includes Postgres, MySQL, SQLite, Oracle, and MS-SQL (drivers not included).

☤ The Basics

We know how to write SQL, so let's send some to our database:

import records

db = records.Database('postgres://...')
rows = db.query('select * from active_users')    # or db.query_file('sqls/active-users.sql')

Grab one row at a time:

>>> rows[0]
<Record {"username": "model-t", "active": true, "name": "Henry Ford", "user_email": "[email protected]", "timezone": "2016-02-06 22:28:23.894202"}>

Or iterate over them:

for r in rows:
    print(r.name, r.user_email)

Values can be accessed many ways: row.user_email, row['user_email'], or row[3].

Fields with non-alphanumeric characters (like spaces) are also fully supported.

Or store a copy of your record collection for later reference:

>>> rows.all()
[<Record {"username": ...}>, <Record {"username": ...}>, <Record {"username": ...}>, ...]

If you're only expecting one result:

>>> rows.first()
<Record {"username": ...}>

Other options include rows.as_dict() and rows.as_dict(ordered=True).

☤ Features

• Iterated rows are cached for future reference.
• $DATABASE_URL environment variable support.
• Convenience Database.get_table_names method.
• Command-line records tool for exporting queries.
• Safe parameterization: Database.query('life=:everything', everything=42)
• Queries can be passed as strings or filenames, parameters supported.
• Transactions: t = Database.transaction(); t.commit()

Records is proudly powered by SQLAlchemy and Tablib.

☤ Data Export Functionality

Records also features full Tablib integration, and allows you to export your results to CSV, XLS, JSON, HTML Tables, or YAML with a single line of code. Excellent for sharing data with friends, or generating reports.

>>> print(rows.dataset)
username|active|name      |user_email       |timezone
--------|------|----------|-----------------|--------------------------
model-t |True  |Henry Ford|[email protected]|2016-02-06 22:28:23.894202
...

Comma Separated Values (CSV)

>>> print(rows.export('csv'))
username,active,name,user_email,timezone
model-t,True,Henry Ford,[email protected],2016-02-06 22:28:23.894202
...

YAML Ain't Markup Language (YAML)

>>> print(rows.export('yaml'))
- {active: true, name: Henry Ford, timezone: '2016-02-06 22:28:23.894202', user_email: model-t@gmail.com, username: model-t}
...

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

>>> print(rows.export('json'))
[{"username": "model-t", "active": true, "name": "Henry Ford", "user_email": "[email protected]", "timezone": "2016-02-06 22:28:23.894202"}, ...]

Microsoft Excel (xls, xlsx)

with open('report.xls', 'wb') as f:
    f.write(rows.export('xls'))

You get the point. All other features of Tablib are also available, so you can sort results, add/remove columns/rows, remove duplicates, transpose the table, add separators, slice data by column, and more.

See the Tablib Documentation for more details.

☤ Installation

Of course, the recommended installation method is pip:

$ pip install records
✨🍰✨

☤ Command-Line Tool

As an added bonus, a records command-line tool is automatically included. Here's a screenshot of the usage information:

☤ Thank You

Thanks for checking this library out! I hope you find it useful.

Of course, there's always room for improvement. Feel free to open an issue so we can make Records better, stronger, faster.