Working with Databases – `database/sql` and Drivers

Database Access

This lesson explains the main concept clearly with beginner-friendly examples and background so you can learn why the code works.

The database/sql package provides a generic API; you need a driver (e.g., github.com/lib/pq for PostgreSQL).

import (
    "database/sql"
    _ "github.com/lib/pq"
)

func main() {
    dsn := "user=alice password=secret dbname=mydb sslmode=disable"
    db, err := sql.Open("postgres", dsn)
    if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) }
    defer db.Close()

    // Ping to verify connection
    if err := db.Ping(); err != nil { log.Fatal(err) }

    // Query
    rows, _ := db.Query("SELECT id, name FROM users WHERE active=$1", true)
    defer rows.Close()
    for rows.Next() {
        var id int
        var name string
        rows.Scan(&id, &name)
        fmt.Println(id, name)
    }
}

Using sqlx for convenience

$ go get github.com/jmoiron/sqlx

import "github.com/jmoiron/sqlx"

var db *sqlx.DB
// db.Get(&dest, "SELECT …", args…)