Problems with \copy and delimiters ','

[Bill Moran]

I'm having some problems using \copy

I have a directory full of test data that I want to be installed automatically
when "make database" is issued. While the Makefile rules would seem simple, I'm
having some trouble.

I want to do this
\copy table_name from 'table_name.cdf' delimiters ',';

But I get:
\copy: parse error at "delimiters"

A similar command:
copy table_name from '/path/to/file/table_name.cdf' delimiters ',';
works fine, but this makes things complicated, as I don't know the path to the
files until it happens (who knows where the tarball will be unpacked, I want to
give a relative path, not an absolute).

The documentation I've found on \copy says to see the docs on copy ;)

Does the \copy command not support "delimiters"? This is 7.4 on FreeBSD 5.1.

--
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com
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[Tom Lane]

Bill Moran <wm****@potentialtech.com> writes:

I want to do this
\copy table_name from 'table_name.cdf' delimiters ','; But I get:
\copy: parse error at "delimiters"
Looking at the psql code, it evidently wants "with delimiter" ...

regression=# \copy table_name from 'table_name.cdf' with delimiter ','
table_name.cdf: No such file or directory
The documentation I've found on \copy says to see the docs on copy ;)

It's *supposed* to match the backend syntax, but seems a few bricks
shy of a load at the moment. Anyone feel like fixing it? See
parse_slash_copy() in src/bin/psql/copy.c.

regards, tom lane

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[Bill Moran]

Tom Lane wrote:

Bill Moran <wm****@potentialtech.com> writes:

I want to do this
\copy table_name from 'table_name.cdf' delimiters ',';

But I get:
\copy: parse error at "delimiters"

Looking at the psql code, it evidently wants "with delimiter" ...

regression=# \copy table_name from 'table_name.cdf' with delimiter ','
table_name.cdf: No such file or directory

Yes, that does indeed work. Note "with delimiter" not "with delimiters"

The documentation I've found on \copy says to see the docs on copy ;)

It's *supposed* to match the backend syntax, but seems a few bricks
shy of a load at the moment. Anyone feel like fixing it? See
parse_slash_copy() in src/bin/psql/copy.c.

Oops ... I'll try to look at this code this weekend, but (to be honest)
I doubt I'll have much time to do anything to it. Unless the fix it
very simple, I probably won't get anything done.

BTW Tom: I see your mailserver rejects mail from Adelphia. I can't say
that I blame you, but it prevents me from emailing you directly until I
get smtp auth set up on mail.potentialtech.com (which, based on my
schedule, is not a priority right now ...) But I did have something
Pittsburgh-related that I wanted to ask you about ... could you give
me a phone call, possibly? (# is on the web site) or pass on another
way that I could reach you?

--
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com
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