Run queries

Enable the Database Tools and SQL plugin

This functionality relies on the Database Tools and SQL plugin, which is bundled and enabled in PyCharm by default. If the relevant features are not available, make sure that you did not disable the plugin.

Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open settings and then select Plugins.
Open the Installed tab, find the Database Tools and SQL plugin, and select the checkbox next to the plugin name.

You can run your code by using shortcuts, toolbar buttons and icons, a context menu, and run/debug configurations. You can run a query from query consoles, scratch files, and user files.

For more information about where and how to view query results, refer to Query results.

Run statements and procedures

Run statements in a query console

You can relate to a query console as to a terminal where you type and run your code.

In the Database tool window ( View | Tool Windows | Database) , click the data source.
Press F4 to open a query console. For more information about working with consoles, refer to Work with consoles.
Type or paste the statement that you want to execute.
Click the Execute button () on the toolbar. Alternatively, press Ctrl+Enter.
If you have several statements, select whether you want to execute all statements or a single statement. The suggestion list always contains an item for running all the statements.

Run statements from an open file

In PyCharm, you can open and run a file. The limitation for the file size is 20 MB. When you open a file that is larger than 20 MB, you see only first 2.5 MB of the file. The file should be associated with the SQL file type. For more information about file type associations, refer to the File type associations topic.

Open the Project tool window ( View | Tool Windows | Project) and double-click an SQL file.
For more information about attaching directories and files in PyCharm, refer to User files.
Click the statement that you want to execute.
Also, you can select (highlight) the fragment of code that you want to execute. It can be a subquery or a group of statements. PyCharm executes only the selection.
Click the Execute button () on the toolbar. Alternatively, press Ctrl+Enter.
To customize query execution settings, click the Customize link. Alternatively, open settings by pressing Ctrl+Alt+S and navigate to Tools | Database | Query Execution. .
(Optional) If the SQL file is not attached to a data source, select the data source that you want to attach it to in the <data source> list.
In the Statements window, press Enter to run the selected statement. You can switch between other entries to run another set of statements. Statements that you are going to execute are highlighted in a query editor.
In the Statements window, you can click Customize to define whether you want to see the chooser or always run the statement under the caret.
For another example of running script files, refer to the following video at youtube.com.

Run stored procedures

A stored procedure is a set of SQL statements with an assigned name. You can execute stored procedures in PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL.

Right-click a stored function that you want to execute and select Run Function.
In the Execute Routine window, type all the necessary parameter values, and click OK.
If necessary, select the Run from checkbox and select the file or console to run the stored function from.

Run SELECT statements and save results into files

(Optional) If the file is not connected to a data source, select a data source from the list of data sources on the toolbar. Then select the connection session from the Sessions list.
For more information about connection sessions, refer to Sessions.
Right-click a SELECT statement.
Select Execute to File and select the output format.
In the Export Data dialog, specify the extractor that you want to use and other settings.
For more information about the Export Data dialog, refer to the Export data topic.

Save the result of a SELECT statement into a file

Cancel running statements

To cancel running statements, click Cancel Running Statements on the toolbar.
The progress indicator on the gutter shows a red square while the request is being canceled.

If you click the Cancel Running Statements button two times, PyCharm displays a warning where you can terminate the remote process or wait a bit longer. The warning is displayed to ensure safety as deactivation might be potentially dangerous for some processes happening simultaneously.

Also, the IDE displays a warning after 10 seconds of idle canceling.

Cancel connections

You can interrupt not only the execution of a request, but also the creation of a connection. This is especially relevant for the very first query in the console, which also creates a connection.

You can stop the process of creating a connection. To do that, click the Cancel Running Statements button () on the toolbar while the connection is being created. The connection will be stopped, and you will see the Connection canceled message.

Resolve modes

In order to run SQL scripts, treat the usages of the database objects as links, and provide you with correct code completion, PyCharm must resolve the database objects in your code to a certain context. By default, IDE uses one of the following as a starting point to resolve the database objects to: <schema> selector, or the default database (if none of the above is set).

Depending on whether your code is a single script or it has multiple unrelated SQL statements, select one of the following resolve modes to resolve the database objects properly:

Playground: default mode for query consoles. All the database objects are resolved to the same context.
Use this mode if your code is a set of unconnected SQL statements which are not meant to be run as a single script.
Script: default mode for local SQL files. The USE SQL statement (SET search_path TO for PostgreSQL) overrides the default context that the database objects are resolved to.
Use this mode if your code is meant to be run as a single script.
By default, the <schema> selector is not available for local SQL files. For the <schema> selector to appear, attach a session to your SQL file. To do that, click the <session> button (<session>) and select the session. Alternatively, right-click the file in the Project tool window and select Attach Session.

In the following video, the public schema is selected as default for the query console. The schema contains the actor table, whereas the information_schema schema does not contain it. When the resolve mode is Playground, the database object is resolved to default schema in both SELECT statements, because all the statements are considered unrelated.

Once the resolve mode is changed to Script, the second SELECT statement is considered related to the SET search_path TO information_schema one. The actor table is no longer resolved in that statement.

User parameters

Depending on the database vendor, the question mark ? is treated as a parameter in SQL statements. You can specify what other characters and their sequences should be treated as parameters, and in which places, in the Tools | Database | Query Execution | User Parameters page of settings Ctrl+Alt+S.

The patterns for SQL parameters are specified by using regular expressions.

Run parameterized statements

If you have parameters in your statement, PyCharm will prompt you to specify the values of the parameters before you execute the statement.

To execute a parameterized statement, click the Execute button () on the toolbar and enter values in the second column. Alternatively, to open the Parameters dialog, click the View Parameters button ().

Examples

Array as a parameter

In PyCharm, the replacement of a parameter with a value is straightforward. To use an array as the value, specify your array in the corresponding field.

In the following example, the ? parameter can be replaced with 206, 'John', 'Smith' value:

                    INSERT INTO actor (actor_id, first_name, last_name, last_update)
                    VALUES (?, '01.02.2023 13:34');
                

For further information on parameters, refer to the database documentation.

Parameter pattern

If you have parameters with a specific parameter syntax in your scripts, specify the pattern using a regular expression.

For the following example, the %{2}(\w+_\d+) pattern must be set in the Tools | Database | Query Execution | User Parameters page of settings Ctrl+Alt+S:

                    SELECT title, description, release_year FROM actor
                    JOIN film_actor fa ON actor.actor_id = fa.actor_id
                    JOIN film f ON f.film_id = fa.film_id
                    WHERE last_name = '%%winnerpl_2';
                

Example of a parameter pattern in IDE Settings dialog

Preview table structure

In the IDE code editor, you can preview the structure of tables you have in your SQL statements by using the Quick Documentation feature.

To preview a table structure in an SQL statement, select the table and press Ctrl+Q.

The Quick Documentation popup that appears contains the CREATE DDL script among other information about the table.

For more information about the feature, refer to Quick Documentation.

View history of executed statements

Use the Query History dialog

PyCharm stores history of all statements that you have run in a query console.

To open the Query History dialog, the Browse Query History button () on the toolbar, or press Ctrl+Alt+E.
In the Query History dialog, you can perform the following operations:
- To filter information, start typing your search query.
- To paste the query from the Query History dialog to the console, double-click the query in the left pane of the Query History dialog.
- To delete a record from history, select the record and press Delete.

View results

Usually, when you run a query, you receive results in a table format. PyCharm displays the results in a data editor. For each statement, the data editor with results appears in a separate tab in the Services tool window. For example, if you run three SELECT statements in the query console, you will see three tabs in the tool window.

For more information about viewing query results, refer to Query results.

The results of the SELECT statements in the tabs of Services tool window

Last modified: 11 October 2024