Bulk insert, SQL Server 2000, unix linebreaks

Question

I am trying to insert a .csv file into a database with unix linebreaks. The command I am running is:

BULK INSERT table_name
FROM \'C:\\file.csv\' 
WITH 
( 
         


        

Answer 1

Looks to me there are two general avenues that can be taken: some alternate way to read the CSV in the SQL script or convert the CSV beforehand with any of the numerous ways you can do that (bcp, unix2dos, if it is a one-time king of a thing, you can probably even use your code editor to fix the file for you).

But you will have to have an extra step!

If this SQL is launched from a program, you might want to convert the line endings in that program. In that case and you decide to code the conversion yourself, here is what you need to watch out for: 1. The line ending might be \n 2. or \r\n 3. or even \r (Mac!) 4. good grief, it could be that some lines have \r\n and others \n, any combination is possible unless you control where the CSV came from

OK, OK. Possibility 4 is farfetched. It happens in email, but that is another story.

Answer 2

I would think "ROWTERMINATOR = '\n'" would work. I would suggest opening the file in a tool that shows "hidden characters" to make sure the line is being terminated like you think. I use notepad++ for things like this.