python Pyodbc, cant create a field named “Date” in the table

Question

The problem is that I can't create a field named Date (I think because its a type) Any ideas how to do that?

from pyodbc import connect
# database connect
conn = connect('DRIVER={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};DBQ=test.mdb')
cursor = conn.cursor()
# sql query execute
query = "create table MyTable(name varchar(30), age integer , Date date)"
cursor.execute(query)
# commit changes             
conn.commit()
conn.close()

Error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "\Path\to\myscript\test.py", line 9, in <module>
    cursor.execute(query)
ProgrammingError: ('42000', '[42000] [Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] Syntax error in field definition. (-3553) (SQLExecDirectW)')

Environment: Windows 7 64bit, Python 2.7 pyodbc-3.0.6.win-amd64-py2.7

Answer 1

DATE is a reserved word in Access (and other software).

Try wrapping the Date column name with square brackets [] , or better yet, come up with a different column name.

...
query = "create table MyTable(name varchar(30), age integer , [Date] date)"
...

Answer 2

Surround the name in backticks the ` symbol. But, I would highly suggest changing the name to something else to prevent typos from happening.

Answer 3

You're right, you can't create a column with the same name as type. Some RDBMS's will allow you to do this if you quote it, ie " ..age integer, "Date" date) " (or as others have said, backticks or square brackets) but then you have to quote it in all your queries as well. Better to avoid that.

Note that this isn't a python problem, it's a problem with the database server (which appears to be MS Access). (And to be accurate, it's not a problem with the database server, that's just how it works. It just has nothing to do with python.)