Recommended method to import a .csv file into Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2?

Question

What is your recommended way to import .csv files into Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2?

I\'d like something fast, as I have a directory with a lot of .csv files (>500MB

Answer 1

Using BULK INSERT in a T-SQL script seems to be a good solution.

http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2008/02/06/sql-server-import-csv-file-into-sql-server-using-bulk-insert-load-comma-delimited-file-into-sql-server/

You can get the list of files in your directory with xp_cmdshell and the dir command (with a bit of cleanup). In the past, I tried to do something like this with sp_OAMethod and VBScript functions and had to use the dir method because I had trouble getting the list of files with the FSO object.

http://www.sqlusa.com/bestpractices2008/list-files-in-directory/