BUG #4486: CSV feature request

Started by Andrew Grilletover 17 years ago2 messagesbugs
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#1Andrew Grillet
andrew@grillet.co.uk

The following bug has been logged online:

Bug reference: 4486
Logged by: Andrew Grillet
Email address: andrew@grillet.co.uk
PostgreSQL version: 8.3
Operating system: Windows XP
Description: CSV feature request
Details:

Excel 2007 decides on the fly whether to quote fields or not on the basis of
whther individual rows have a comma in that field. There does not appear any
obvious way to prevent this bizarre behaviour.

I suggest the syntax:

COPY table (columns) FROM 'filename.csv. with csv OPTIONAL QUOTE [AS '"'];

As a way to tell PostgreSQL this behaviour is expected and must be handled
without complaint. Default should be to complain if file is stupidly
formatted.

----
Additionally, where a character that is not a member of the acceptable
character set is found, plese attempt to print it as char as well as
octal/hex. It can be very difficult to find which character is causeing the
problem! (Eg em-dashes, smart quotes)

#2Bruce Momjian
bruce@momjian.us
In reply to: Andrew Grillet (#1)
Re: BUG #4486: CSV feature request

Andrew Grillet wrote:

The following bug has been logged online:

Bug reference: 4486
Logged by: Andrew Grillet
Email address: andrew@grillet.co.uk
PostgreSQL version: 8.3
Operating system: Windows XP
Description: CSV feature request
Details:

Excel 2007 decides on the fly whether to quote fields or not on the basis of
whther individual rows have a comma in that field. There does not appear any
obvious way to prevent this bizarre behaviour.

I suggest the syntax:

COPY table (columns) FROM 'filename.csv. with csv OPTIONAL QUOTE [AS '"'];

As a way to tell PostgreSQL this behaviour is expected and must be handled
without complaint. Default should be to complain if file is stupidly
formatted.

What problem are you having, exactly? I tried this:

test=> create table test (x text, y text);
test=> copy test from '/rtmp/1' with csv;
COPY 3

where /rtmp/1 had:

"a", "b"
a, "b"
a, b

and saw no errors or warnings. Are you saying we should complain, and
if so, why?

--
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> http://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com

+ If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +