Re: Issue with copying data from a text file.

Can you not export the source file with escape characters? ie,

^17\" Alloy Wheels^

~p

On Tue, 2007-03-20 at 11:25 +0900, Paul Lambert wrote:

> I have a procedure in place that copies data from a caret delimited text
> file into a table storing some information.
>
> One of the fields in the table contains an item description which may
> contain item dimensions such as - 17" alloy wheels
>
> The problem I am getting when I do my load is I believe due to the
> presence of the double quotation marks giving the copy the impression
> that it is to include the information following as a single text string
> until it gets to the next set of double quotes. As a result, I get the
> following:
>
> AutoDRS=# COPY deal_lines_temp_load FROM
> 'c:/temp/autodrs_deal_lines.txt'
> WITH DELIMITER AS '^' CSV HEADER;
> ERROR: value too long for type character varying(30)
> CONTEXT: COPY deal_lines_temp_load, line 87, column order_desc: "17 5
> spoke alloy wheels.^1291.18^117.38^983.69^1291.18^^C^^
>
> The column as you can see is defined as a 30 character field, the load
> contains in this column ^17" 5 spoke alloy wheels.^
>
> I note an option in the COPY command to specify the quote character,
> defaulting to double quote. The problem being a single quote will also
> be used in the data, as will other characters. Is there any way to get a
> copy to have no quote character? I.e. read the file and put whatever is
> between the caret characters straight into the appropriate field exactly
> as is.
>
> TIA,
> Paul.
>

Phillip Smith
IT Coordinator
Weatherbeeta P/L
8 Moncrief Rd
Nunawading, Vic, 3131
AUSTRALIA

P. +613 9845 0600
F. +613 9845 0655
E. phillip(dot)smith(at)weatherbeeta(dot)com(dot)au