Inserting a Python datetime.datetime object into MySQL

Question

I have a date column in a MySQL table. I want to insert a datetime.datetime() object into this column. What should I be using in the execute statement?

Answer 1

If you're just using a python datetime.date (not a full datetime.datetime), just cast the date as a string. This is very simple and works for me (mysql, python 2.7, Ubuntu). The column published_date is a MySQL date field, the python variable publish_date is datetime.date.

# make the record for the passed link info
sql_stmt = "INSERT INTO snippet_links (" + \
    "link_headline, link_url, published_date, author, source, coco_id, link_id)" + \
    "VALUES(%s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s) ;"

sql_data = ( title, link, str(publish_date), \
             author, posted_by, \
             str(coco_id), str(link_id) )

try:
    dbc.execute(sql_stmt, sql_data )
except Exception, e:
    ...

Answer 2

For a time field, use:

import time    
time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')

I think strftime also applies to datetime.

Answer 3

when iserting into t-sql

this fails:

select CONVERT(datetime,'2019-09-13 09:04:35.823312',21)

this works:

select CONVERT(datetime,'2019-09-13 09:04:35.823',21)

easy way:

regexp = re.compile(r'\.(\d{6})')
def to_splunk_iso(dt):
    """Converts the datetime object to Splunk isoformat string."""
    # 6-digits string.
    microseconds = regexp.search(dt).group(1)
    return regexp.sub('.%d' % round(float(microseconds) / 1000), dt)

Answer 4

You are most likely getting the TypeError because you need quotes around the datecolumn value.

Try:

now = datetime.datetime(2009, 5, 5)

cursor.execute("INSERT INTO table (name, id, datecolumn) VALUES (%s, %s, '%s')",
               ("name", 4, now))

With regards to the format, I had success with the above command (which includes the milliseconds) and with:

now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

What database are you connecting to? I know Oracle can be picky about date formats and likes ISO 8601 format.

**Note: Oops, I just read you are on MySQL. Just format the date and try it as a separate direct SQL call to test.

In Python, you can get an ISO date like

now.isoformat()

For instance, Oracle likes dates like

insert into x values(99, '31-may-09');

Depending on your database, if it is Oracle you might need to TO_DATE it:

insert into x
values(99, to_date('2009/05/31:12:00:00AM', 'yyyy/mm/dd:hh:mi:ssam'));

The general usage of TO_DATE is:

TO_DATE(<string>, '<format>')

If using another database (I saw the cursor and thought Oracle; I could be wrong) then check their date format tools. For MySQL it is DATE_FORMAT() and SQL Server it is CONVERT.

Also using a tool like SQLAlchemy will remove differences like these and make your life easy.

Answer 6

Try using now.date() to get a Date object rather than a DateTime.

If that doesn't work, then converting that to a string should work:

now = datetime.datetime(2009,5,5)
str_now = now.date().isoformat()
cursor.execute('INSERT INTO table (name, id, datecolumn) VALUES (%s,%s,%s)', ('name',4,str_now))