How to insert NULL value in SQLAlchemy?

Last Updated : 28 Jan, 2022

In this article, we will see how to insert NULL values into a PostgreSQL database using SQLAlchemy in Python.

For demonstration purposes first, let us create a sample table using SQLAlchemy as shown below

Creating a table using SQLAlchmey in PostgreSQL:

Import necessary functions from SQLAlchemy package.
Establish connection with the PostgreSQL database using create_engine() function as shown below
Create a table called book_publisher with columns publisher_id, publisher_name, and publisher_estd
Insert record into the tables using insert() and values() function as shown.

Syntax: engine = create_engine(dialect+driver://username:password@host:port/database_name)

Python3

# import necessary packages
from sqlalchemy import create_engine,/
MetaData, Table, Column, Integer, String

# establish connection
engine = create_engine(
    "database+dialect://username:password@hostname:port/database_name")

# store engine objects
meta = MetaData()

# create a table
book_publisher = Table(
    'book_publisher', meta,
    Column('publisherId', Integer, primary_key=True),
    Column('publisherName', String),
    Column('publisherEstd', Integer),
)

# use create_all() function to create a
# table using objects stored in meta.
meta.create_all(engine)

# insert values
statement1 = book_publisher.insert().values(
    publisherId=1, publisherName="Oxford", publisherEstd=1900)
statement2 = book_publisher.insert().values(
    publisherId=2, publisherName='Stanford', publisherEstd=1910)
statement3 = book_publisher.insert().values(
    publisherId=3, publisherName="MIT", publisherEstd=1920)
statement4 = book_publisher.insert().values(
    publisherId=4, publisherName="Springer", publisherEstd=1930)
statement5 = book_publisher.insert().values(
    publisherId=5, publisherName="Packt", publisherEstd=1940)

engine.execute(statement1)
engine.execute(statement2)
engine.execute(statement3)
engine.execute(statement4)
engine.execute(statement5)

Output:

Inserting NULL values using SQLAlchemy in PostgreSQL

Let us use the same insert() and values() function to insert NULL values. In python NULL equivalent is None. So, specify None for the records which you wish to insert as NULL values as shown below.

Python3

# specify null values as NONE
statement6 = book_publisher.insert().values(
    publisherId=6, publisherName=None, publisherEstd=None)

# insert the null values
engine.execute(statement6)

Output:

You can see a new record inserted into row 6.

Fetching the above results using python shell

Here we are going to fetch the results using fetchall() methods.

Python3

# Get the `book_publisher` table from the
# Metadata object
import sqlalchemy

book_publisher = meta.tables['book_publisher']

# SQLAlchemy Query to fetch all records
query = sqlalchemy.select([
    book_publisher])


# Fetch all the records
result = engine.execute(query).fetchall()

# View the records
for record in result:
    print("\n", record)