bcp aborts on first FK violation

Question

bcp aborts on first FK violation

bruce.malmat

SSC Rookie

Points: 25
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September 26, 2013 at 8:37 am

#283146

I want to use BCP to load data from a text file.
By default, constraints are turned off in bcp, so I use the CHECK_CONSTRAINTS hint.
bcp aborts if ANY of the rows contains a FK violation. No data get loaded.
So if I add the -b 1 batch size option, it loads all data UNTIL the first FK violation, but nothing after that.
I want to load EVERYTHING ... except for the violations. But bcp won't let me. Is there a way?

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Luis Cazares SSC Guru Points: 183706 More actions · Answer 1

I'm not sure if bcp would allow you to do that. However, you could load all data to a staging table and insert clean data into your final table to avoid PK violations.

Luis C.
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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004363 More actions · Answer 2

bruce.malmat (9/26/2013)
I want to use BCP to load data from a text file.
By default, constraints are turned off in bcp, so I use the CHECK_CONSTRAINTS hint.
bcp aborts if ANY of the rows contains a FK violation. No data get loaded.
So if I add the -b 1 batch size option, it loads all data UNTIL the first FK violation, but nothing after that.
I want to load EVERYTHING ... except for the violations. But bcp won't let me. Is there a way?

Yes, there is. If you take a look in Books Online for the BCP command, you'll find that the -m parameter changes the number of allowable errors. You can also use the -e parameter to identify a file where the error rows can be stored for validation and rework. Set the batch size back to at least 50,000, set -m to a very large number (like 2 billion), and let 'er rip.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

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