---
title: "MariaDB Connector/Python Beta Now Available"
publish_date: 2020-02-18
updated_date: 2022-08-26
author: "Rob Hedgpeth"
channel:
  - name: "Developer"
    url: "/resources/blog/channel/developer.md"
tags:
  - name: "Connector"
    url: "/resources/blog/tag/connector.md"
  - name: "Enterprise Server"
    url: "/resources/blog/tag/enterprise-server.md"
  - name: "MariaDB"
    url: "/resources/blog/tag/mariadb.md"
  - name: "Python"
    url: "/resources/blog/tag/python.md"
---

# MariaDB Connector/Python Beta Now Available

Python, an interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language, has been increasing in popularity over the past several years. First released in 1991, [Python](https://www.python.org/) is now in its third major version.

Developers have an affinity for the language for a variety of reasons including its high level of readability and a plethora of features that allow completing complex tasks with relative ease. According to the [Stack Overflow Developer Survey for 2019](https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019), Python has positioned itself within the top five most popular programming languages and is the second most loved language (behind Rust) among developers.

### Introducing Connector/Python

[MariaDB](https://staging-mdb.com/) is pleased to announce the immediate availability of [MariaDB Connector/Python](https://staging-mdb.com/docs/develop/connector-python/) beta! Connector/Python enables Python programs to access MariaDB databases using an API that is compliant with the Python DB API 2.0 (PEP-249). To optimize for performance, the new connector is written in C and leverages the MariaDB Connector/C client library for client-server communication.

Why a new client? Although there are existing clients that can be used to communicate with MariaDB, the motivation behind creating the MariaDB Python Connector is to provide a lightweight, very fast client that supports all MariaDB features beyond what MySQL offers.

### Getting started

To begin using Connector/Python, you must fulfill the following prerequisites:

- Install Python 3 (minimum supported version is 3.6)
- Access a MariaDB 10.x instance
- Install MariaDB Connector/C version 3.1.5 or newer

Once you’ve met the prerequisites, you’re ready to install the connector using:

```
$ pip3 install --pre mariadb
```

With Connector/Python installed, you can now use it within your Python code. Get started by creating a new Python file called “example.py” in a location of your choice.

Open the file and add the following to the first line to enable the usage of the connector:

```
import mariadb
```

Add the configuration values for the MariaDB database instance that you want to connect to.

```
config = {
    'host': 'localhost',
    'user': 'root',
    'password': 'secret',
}

```

You’ll be able to use that configuration to connect to MariaDB using `mariadb.connect`:

```
conn = mariadb.connect(**config)
```

To execute queries, you need a cursor based on the connection:

```
 cur = conn.cursor()
```

And you can close the connection when you’re done with it:

```
conn.close()
```

To bring everything together, the following script connects to a local database and executes a few queries. See [our documentation](https://staging-mdb.com/docs/develop/connector-python/) for more information on queries.

```
import sys
import mariadb

config = {
    'host': 'localhost',
    'user': 'root',
    'password': 'secret',
}
 
try:
    conn = mariadb.connect(**config, database='test')
except mariadb.Error as err:
    print(err, file=sys.stderr)
    sys.exit(1)

cur = conn.cursor()

cur.execute("SHOW TABLES")
for (tbl,) in cur.fetchall(): # pre-fetch all data to free up the cursor
    print("\n===", tbl, "===\n")
    cur.execute(f"SELECT * FROM `{tbl}`")
    print([x[0] for x in cur.description]) # print field names (as a list)
    for row in cur: # using an iterator minimizes the memory used
        print(row) # print every row in this table (each as a tuple)

cur.execute("INSERT INTO sample VALUES (?, ?, ?)",
    (1, "A 'string' with single quotes.", '2020-01-01'))

conn.close()

```

Save the changes, open a terminal window, navigate to the location of “example.py” and run:

```
$ python3 example.py
```

### What’s next

As this release of MariaDB Connector/Python is beta, we do not recommend using it in production.

Connector/Python is in active development and we anticipate releasing updates soon, so stay tuned! If you have questions, encounter issues, or would like to contribute to the development of Connector/Python you, can find the [source code on GitHub](https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-connector-python). Documentation for [MariaDB Connector/Python](https://staging-mdb.com/docs/develop/connector-python/) is available in MariaDB Enterprise Documentation.