Re: ERROR: extra data after last expected column

On Mon, 7 Mar 2022 at 09:34, Scott Macri <Scott(at)bitsnbytes(dot)io> wrote:

> I'm trying to use the postgres copy command and getting, "extra data
> after last expected column".
>
> All items in the DB are currently set to varchar(255) to make it
> simple. I've checked for hidden characters in the file and don't see
> any. All the other files I've processed with this exact command worked
> perfectly. I've processed 10 other's so far. The only difference I
> notice is this one has significantly more columns.
>
> The number of columns in the DB (25) exactly match the number of
> columns in the csv (25), which exactly match the number of columns
> defined in my COPY command (25). I've read practically every post on
> the internet over the last two days containg this error and cannot
> resolve it. I am completely stumped at this point.
>
> It pukes after the 9th column every time no matter what I change.
>
> COPY option_details(a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y)
> FROM '/home/dump/my_csv.csv' WITH (FORMAT CSV, DELIMITER '|', ENCODING
> 'UTF8');
>
> Row one data in file is below:
> item a | item b | item c | item d | item e | item f | item g | item h |
> item i | item j | item k | item l | item m | item n | item o | item p |
> item q | item r | item s | item t | item u | item v | item w | item x |
> item y
> --- Line two would normally start here but no reason to show since it's
> failing above. ---
>
> I get the following error:
> ERROR: extra data after last expected column
> CONTEXT: COPY option_details, line 1: "item a|item b|item c|item
> d|item e|item f|item g|item h|item i|..."
>
>
> Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
>
> --
> Hacktorious
>
>
Hi,

I pretty sure it doesn't fail after the 9th column, just the context hint
of the error message is cropped after that.
My guess is a sneaky '|' somewhere inside one of your field.

Regards,
Sándor