Re: Dynamic File Name for COPY TO in Stored Procedure

On Thursday, February 23, 2012 6:42:53 am Carlos Oliva wrote:
> Hi,
> What would it be the correct format for using a variable in a stored
> procedure that uses COPY TO?
>
> I have the current stored procedure:
> CREATE FUNCTION Table_To_File(text) RETURNS void AS $delimeter$
> COPY (SELECT * FROM table_to_xml('table', true, false, '')) TO '$1'
> WITH CSV QUOTE ' ';
> $delimeter$
> LANGUAGE SQL;
>
> When I run the stored procedure: psql -d <db name> -c "select
> Table_To_File('some_absolute_file_name')"; I get the error that I must
> use absolute file names.
>
> When I replace TO '$1' with TO '/tmp/toto.xml', the stored procedure
> runs fine and creates the local file.
>
> I have tried several different ways to escape the $1 variable to no
> avail. At best, I get the same error.

You will need to switch to using plpgsql and its EXECUTE statement to build the COPY
statement :

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/interactive/plpgsql-statements.html#PLPGSQL-STATEMENTS-EXECUTING-DYN

--
Adrian Klaver
adrian(dot)klaver(at)gmail(dot)com