Python SQL Server: Import Data from a CSV file into a Table

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to import data from a CSV file into a table from a Python program.

This tutorial begins where the insert data into an SQL Server table from a Python program tutorial left off.

Preparing a CSV file #

Step 1. Create a new directory in the project directory called data.

Step 2. Copy the following authors.csv file that contains author data for the data directory:

The authors.csv file has three columns including first name, last name, and birth date:

First Name,Last Name,Birth Date
Robin,Calderon,1977-06-12
David,Hunter,1983-08-01
Craig,Hart,1991-12-13
...

Reading data from a CSV file #

Step 1. Create a new module called utils.py.

Step 2. Define a function read_csv that reads data from a CSV file specified by a file name and returns a tuple:

import csv
        
def read_csv(filename:str) -> tuple:
    with open(filename, 'r') as f:
        reader = csv.reader(f)
        next(reader)  # skip the header
        return [tuple(row) for row in reader]

How it works.

First, open the CSV file:

with open(filename, 'r') as f:

Second, the CSV file line by line:

reader = csv.reader(f)

Third, skip the header:

next(reader)  # skip the header

Finally, convert each line into a tuple before returning all the lines as a list of tuples.

return [tuple(row) for row in reader]

Import data into a table #

Step 1. Create a new module import_author.py within the project directory:

Step 2. Define import_author_from_csv function to import data from a CSV file and insert each line into the Authors table:

from insert import insert_author
from utils import read_csv

def import_author_from_csv(filename: str) -> None:
    authors = read_csv(filename)
    for author in authors:
        insert_author(*author)

How it works.

First, import the insert function from the insert_author module and read_csv function from the utils module:

from insert import insert_author
from utils import read_csv

Second, read data from the CSV file specified by the filename using the read_csv function:

authors = read_csv(filename)

The read_csv function returns a list of tuples, each containing the author’s first name, last name, and birth date.

Third, insert each author into the Authors table by calling the insert_author function:

for author in authors:
    insert_author(*author)

Step 3. Modify the main.py file to use the import_author_from_csv function to import data from the ./data/authors.csv into the Authors table:

import logging, sys
from import_author import import_author_from_csv 

# config logging to console
logging.basicConfig(
    stream=sys.stdout, 
    encoding='utf-8', 
    format='%(levelname)s:%(message)s',
    level=logging.DEBUG
)

# import data from csv file
import_author_from_csv('./data/authors.csv')

Step 4. Open your terminal and execute the main.py file:

python main.py

Step 5. Verify the import

Open the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), connect to the SQL Server, and execute the following query:

SELECT * FROM Authors;

Output:

Download the project source code #

Download the project source code

Summary #

Use the csv module to read data from a CSV file
Execute the INSERT statement to insert each line of the CSV file into a table.

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