pandas-access

0.0.1 verified Mon Apr 27 auth: no python deprecated

A tiny, subprocess-based tool for reading a MS Access database (.mdb/.accdb) as a Pandas DataFrame. Version 0.0.1. No recent updates; experimental and likely unmaintained.

pip install pandas-access

Common errors

error FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'mdb-tables' ↓

cause The mdbtools command-line tools are not installed on the system.

fix

Install mdbtools: sudo apt-get install mdbtools (Linux) or brew install mdbtools (macOS).

error subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['mdb-export', '...', 'table']' returned non-zero exit status 1. ↓

cause The table name is incorrect or the database file is corrupted.

fix

List available tables using 'mdb-tables database.mdb' and use the exact table name (case-sensitive).

Warnings

deprecated This library is unmaintained and no longer recommended. It relies on subprocess calls to mdbtools, which may not be installed or available on all systems. ↓

fix Consider using pyodbc with the Microsoft Access ODBC driver on Windows, or mdbtools directly on Linux.

breaking Requires external system dependency mdbtools. Not installed automatically; must be installed separately (e.g., apt-get install mdbtools on Debian/Ubuntu). ↓

fix Install mdbtools: on Linux: 'sudo apt-get install mdbtools'; on macOS: 'brew install mdbtools'; on Windows not supported.

gotcha Only works on Windows if mdbtools is installed via Cygwin or similar, which is non-trivial. Not natively compatible with Windows. ↓

fix Use pyodbc with MS Access ODBC driver on Windows instead of this library.

Imports

read_access
wrong
```
import pandas_access
```
correct
```
from pandas_access import read_access
```
Importing pandas_access alone does not expose read_access; must import the function explicitly.

Quickstart

Read a table from a Microsoft Access database file into a pandas DataFrame. Requires the database file path and table name. Depends on mdbtools being installed on the system.

from pandas_access import read_access
df = read_access('/path/to/database.mdb', table='my_table')
print(df.head())