Re: flat file database to postgres

> On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 12:33:57 -0000 (GMT) noor(at)cs(dot)man(dot)ac(dot)uk sat down, thought long and then wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi
> >
> > Does anybody know how to export data from a flatfile (using perl) database
> > to postgres?
> >
> > Thanks
>
> If it is some kind of CSV (text with separators) you could use DBD::CSV for reading and DBD::Pg for
> writing. Or you read the file with Perl´s standard functions, treat the data to be
> PostgreSQL-insert-query-compatible (regarding apostrophes for example) and then use DBD::Pg (that´s
> what I usually do). If you have some kind of DBase files, you can use DBD::XBase.

I wrote a user defined C function which read a file and returns it.

test=# SELECT * FROM exttable('/etc/group', ':') AS g(gname TEXT, dummy TEXT, gid INTEGER, gmembers TEXT) LIMIT 10;
gname | dummy | gid | gmembers
--------+-------+-----+-----------------
root | x | 0 | root
bin | x | 1 | root,bin,daemon
daemon | x | 2 | root,bin,daemon
sys | x | 3 | root,bin,adm
adm | x | 4 | root,adm,daemon
tty | x | 5 |
disk | x | 6 | root
lp | x | 7 | daemon,lp
mem | x | 8 |
kmem | x | 9 |
(10 rows)

Of course this kind of function could be dangerous if you
thoughtlessly use it. Anyway I could post it if there's enough
interest.
--
Tatsuo Ishii