How to Import Dataset in Python

While working in python programs, sometimes we need dataset for data analysis. Python has various modules that help us in importing the external data in various file formats to a python program. In this article, we will see how to import data of various formats to a python program.

• Import CSV file
• Read Excel File
• Read Text File
• Read SQL Table

In this article we will be using pandas. pandas is a powerful data analysis package. It makes data exploration and manipulation easy. It has several functions to read data from various sources. If pandas is not installed in your system, use the following command to install pandas

pip install pandas

Import CSV file

The csv module enables to read each of the row in the file using a comma as a delimiter.

import csv

with open("Students.csv", 'r') as file:
	rows = csv.reader(file, delimiter = ',')
	for r in rows:
		print(r)

Output:

['Name', 'Age', 'Grade']
['ABEL', '20', 'A']
['BINDU', '21', 'A']
['CHRISTY', '20', 'A']
['YOUSUF', '21', 'A']
['KRISHNA', '20', 'A']

Read Excel File

The read_excel() function in pandas library can be used to import excel data into Python.

import pandas as pd 

ds = pd.read_excel("Students.xlsx")

print(ds)

Output:

      Name  Age Grade
0     ABEL   20     A
1    BINDU   21     A
2  CHRISTY   20     A
3   YOUSUF   21     A
4  KRISHNA   20     A

Read Text File

The read_table() function is used to pull data from text file.

import pandas as pd 

ds = pd.read_table("Students.txt")
print(ds)

Output:

      Name  Age Grade
0     ABEL   20     A
1    BINDU   21     A
2  CHRISTY   20     A
3   YOUSUF   21     A
4  KRISHNA   20     A

Read SQL Table

Using pyodb module, we can connect to database servers. This will help us import data from relational sources using a sql query

import pyodbc

sql_conn = pyodbc.connect("Driver={SQL Server};Server=serverName;UID=UserName;PWD=Password;Database=sqldb;")
data_sql = pd.read_sql_query('SQL QUERY', sql_conn)
data_sql.head()

You have to provide valid information like driver details, server, username, password, database in the above piece of code. By passing the required query in the ‘SQL QUERY’ , you will get the corresponding output.