Build a PostgreSQL INSERT … ON CONFLICT statement and upsert a DataFrame

postgresql_df_upsert.py

# version 1.2 - 2022-10-04
import pandas as pd
import sqlalchemy as sa


def df_upsert(data_frame, table_name, engine, schema=None, match_columns=None):
    """
    Perform an "upsert" on a PostgreSQL table from a DataFrame.

    Constructs an INSERT … ON CONFLICT statement, uploads the DataFrame to a
    temporary table, and then executes the INSERT.

    Parameters
    ----------
    data_frame : pandas.DataFrame
        The DataFrame to be upserted.
    table_name : str
        The name of the target table.
    engine : sqlalchemy.engine.Engine
        The SQLAlchemy Engine to use.
    schema : str, optional
        The name of the schema containing the target table.
    match_columns : list of str, optional
        A list of the column name(s) on which to match. If omitted, the
        primary key columns of the target table will be used.
    """
    table_spec = ""
    if schema:
        table_spec += '"' + schema.replace('"', '""') + '".'
    table_spec += '"' + table_name.replace('"', '""') + '"'

    df_columns = list(data_frame.columns)
    if not match_columns:
        insp = sa.inspect(engine)
        match_columns = insp.get_pk_constraint(table_name, schema=schema)[
            "constrained_columns"
        ]
    columns_to_update = [col for col in df_columns if col not in match_columns]
    insert_col_list = ", ".join([f'"{col_name}"' for col_name in df_columns])
    stmt = f"INSERT INTO {table_spec} ({insert_col_list})\n"
    stmt += f"SELECT {insert_col_list} FROM temp_table\n"
    match_col_list = ", ".join([f'"{col}"' for col in match_columns])
    stmt += f"ON CONFLICT ({match_col_list}) DO UPDATE SET\n"
    stmt += ", ".join(
        [f'"{col}" = EXCLUDED."{col}"' for col in columns_to_update]
    )

    with engine.begin() as conn:
        conn.exec_driver_sql("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS temp_table")
        conn.exec_driver_sql(
            f"CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE temp_table AS SELECT * FROM {table_spec} WHERE false"
        )
        data_frame.to_sql("temp_table", conn, if_exists="append", index=False)
        conn.exec_driver_sql(stmt)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Usage example adapted from
    # https://stackoverflow.com/a/62379384/2144390

    engine = sa.create_engine("postgresql://scott:tiger@192.168.0.199/test")

    # create example environment
    with engine.begin() as conn:
        conn.exec_driver_sql("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS main_table")
        conn.exec_driver_sql(
            "CREATE TABLE main_table (id int primary key, txt varchar(50), status varchar(50))"
        )
        conn.exec_driver_sql(
            "INSERT INTO main_table (id, txt, status) VALUES (1, 'row 1 old text', 'original')"
        )
        # [(1, 'row 1 old text', 'original')]

    # DataFrame to upsert
    df = pd.DataFrame(
        [(2, "new row 2 text", "upserted"), (1, "row 1 new text", "upserted")],
        columns=["id", "txt", "status"],
    )

    df_upsert(df, "main_table", engine)
    """The INSERT statement generated for this example:

    INSERT INTO "main_table" ("id", "txt", "status")
    SELECT "id", "txt", "status" FROM temp_table
    ON CONFLICT ("id") DO UPDATE SET
    "txt" = EXCLUDED."txt", "status" = EXCLUDED."status"

    """

    # check results
    with engine.begin() as conn:
        print(
            conn.exec_driver_sql("SELECT * FROM main_table").all()
        )
        # [(2, 'new row 2 text', 'upserted'), (1, 'row 1 new text', 'upserted')]

This was incredibly helpful to me, thank you!

I added this between row 48 & 49 to make life a little easier:

    conn.exec_driver_sql(
        f"DROP TABLE IF EXISTS temp_table"
    )

Thanks for the suggestion, @jaketclarke . Glad you found this helpful!

Thank you for putting this online!

Thanks for publishing this, @gordthompson !

I was running a bunch of concurrent upserts that would conflict with one another due to the single temp table name, so I created a version that adds a random string to the end of the temp table name:
https://gist.github.com/jackiep00/50eced6d1b63ac37e6841e1307007ef8

I'm not sure how to do a PR with gists, or else I woulda done that...

Snagged a copy from @jackiep00 as it suits my needs a bit better for volume sake however, @gordthompson Thank you! Both of you!!! I was thinking how to do this but you hero's just made my life much easier! Thank you!

Thank you so much!

worked so well
Thank you !