Postgresql: inserting value of a column from a file

Question

For example, there is a table named \'testtable\' that has following columns: testint (integer) and testtext (varchar(30)).

What i want to do is pretty much somethin

Answer 1

If I understand your question correctly, you could read the single string(s) into a temp table and use that for insert:

DROP SCHEMA str CASCADE;
CREATE SCHEMA str;

SET search_path='str';

CREATE TABLE strings
    ( string_id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY
    , the_string varchar
    );
CREATE TEMP TABLE string_only
    ( the_string varchar
    );

COPY string_only(the_string)
FROM '/tmp/string'
    ;   

INSERT INTO strings(string_id,the_string)
SELECT 5, t.the_string
FROM string_only t
    ;   

SELECT * FROM strings;

Result:

NOTICE:  drop cascades to table str.strings
DROP SCHEMA
CREATE SCHEMA
SET
NOTICE:  CREATE TABLE / PRIMARY KEY will create implicit index "strings_pkey" for table "strings"
CREATE TABLE
CREATE TABLE
COPY 1
INSERT 0 1
 string_id |     the_string      
-----------+---------------------
         5 | this is the content
(1 row)

Please note that the file is "seen" by the server as the server sees the filesystem. The "current directory" from that point of view is probably $PG_DATA, but you should assume nothing, and specify the complete pathname, which should be reacheable and readable by the server. That is why I used '/tmp', which is unsafe (but an excellent rendez-vous point ;-)