DuckDB CSV Reader Example

This project is a simple Python script that demonstrates how to use DuckDB to read data directly from a CSV file and load it into a Pandas DataFrame for easy inspection.

The script reads a CSV file containing people data, selects specific columns, limits the result to a few rows, and prints the output to the console.

---

Project Structure

.
├── data/
│   └── people.csv
├── main.py
└── README.md

• data/people.csv – Input CSV file containing people data
• main.py – Python script that loads and queries the CSV using DuckDB
• README.md – Project documentation

---

Requirements

Make sure you have Python 3.9+ installed.

Install the required Python libraries:

pip install duckdb pandas

---

CSV File Requirements

The people.csv file must exist in the data/ directory and include at least the following columns:

• first_name
• last_name
• gender
• dob
• title

Example:

first_name,last_name,gender,dob,title
John,Doe,M,1985-01-15,Engineer
Jane,Smith,F,1990-06-20,Manager

---

▶How to Run

From the project root directory, run:

uv run python main.py

---

What the Script Does

1. Verifies that data/people.csv exists
2. Uses DuckDB’s read_csv_auto() to query the CSV directly (no database setup required)
3. Selects specific columns
4. Limits the result to 5 rows
5. Converts the result into a Pandas DataFrame
6. Prints the output in a clean, tabular format

---

Example Output

**************************************************
first_name last_name gender        dob       title
John       Doe       M      1985-01-15  Engineer
Jane       Smith     F      1990-06-20   Manager

---

Why DuckDB?

• No server or setup required
• Fast analytical queries on CSV files
• SQL-based querying
• Seamless integration with Pandas

---

Notes

• DuckDB creates an in-memory database by default
• The database connection is safely closed after each query
• This script is ideal for quick data exploration and prototyping

---

License

This project is provided for educational and internal use. Add a license if you plan to distribute it publicly.