How to import CSV file data into a PostgreSQL table?

Question

How can I write a stored procedure that imports data from a CSV file and populates the table?

Answer 1

In Python, you can use this code for automatic PostgreSQL table creation with column names:

import pandas, csv

from io import StringIO
from sqlalchemy import create_engine

def psql_insert_copy(table, conn, keys, data_iter):
    dbapi_conn = conn.connection
    with dbapi_conn.cursor() as cur:
        s_buf = StringIO()
        writer = csv.writer(s_buf)
        writer.writerows(data_iter)
        s_buf.seek(0)
        columns = ', '.join('"{}"'.format(k) for k in keys)
        if table.schema:
            table_name = '{}.{}'.format(table.schema, table.name)
        else:
            table_name = table.name
        sql = 'COPY {} ({}) FROM STDIN WITH CSV'.format(table_name, columns)
        cur.copy_expert(sql=sql, file=s_buf)

engine = create_engine('postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/my_db')

df = pandas.read_csv("my.csv")
df.to_sql('my_table', engine, schema='my_schema', method=psql_insert_copy)

It's also relatively fast, I can import more than 3.3 million rows in about 4 minutes.