bcp inserts wrong data

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bcp inserts wrong data

Sergey Kazachenko

Ten Centuries

Points: 1051
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December 6, 2007 at 1:06 pm

#177241

Our old tables have varchar fields. We want to convert them to nvarchar so that we can handle Unicode data.
For each table I create a corresponding new table with the name TableName_Uni with the same structure, except for nvarchar fields instead of varchar.
Now I try to bcp the data out/in:
bcp dbName.dbo.TableName out c:\temp\TableName.bcp -w –T
bcp dbName.dbo.TableName_Uni in c:\temp\TableName.bcp -w –T
Sometimes it works, but sometimes the data in the TableName_Uni does not match the data in TableName!
I tried using -c and -N instead of -w with the same wrong results.
Is there something I'm doing wrong? Or bcp is simply not going to work if the tables have different structure?

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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Jason- SSCrazy Points: 2795 More actions · Answer 1

Jason-

SSCrazy

Points: 2795

December 11, 2007 at 3:25 pm

#759206

Try using -n (note the lower case n)

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Sergey Kazachenko Ten Centuries Points: 1051 More actions · Answer 2

Jason,

I finally figured it out. The new table had an identity column, so bcp wasn't inserting garbage, it was simply renumbering my rows! Running SET IDENTITY INSERT NewTable ON before running bcp in didn't help, so I had to specify the -E key

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004312 More actions · Answer 3

I don't understand why you need BCP for this... what's wrong with just doing a straight insert into the new tables?

--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)

Sergey Kazachenko Ten Centuries Points: 1051 More actions · Answer 4

Jeff Moden (12/11/2007)
I don't understand why you need BCP for this... what's wrong with just doing a straight insert into the new tables?

Speed. an INSERT is recorded in the transaction log - takes time and space. I have some tables with 100M rows - bcp out/bcp in proved to be 2..3 times faster than the old INSERT-based script.