Use of %s format specifier or format() to perform queries

Use of %s format specifier or format() to perform queries means using python code to insert values into SQL queries using placeholders and formatting methods.

The %s format specifier is used with the % operator to perform string formatting in python. It allows you to format a value inside a string by replacing the %s with the value passed as an argument. 

For example, to insert a name into a string, you can write:

name = "Bob"

print("Hello, %s" % name)

The %s format specifier can also be used to insert values into SQL queries.

For example, to insert a username and a password into an insert query, you can write:

sql_query = "INSERT INTO TEACHOOLOGIN (username, password) VALUES (%s, %s)"

values = ("craig", "1234")

my_database.execute(sql_query, values)

Note that the %s is used as a placeholder for the values , and the values are passed as a tuple or a list as the second argument of the execute() method . This is a good practice to avoid SQL injection attacks and errors due to data types.

The format() method is another way to perform string formatting in python . It allows you to format a value inside a string by using curly braces {} as placeholders and passing the values as arguments or keywords.

For example, to insert a name into a string, you can write:

name = "Bob"

print("Hello, {}".format(name))

The format() method can also be used to insert values into SQL queries.  

For example, to insert a username and a password into an insert query, you can write:

sql_query = "INSERT INTO TEACHOOLOGIN (username, password) VALUES ({}, {})"

values = ("craig", "1234")

my_database.execute(sql_query.format(*values))

Note that the curly braces {} are used as placeholders for the values, and the values are passed as a tuple or a list and unpacked with the * operator as an argument of the format() method. This is also a good practice to avoid SQL injection attacks and errors due to data types.