NAME¶
freebcp - bulk loading utility for Sybase and Microsoft databases
SYNOPSIS¶
freebcp [[database.]owner.]object_name {in | [query]out} datafile
{ -c | -n | -f formatfile }
[ -b batchsize] [-F firstrow] [-L lastrow] [-e errfile]
[ -I interfaces] [-m maxerrors] [-t field_term] [-r row_term]
[ -h hints] [-T textsize] [-A packet_size] [-O options]
[ -S servername] [-U username] [-P password] [-EdVv]
DESCRIPTION¶
freebcp is a utility program distributed with FreeTDS.
freebcp
replicates (in part at least) the functionality of the "bcp" utility
programs distributed by Sybase and Microsoft.
freebcp makes use of the db-lib bcp API provided by FreeTDS. This API is
also available to application developers.
The manual pages or online help for Sybase or SQL Server can be referenced for
more detailed information on "bcp" functionality.
TABLES AND FILES¶
- database
- The database of the object being copied. Optional if the table/view is in
the default database for username.
- owner
- The owner of the object being copied. Optional if username or the
database owner is the owner of the table.
- object_name
- Usually, object_name is the name of the database table you wish to access.
It can also be a view (and, subject to constraints, it is sometimes
possible to load a view). It can also be an SQL query, cf. queryout,
below.
- in | [query]out
- The direction of the bulk copy operation. 'in' indicates data are to be
copied from a host file into a database table; 'out' indicates data are to
be copied from a database table to a host file. 'queryout' indicates that
table_name is in fact a query, rather than a database object.
freebcp will execute the query and write the results to a file. (It
is a good idea to have the query return one and only one result set.)
- datafile
- The name of an operating system file.
OPTIONS¶
- -c
- The host data file is (or will be) in "character" format, i.e.,
a text file. Encoding is determined by the client charset attribute in
freetds.conf.
- -n
- The host data file is in "native" format. This is a format that
freebcp will be able to process, but is not portable or
readable.
- -f formatfile
- The format of the host data file is described by formatfile. The
layout of formatfile is identical to that understood by the Sybase
and Microsoft bcp utilities, but is too complicated to describe here.
- -b batchsize
- The number of rows per batch of data copied. Batching applies only when
you are bulk copying into the database. Each batch of data is effectively
'committed' into the database. The default value for batchsize is
1000.
- -F firstrow
- The first row to copy from the input file or database table. The default
is the first row, row 1.
- -L lastrow
- The last row to copy from an input file or database table. The default is
the last row.
- -r row_term
- The row terminator for a character file. May be more than one character.
Default is newline ('\n'). Cf. -c, above.
- -t field_term
- The field terminator for character file. Also known as a column delimiter.
May be more than one character. Default is tab ('\t'). Cf. -c,
above.
- -m maxerrors
- Stop after encountering maxerror errors. Default 10.
- -e errfile
- Write errors to error_file. For uploads. Includes line and column
information, and the row data.
- -S servername
- The name of the Database Server to which to connect.
- -U username
- A database login name. If username is not provided, a domain login
is attempted for TDS 7+ connections.
- -P password
- A database password.
- -E
- Write the data in datafile to the table's IDENTITY column. Without
this flag, the identity data present in the datafile will be
ignored, and new IDENTITY values will be generated for the imported
rows.
- -d
- Turn off any logging. (Unintuitive, perhaps.)
- -O options
- SQL text to set connection options prior to the bcp operation. If
options is a valid filename, the SQL is read from the file instead.
Sometimes needed for queryout. Example: " -O 'SET
QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON'"
- -I interfaces
- The name and location of the interfaces file to search when
connecting to servername. Overrides freetds.conf.
- -h hints
- Set bcp hints. For valid values, cf. bcp_options() in the
FreeTDS Reference Manual.
- -T textsize
- For text or image columns, set the maximum number of characters to request
from the server. Defaults to the setting in freetds.conf. If not specified
anywhere, defaults to the full size of the data.
- -A packet_size
- Set the size of a TDS packet to packet_size. Not sure why you would
want to do this, except as an experiment.
- -v -V
- Print the version information and exit.
ENVIRONMENT¶
- DSQUERY
- default servername
NOTES¶
When connecting to a Sybase database server, it is required that the TDS 5.0
protocol be used. When connecting to a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database
server, the TDS 7.1 protocol is required.
Theoretically both Sybase and Microsoft support the TDS 4.2 protocol, but in
reality they implement the bcp portion of TDS 4.2 differently. FreeTDS has no
way of knowing which type of server it's connected to, hence TDS protocol 4.2
is not supported.
HISTORY¶
freebcp first appeared in FreeTDS 0.60
AUTHORS¶
The
freebcp utility was written by Bill Thompson
(thompbil@exchange.uk.ml.com)
BUGS¶
Currently, there is no support for text data types in
freebcp, when SQL
Server 2000 is the target database.