path: root/doc/src/cursor.rst

The ``cursor`` class
====================

.. sectionauthor:: Daniele Varrazzo <daniele.varrazzo@gmail.com>

.. testsetup:: *

    from StringIO import StringIO
    import sys

    create_test_table()

    # initial data
    cur.executemany("INSERT INTO test (num, data) VALUES (%s, %s)",
        [(100, "abc'def"), (None, 'dada'), (42, 'bar')])
    conn.commit()


.. class:: cursor

    Allows Python code to execute PostgreSQL command in a database session.
    Cursors are created by the `connection.cursor()` method: they are
    bound to the connection for the entire lifetime and all the commands are
    executed in the context of the database session wrapped by the connection.

    Cursors created from the same connection are not isolated, i.e., any
    changes done to the database by a cursor are immediately visible by the
    other cursors. Cursors created from different connections can or can not
    be isolated, depending on the connections' :ref:`isolation level
    <transactions-control>`. See also `~connection.rollback()` and
    `~connection.commit()` methods.

    Cursors are *not* thread safe: a multithread application can create
    many cursors from the same connection and should use each cursor from
    a single thread. See :ref:`thread-safety` for details.


    .. attribute:: description

        This read-only attribute is a sequence of 7-item sequences.

        Each of these sequences is a named tuple (a regular tuple if
        :func:`collections.namedtuple` is not available) containing information
        describing one result column:

        0.  `!name`: the name of the column returned.
        1.  `!type_code`: the PostgreSQL OID of the column. You can use the
            |pg_type|_ system table to get more informations about the type.
            This is the value used by Psycopg to decide what Python type use
            to represent the value.  See also
            :ref:`type-casting-from-sql-to-python`.
        2.  `!display_size`: the actual length of the column in bytes.
            Obtaining this value is computationally intensive, so it is
            always `!None` unless the :envvar:`PSYCOPG_DISPLAY_SIZE` parameter
            is set at compile time. See also PQgetlength_.
        3.  `!internal_size`: the size in bytes of the column associated to
            this column on the server. Set to a negative value for
            variable-size types See also PQfsize_.
        4.  `!precision`: total number of significant digits in columns of
            type |NUMERIC|_. `!None` for other types.
        5.  `!scale`: count of decimal digits in the fractional part in
            columns of type |NUMERIC|. `!None` for other types.
        6.  `!null_ok`: always `!None` as not easy to retrieve from the libpq.

        This attribute will be `!None` for operations that do not return rows
        or if the cursor has not had an operation invoked via the
        |execute*|_ methods yet.

        .. |pg_type| replace:: :sql:`pg_type`
        .. _pg_type: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/catalog-pg-type.html
        .. _PQgetlength: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-exec.html#LIBPQ-PQGETLENGTH
        .. _PQfsize: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-exec.html#LIBPQ-PQFSIZE
        .. _NUMERIC: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/datatype-numeric.html#DATATYPE-NUMERIC-DECIMAL
        .. |NUMERIC| replace:: :sql:`NUMERIC`

        .. versionchanged:: 2.4
            if possible, columns descriptions are named tuple instead of
            regular tuples.

    .. method:: close()

        Close the cursor now (rather than whenever `del` is executed).
        The cursor will be unusable from this point forward; an
        `~psycopg2.InterfaceError` will be raised if any operation is
        attempted with the cursor.

        .. versionchanged:: 2.5 if the cursor is used in a ``with`` statement,
            the method is automatically called at the end of the ``with``
            block.


    .. attribute:: closed

        Read-only boolean attribute: specifies if the cursor is closed
        (`!True`) or not (`!False`).

        .. extension::

            The `closed` attribute is a Psycopg extension to the
            |DBAPI|.

        .. versionadded:: 2.0.7


    .. attribute:: connection

        Read-only attribute returning a reference to the `connection`
        object on which the cursor was created.


    .. attribute:: name

        Read-only attribute containing the name of the cursor if it was
        creates as named cursor by `connection.cursor()`, or `!None` if
        it is a client side cursor.  See :ref:`server-side-cursors`.

        .. extension::

            The `name` attribute is a Psycopg extension to the |DBAPI|.


    .. attribute:: scrollable

        Read/write attribute: specifies if a named cursor is declared
        :sql:`SCROLL`, hence is capable to scroll backwards (using
        `~cursor.scroll()`). If `!True`, the cursor can be scrolled backwards,
        if `!False` it is never scrollable. If `!None` (default) the cursor
        scroll option is not specified, usually but not always meaning no
        backward scroll (see the |declare-notes|__).

        .. |declare-notes| replace:: :sql:`DECLARE` notes
        .. __: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-declare.html#SQL-DECLARE-NOTES

        .. note::

            set the value before calling `~cursor.execute()` or use the
            `connection.cursor()` *scrollable* parameter, otherwise the value
            will have no effect.

        .. versionadded:: 2.5

        .. extension::

            The `scrollable` attribute is a Psycopg extension to the |DBAPI|.


    .. attribute:: withhold

        Read/write attribute: specifies if a named cursor lifetime should
        extend outside of the current transaction, i.e., it is possible to
        fetch from the cursor even after a `connection.commit()` (but not after
        a `connection.rollback()`).  See :ref:`server-side-cursors`

        .. note::

            set the value before calling `~cursor.execute()` or use the
            `connection.cursor()` *withhold* parameter, otherwise the value
            will have no effect.

        .. versionadded:: 2.4.3

        .. extension::

            The `withhold` attribute is a Psycopg extension to the |DBAPI|.


    .. |execute*| replace:: `execute*()`

    .. _execute*:

    .. rubric:: Commands execution methods


    .. method:: execute(query, vars=None)

        Execute a database operation (query or command).

        Parameters may be provided as sequence or mapping and will be bound to
        variables in the operation.  Variables are specified either with
        positional (``%s``) or named (:samp:`%({name})s`) placeholders. See
        :ref:`query-parameters`.

        The method returns `!None`. If a query was executed, the returned
        values can be retrieved using |fetch*|_ methods.


    .. method:: executemany(query, vars_list)

        Execute a database operation (query or command) against all parameter
        tuples or mappings found in the sequence *vars_list*.

        The function is mostly useful for commands that update the database:
        any result set returned by the query is discarded.

        Parameters are bounded to the query using the same rules described in
        the `~cursor.execute()` method.

        .. warning::
            In its current implementation this method is not faster than
            executing `~cursor.execute()` in a loop. For better performance
            you can use the functions described in :ref:`fast-exec`.


    .. method:: callproc(procname [, parameters])

        Call a stored database procedure with the given name. The sequence of
        parameters must contain one entry for each argument that the procedure
        expects. Overloaded procedures are supported. Named parameters can be
        used by supplying the parameters as a dictionary.

        This function is, at present, not DBAPI-compliant. The return value is
        supposed to consist of the sequence of parameters with modified output
        and input/output parameters. In future versions, the DBAPI-compliant
        return value may be implemented, but for now the function returns None.

        The procedure may provide a result set as output. This is then made
        available through the standard |fetch*|_ methods.

        .. versionchanged:: 2.7
          added support for named arguments.

    .. method:: mogrify(operation [, parameters])

        Return a query string after arguments binding. The string returned is
        exactly the one that would be sent to the database running the
        `~cursor.execute()` method or similar.

        The returned string is always a bytes string.

            >>> cur.mogrify("INSERT INTO test (num, data) VALUES (%s, %s)", (42, 'bar'))
            "INSERT INTO test (num, data) VALUES (42, E'bar')"

        .. extension::

            The `mogrify()` method is a Psycopg extension to the |DBAPI|.

    .. method:: setinputsizes(sizes)

        This method is exposed in compliance with the |DBAPI|. It currently
        does nothing but it is safe to call it.



    .. |fetch*| replace:: `!fetch*()`

    .. _fetch*:

    .. rubric:: Results retrieval methods


    The following methods are used to read data from the database after an
    `~cursor.execute()` call.

    .. _cursor-iterable:

    .. note::

        `cursor` objects are iterable, so, instead of calling
        explicitly `~cursor.fetchone()` in a loop, the object itself can
        be used:

            >>> cur.execute("SELECT * FROM test;")
            >>> for record in cur:
            ...     print record
            ...
            (1, 100, "abc'def")
            (2, None, 'dada')
            (3, 42, 'bar')

        .. versionchanged:: 2.4
            iterating over a :ref:`named cursor <server-side-cursors>`
            fetches `~cursor.itersize` records at time from the backend.
            Previously only one record was fetched per roundtrip, resulting
            in a large overhead.

    .. method:: fetchone()

        Fetch the next row of a query result set, returning a single tuple,
        or `!None` when no more data is available:

            >>> cur.execute("SELECT * FROM test WHERE id = %s", (3,))
            >>> cur.fetchone()
            (3, 42, 'bar')

        A `~psycopg2.ProgrammingError` is raised if the previous call
        to |execute*|_ did not produce any result set or no call was issued
        yet.


    .. method:: fetchmany([size=cursor.arraysize])

        Fetch the next set of rows of a query result, returning a list of
        tuples. An empty list is returned when no more rows are available.

        The number of rows to fetch per call is specified by the parameter.
        If it is not given, the cursor's `~cursor.arraysize` determines
        the number of rows to be fetched. The method should try to fetch as
        many rows as indicated by the size parameter. If this is not possible
        due to the specified number of rows not being available, fewer rows
        may be returned:

            >>> cur.execute("SELECT * FROM test;")
            >>> cur.fetchmany(2)
            [(1, 100, "abc'def"), (2, None, 'dada')]
            >>> cur.fetchmany(2)
            [(3, 42, 'bar')]
            >>> cur.fetchmany(2)
            []

        A `~psycopg2.ProgrammingError` is raised if the previous call to
        |execute*|_ did not produce any result set or no call was issued yet.

        Note there are performance considerations involved with the size
        parameter.  For optimal performance, it is usually best to use the
        `~cursor.arraysize` attribute.  If the size parameter is used,
        then it is best for it to retain the same value from one
        `fetchmany()` call to the next.


    .. method:: fetchall()

        Fetch all (remaining) rows of a query result, returning them as a list
        of tuples.  An empty list is returned if there is no more record to
        fetch.

            >>> cur.execute("SELECT * FROM test;")
            >>> cur.fetchall()
            [(1, 100, "abc'def"), (2, None, 'dada'), (3, 42, 'bar')]

        A `~psycopg2.ProgrammingError` is raised if the previous call to
        |execute*|_ did not produce any result set or no call was issued yet.


    .. method:: scroll(value [, mode='relative'])

        Scroll the cursor in the result set to a new position according
        to mode.

        If `mode` is ``relative`` (default), value is taken as offset to
        the current position in the result set, if set to ``absolute``,
        value states an absolute target position.

        If the scroll operation would leave the result set, a
        `~psycopg2.ProgrammingError` is raised and the cursor position is
        not changed.

        .. note::

            According to the |DBAPI|_, the exception raised for a cursor out
            of bound should have been `!IndexError`.  The best option is
            probably to catch both exceptions in your code::

                try:
                    cur.scroll(1000 * 1000)
                except (ProgrammingError, IndexError), exc:
                    deal_with_it(exc)

        The method can be used both for client-side cursors and
        :ref:`server-side cursors <server-side-cursors>`. Server-side cursors
        can usually scroll backwards only if declared `~cursor.scrollable`.
        Moving out-of-bound in a server-side cursor doesn't result in an
        exception, if the backend doesn't raise any (Postgres doesn't tell us
        in a reliable way if we went out of bound).


    .. attribute:: arraysize

        This read/write attribute specifies the number of rows to fetch at a
        time with `~cursor.fetchmany()`. It defaults to 1 meaning to fetch
        a single row at a time.


    .. attribute:: itersize

        Read/write attribute specifying the number of rows to fetch from the
        backend at each network roundtrip during :ref:`iteration
        <cursor-iterable>` on a :ref:`named cursor <server-side-cursors>`. The
        default is 2000.

        .. versionadded:: 2.4

        .. extension::

            The `itersize` attribute is a Psycopg extension to the |DBAPI|.


    .. attribute:: rowcount

        This read-only attribute specifies the number of rows that the last
        |execute*|_ produced (for :abbr:`DQL (Data Query Language)` statements
        like :sql:`SELECT`) or affected (for
        :abbr:`DML (Data Manipulation Language)` statements like :sql:`UPDATE`
        or :sql:`INSERT`).

        The attribute is -1 in case no |execute*| has been performed on
        the cursor or the row count of the last operation if it can't be
        determined by the interface.

        .. note::
            The |DBAPI|_ interface reserves to redefine the latter case to
            have the object return `!None` instead of -1 in future versions
            of the specification.


    .. attribute:: rownumber

        This read-only attribute provides the current 0-based index of the
        cursor in the result set or `!None` if the index cannot be
        determined.

        The index can be seen as index of the cursor in a sequence (the result
        set). The next fetch operation will fetch the row indexed by
        `rownumber` in that sequence.


    .. index:: oid

    .. attribute:: lastrowid

        This read-only attribute provides the OID of the last row inserted
        by the cursor. If the table wasn't created with OID support or the
        last operation is not a single record insert, the attribute is set to
        `!None`.

        .. note::

            PostgreSQL currently advices to not create OIDs on the tables and
            the default for |CREATE-TABLE|__ is to not support them. The
            |INSERT-RETURNING|__ syntax available from PostgreSQL 8.3 allows
            more flexibility.

        .. |CREATE-TABLE| replace:: :sql:`CREATE TABLE`
        .. __: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-createtable.html

        .. |INSERT-RETURNING| replace:: :sql:`INSERT ... RETURNING`
        .. __: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-insert.html


    .. attribute:: query

        Read-only attribute containing the body of the last query sent to the
        backend (including bound arguments) as bytes string. `!None` if no
        query has been executed yet:

            >>> cur.execute("INSERT INTO test (num, data) VALUES (%s, %s)", (42, 'bar'))
            >>> cur.query
            "INSERT INTO test (num, data) VALUES (42, E'bar')"

        .. extension::

            The `query` attribute is a Psycopg extension to the |DBAPI|.


    .. attribute:: statusmessage

        Read-only attribute containing the message returned by the last
        command:

            >>> cur.execute("INSERT INTO test (num, data) VALUES (%s, %s)", (42, 'bar'))
            >>> cur.statusmessage
            'INSERT 0 1'

        .. extension::

            The `statusmessage` attribute is a Psycopg extension to the
            |DBAPI|.


    .. method:: cast(oid, s)

        Convert a value from the PostgreSQL string representation to a Python
        object.

        Use the most specific of the typecasters registered by
        `~psycopg2.extensions.register_type()`.

        .. versionadded:: 2.4

        .. extension::

            The `cast()` method is a Psycopg extension to the |DBAPI|.


    .. attribute:: tzinfo_factory

        The time zone factory used to handle data types such as
        :sql:`TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE`.  It should be a `~datetime.tzinfo`
        object.  A few implementations are available in the `psycopg2.tz`
        module.


    .. method:: nextset()

        This method is not supported (PostgreSQL does not have multiple data
        sets) and will raise a `~psycopg2.NotSupportedError` exception.


    .. method:: setoutputsize(size [, column])

        This method is exposed in compliance with the |DBAPI|. It currently
        does nothing but it is safe to call it.



    .. rubric:: COPY-related methods

    Efficiently copy data from file-like objects to the database and back. See
    :ref:`copy` for an overview.

    .. extension::

        The :sql:`COPY` command is a PostgreSQL extension to the SQL standard.
        As such, its support is a Psycopg extension to the |DBAPI|.

    .. method:: copy_from(file, table, sep='\\t', null='\\\\N', size=8192, columns=None)

        Read data *from* the file-like object *file* appending them to
        the table named *table*.

        :param file: file-like object to read data from.  It must have both
            `!read()` and `!readline()` methods.
        :param table: name of the table to copy data into.
        :param sep: columns separator expected in the file. Defaults to a tab.
        :param null: textual representation of :sql:`NULL` in the file.
            The default is the two characters string ``\N``.
        :param size: size of the buffer used to read from the file.
        :param columns: iterable with name of the columns to import.
            The length and types should match the content of the file to read.
            If not specified, it is assumed that the entire table matches the
            file structure.

        Example::

            >>> f = StringIO("42\tfoo\n74\tbar\n")
            >>> cur.copy_from(f, 'test', columns=('num', 'data'))
            >>> cur.execute("select * from test where id > 5;")
            >>> cur.fetchall()
            [(6, 42, 'foo'), (7, 74, 'bar')]

        .. note:: the name of the table is not quoted: if the table name
            contains uppercase letters or special characters it must be quoted
            with double quotes::

                cur.copy_from(f, '"TABLE"')


        .. versionchanged:: 2.0.6
            added the *columns* parameter.

        .. versionchanged:: 2.4
            data read from files implementing the `io.TextIOBase` interface
            are encoded in the connection `~connection.encoding` when sent to
            the backend.

    .. method:: copy_to(file, table, sep='\\t', null='\\\\N', columns=None)

        Write the content of the table named *table* *to* the file-like
        object *file*.  See :ref:`copy` for an overview.

        :param file: file-like object to write data into.  It must have a
            `!write()` method.
        :param table: name of the table to copy data from.
        :param sep: columns separator expected in the file. Defaults to a tab.
        :param null: textual representation of :sql:`NULL` in the file.
            The default is the two characters string ``\N``.
        :param columns: iterable with name of the columns to export.
            If not specified, export all the columns.

        Example::

            >>> cur.copy_to(sys.stdout, 'test', sep="|")
            1|100|abc'def
            2|\N|dada
            ...

        .. note:: the name of the table is not quoted: if the table name
            contains uppercase letters or special characters it must be quoted
            with double quotes::

                cur.copy_to(f, '"TABLE"')

        .. versionchanged:: 2.0.6
            added the *columns* parameter.

        .. versionchanged:: 2.4
            data sent to files implementing the `io.TextIOBase` interface
            are decoded in the connection `~connection.encoding` when read
            from the backend.


    .. method:: copy_expert(sql, file, size=8192)

        Submit a user-composed :sql:`COPY` statement. The method is useful to
        handle all the parameters that PostgreSQL makes available (see
        |COPY|__ command documentation).

        :param sql: the :sql:`COPY` statement to execute.
        :param file: a file-like object to read or write (according to *sql*).
        :param size: size of the read buffer to be used in :sql:`COPY FROM`.

        The *sql* statement should be in the form :samp:`COPY {table} TO
        STDOUT` to export :samp:`{table}` to the *file* object passed as
        argument or :samp:`COPY {table} FROM STDIN` to import the content of
        the *file* object into :samp:`{table}`. If you need to compose a
        :sql:`COPY` statement dynamically (because table, fields, or query
        parameters are in Python variables) you may use the objects provided
        by the `psycopg2.sql` module.

        *file* must be a readable file-like object (as required by
        `~cursor.copy_from()`) for *sql* statement :sql:`COPY ... FROM STDIN`
        or a writable one (as required by `~cursor.copy_to()`) for :sql:`COPY
        ... TO STDOUT`.

        Example:

            >>> cur.copy_expert("COPY test TO STDOUT WITH CSV HEADER", sys.stdout)
            id,num,data
            1,100,abc'def
            2,,dada
            ...

        .. |COPY| replace:: :sql:`COPY`
        .. __: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-copy.html

        .. versionadded:: 2.0.6

        .. versionchanged:: 2.4
            files implementing the `io.TextIOBase` interface are dealt with
            using Unicode data instead of bytes.


.. testcode::
    :hide:

    conn.rollback()