bcp Challenge

Question

bcp Challenge

sqlnaive

SSCoach

Points: 17437
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October 21, 2011 at 10:46 am

#261772

can i do a bcp a flat file from unix to sql server 2008 version ?

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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Lowell SSC Guru Points: 323518 More actions · Answer 1

bcp.exe requires a MS operating system....so you can't call bcp.exe from a unix operating system....

but you can bcp a FILE into or out of a shared directory that exists on a Unix machine ...if it is properly shared ont he network...to or from any SQL server...is that the question?

you can also of course process the file on the machine that runs bcp.exe...just copying it locally.

Lowell

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sqlnaive SSCoach Points: 17437 More actions · Answer 2

"but you can bcp a FILE into or out of a shared directory that exists on a Unix machine..."

- Thats what i am looking for. If say I have a file in shared directory in UNIX then can I bcp it into a table in sql server 2008 ? If yes, how ?

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004402 More actions · Answer 3

The same way that you'd do it for any other well formed file except, IIRC, UNIX uses only the "NewLine" character ( \ N) instead of the "Carriage Return/Line Feed" pair which is what BULK INSERT and BCP default to. Obviously, you'd need to make that change for the row terminator.

Have you ever used BCP or BULK INSERT for anything else, before?

--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.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

patrickmcginnis59 SSCertifiable Points: 6483 More actions · Answer 4

I've done this with the dreaded xp_cmdshell driving putty's ssh and scp, putty is so good at running unix shell scripts and copying files, I've pretty much decided that samba is overkill.

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004402 More actions · Answer 5

patrickmcginnis59 (10/24/2011)
...dreaded xp_cmdshell...

Heh... "dreaded". I love xp_CmdShell. 🙂

--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.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)