TypeError: not enough arguments for format string - Python SQL connection while using %Y-%m

Question

with engine.connect() as con:

    rs = con.execute("""
                        SELECT  datediff(STR_TO_DATE(CONCAT(year,'-',month,'-',day), '%Y-%m-%d') , current_date()) 
                        from TABLE 
                        WHERE datediff(STR_TO_DATE(CONCAT(year,'-',month,'-',day), '%Y-%m-%d') , current_date()) < 900
                        group by STR_TO_DATE(CONCAT(year,'-',month,'-',day), '%Y-%m-%d');
                    """)

I feel the compiler is getting confused with '%Y-%m-%d', I might be wrong. Could someone help me on how to avoid this error:

Type Error:not enough arguments for format string

Answer 1

It sees your % signs and thinks you want to format the string. I believe you should be able to replace them with %% to indicate that you want the character, not a format substitution.

Answer 2

You need to escape the %:

with engine.connect() as con:

    rs = con.execute("""
                        SELECT  datediff(STR_TO_DATE(CONCAT(year,'-',month,'-',day), '%%Y-%%m-%%d') , current_date()) 
                        from TABLE 
                        WHERE datediff(STR_TO_DATE(CONCAT(year,'-',month,'-',day), '%%Y-%%m-%%d') , current_date()) < 900
                        group by STR_TO_DATE(CONCAT(year,'-',month,'-',day), '%%Y-%%m-%%d');
                    """)

% is a reserved character in MySQL (wildcard).