TypeError: not enough arguments for format string on my project

Question

Please help. My code for insertion of data to a database returns with an error message:

insertVar =("INSERT INTO %a ( ticker, date, openPrice, dayHigh, dayLow, closePrice, volume ) VALUES ( %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s)" %(stripedTicker))

TypeError: not enough arguments for format string.

The code is

def insertData (data):
    insertVar =("INSERT INTO %a ( ticker, date, openPrice, dayHigh, dayLow, closePrice, volume ) VALUES ( %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s)" %(stripedTicker))
    cur.execute(insertVar, data)
    conn.commit()

The variable data = ['Access Bank Plc', '2018-12-15', '7.45', '7.50', '7.45', '7.45', '18,152,221'] Any help on how to resolve this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

In your string you want to insert 8 strings, but your list only has 7 elements — user8408080
– user8408080, Commented Dec 15, 2018 at 12:59
What I have is 7 strings ( ticker, date, openPrice, dayHigh, dayLow, closePrice, volume ), and that is what I want insert. I intentionally skipped my id column as is auto_increment. — Darlington Emeagi
– Darlington Emeagi, Commented Dec 15, 2018 at 13:38

TrebledJ · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-15 14:20:17Z

3

The error is informing you that your insertVar variable is expecting 8 arguments from stripedTicker. I'm guessing your stripedTicker variable only contains one argument to format %a. (And you want to keep the %s's to be formatted by cur.execute().)

For example, this would work

print('%s %s' % ('a', 'b')) # prints 'a b'

but the following wouldn't

print('%s %s' % ('a')) # TypeError: not enough arguments for format string

since the % formatter expects arguments to fill each %s. Your current way of formatting the string won't work unless you add extra percentage signs (%) at the front of your %s arguments. For example

print('%s %%s' % ('a')) # prints 'a %s'

Thus, adding extra % to your %s's...

insertVar = ("INSERT INTO %a ( ticker, date, openPrice, dayHigh, dayLow, closePrice, volume ) \  
    VALUES ( %%s, %%s, %%s, %%s, %%s, %%s, %%s)" % (stripedTicker))

or opt for another way of formatting, for example, using f-strings:

insertVar = f"INSERT INTO {stripedTicker} ( ticker, date, openPrice, dayHigh, dayLow, closePrice, volume ) \  
    VALUES ( %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s)"

or .format()

insertVar = "INSERT INTO {} ( ticker, date, openPrice, dayHigh, dayLow, closePrice, volume ) \  
    VALUES ( %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s)".format(stripedTicker)

edited Dec 15, 2018 at 14:20

answered Dec 15, 2018 at 13:44

TrebledJ

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1 Comment

Darlington Emeagi Over a year ago

Wow! Thanks a million times, TrebuchetMS. Your solution worked fine. Thanks. I'm very grateful.

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