Access Database Parser

0.0.6 verified Fri May 01 auth: no python

A pure-Python library for reading Microsoft Access database files (*.mdb, *.accdb) without requiring the Microsoft Access ODBC driver or any external dependencies. Version 0.0.6, released 2024-07-15, maintained irregularly.

pip install access-parser

Common errors

error ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'access_parser' ↓

cause The package is installed as 'access-parser', but the import is 'access_parser'. Ensure you installed the correct package.

fix

Run: pip install access-parser

error AttributeError: module 'access_parser' has no attribute 'AccessParser' ↓

cause Incorrect import; trying to import a submodule instead of the top-level class.

fix

Use: from access_parser import AccessParser

error access_parser.exceptions.InvalidAccessDBError: File is not a valid Access database ↓

cause The file is corrupted, password-protected, or not an Access database.

fix

Verify the file is a valid .mdb or .accdb and is not password-protected.

Warnings

breaking Removed logging configuration on import: In v0.0.6, the library no longer configures logging on import. If your code relied on the library setting up logging, you must configure logging explicitly. ↓

fix Add your own logging configuration (e.g., logging.basicConfig()) if you need to see library logs.

gotcha File must be a proper .mdb or .accdb file: The library does not handle corrupted or password-protected databases. Trying to open an invalid file raises InvalidAccessDBError. ↓

fix Ensure the file is a valid, unencrypted Access database.

deprecated Python 3.6 support is not actively tested: The library claims requires_python >=3.6, but newer versions may break on Python 3.6 due to dependency updates. ↓

fix Upgrade to Python 3.8+ if encountering compatibility issues.

gotcha NUL characters in parsed strings: Prior to v0.0.6, strings could contain NUL characters. Upgrade to v0.0.6+ to avoid this. ↓

fix Update to access-parser>=0.0.6.

Imports

AccessParser

wrong

from access_parser.access_parser import AccessParser

correct

from access_parser import AccessParser

The library exposes AccessParser directly from the top-level package.

InvalidAccessDBError
```
from access_parser import InvalidAccessDBError
```
Custom exception for invalid database files.

Quickstart

Open an Access database and iterate over table rows.

from access_parser import AccessParser

# Replace with your .mdb or .accdb file path
parser = AccessParser('example.mdb')

# Get list of table names
print(parser.tables())

# Iterate over rows in a table
for row in parser.iter_rows('Table1'):
    print(row)