title: How to fix ORA-01036: illegal variable name/number DatabaseError
body: <p>I am trying to write some rows of a <code>csv</code> file (or <code>pandas dataframe</code>) in my Oracle database using python (<code>cx_Oracle</code>). </p>
  
  <p>I copy the rows of the dataframe/csv in a list <code>rows</code> which looks then as follows: </p>
  
  <p>``</p>
  
  <pre><code> [....,
   ['977', '980', '40', '152.9', '2011-08-22'],
   ['978', '981', '41', '155.5', '2011-08-22'],
   ['979', '982', '42', '149.3', '2011-08-22'],
   ['980', '983', '43', '153.5', '2011-08-22'],
   ['981', '984', '44', '149.5', '2011-08-22'], 
   ....]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>``</p>
  
  <p>The first element of the different rows is the primary key. The table in the database has the same structure. 
  I try to copy the rows in the table as follows: </p>
  
  <p>``</p>
  
  <pre><code>cursor.prepare('insert into REGULAR values (:1, :2, :3, :4)')
  cursor.executemany(None, rows)
  connection.commit()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>``</p>
  
  <p>As result I always get this error : 
  <code>DatabaseError: ORA-01036: illegal variable name/number</code></p>
  
  <p>Could someone help. Thank you! </p>
  
  <p>PS.: I already found threads with questions related to this error, but this couldn't help since the situations are completely different. </p>