Connect and run SQL queries to a PostgreSQL database from Python

Summary

Connecting to PostgreSQL databases from Python provides the ability to run essential SQL queries that can be utilized in geoprocessing tasks.

Procedure

1. Download and install the appropriate psycopg2 module for the installed Python release (for example, Python 2.6, 2.7, etc.):
   

   
   http://www.stickpeople.com/projects/python/win-psycopg/

   
   
2. Import the module in the Python script:
   
   

   import psycopg2

   
   
3. Make a connection to a PostgreSQL database by passing in the appropriate user/password to the following connection string:
   
   

   connection = psycopg2.connect(host='prod', database='sde', user='sde', password='sde')

   
   
4. Define a parameter to access the cursor method:
   
   

   cursor = connection.cursor()

   
   
5. Create a query string and pass to cursor method:
   
   

   cursor.execute('select * from PARCELS WHERE OBJECTID < 70000')

   
   
6. Create a for loop and print results
   
   

   for query in cursor:
       print str(query)