How to bulk load several CSV files into SQL Server? - sql

Question

I cobbled together the code below. I can write file paths into a table but I can't use the paths in the table to bulk load CSV files in a folder. Can some expert here take a look and let me know what's wrong? TIA.
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#DirectoryTree') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE #DirectoryTree;
CREATE TABLE #DirectoryTree (
id int IDENTITY(1,1)
,subdirectory nvarchar(512)
,depth int
,isfile bit);
INSERT #DirectoryTree (subdirectory,depth,isfile)
EXEC master.sys.xp_dirtree 'C:\my_path\CSV Files\',1,1;
SELECT * FROM #DirectoryTree
WHERE isfile = 1 AND RIGHT(subdirectory,4) = '.csv'
ORDER BY id;
GO
DROP TABLE ALLFILENAMES
--CREATE TABLE ALLFILENAMES(id VARCHAR(999),subdirectory VARCHAR(255),depth VARCHAR(1),isfile VARCHAR(1))
Select * INTO ALLFILENAMES
From #DirectoryTree
--code above is fine; problems start here
--cursor loop
--bulk insert won't take a variable name, so make a sql and execute it instead:
Declare #sql varchar(8000)
set #sql = 'BULK INSERT BULKACT FROM ''' + 'ALLFILENAMES.subdirectory' + ''' '
+ ' WITH (
DATAFILETYPE = ''char'',
FIELDTERMINATOR = '','',
ROWTERMINATOR = ''\n'',
FIRSTROW = 2
) '
print #sql
exec (#sql)
The problem is with the Bulk Insert. Here is the error message that I get: Msg 4860, Level 16, State 1, Line 28
Cannot bulk load. The file "ALLFILENAMES.subdirectory" does not exist.
So, 'ALLFILENAMES' is the name of the table and 'subdirectory' is the name of the field that contains all paths to all CSV files.

Answer 1

you need to do a select from that ALLFILENAMES table. You can't just specified the tablename + column name like that and expect it to work
also you need to specify the full path in the FROM file name
and you may use temp table for ALLFILENAMES instead of permanent tble
Declare #sql varchar(max)
select #sql = isnull(#sql , '')
+ 'BULK INSERT BULKACT FROM ''C:\my_path\CSV Files\' + ALLFILENAMES.subdirectory + ''' '
+ ' WITH (
DATAFILETYPE = ''char'',
FIELDTERMINATOR = '','',
ROWTERMINATOR = ''\n'',
FIRSTROW = 2
); ' + char(13)
from ALLFILENAMES
print #sql
and there is a WITH (FORMAT = 'CSV'); option for bulk insert from CSV file

Answer 2

Thanks for the help, Sqiurrel. I got the code below to work, and add some comments. It's really ugly though. I guess SQL Server really isn't designed for these kinds of things...
----------------------------------------------------------
-- Create 5 tables and all fields in tables
DECLARE #intFlag INT
SET #intFlag = 1
WHILE (#intFlag <=5)
BEGIN
declare #cmd nvarchar(1000),
#MyTableName nvarchar(100)
print str(#intFlag)
set #MyTableName = 'CSV' + replace(str(#intFlag),' ','')
print #MyTableName
set #cmd = 'CREATE TABLE dbo.' + quotename(#MyTableName, '[') + '(Name varchar(255), Address varchar(255), Age varchar(255), Work varchar(255));';
print #cmd
exec(#cmd)
SET #intFlag = #intFlag + 1
END
GO
----------------------------------------------------------
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#DirectoryTree') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE #DirectoryTree;
CREATE TABLE #DirectoryTree (
id int IDENTITY(1,1)
,subdirectory nvarchar(512)
,depth int
,isfile bit);
INSERT #DirectoryTree (subdirectory,depth,isfile)
EXEC master.sys.xp_dirtree 'C:\your_path_here\',1,1;
SELECT * FROM #DirectoryTree
WHERE isfile = 1 AND RIGHT(subdirectory,4) = '.csv'
ORDER BY id;
GO
DROP TABLE ALLFILENAMES
Select * INTO ALLFILENAMES
From #DirectoryTree
----------------------------------------------------------
--cursor loop
--bulk insert won't take a variable name, so make a sql and execute it instead:
Declare #sql varchar(max)
select #sql = isnull(#sql , '')
+ 'BULK INSERT ' + ALLFILENAMES.subdirectory + ' FROM ''C:\your_path_here\' + ALLFILENAMES.subdirectory + ''' '
+ ' WITH (
DATAFILETYPE = ''char'',
FIELDTERMINATOR = '','',
ROWTERMINATOR = ''\n'',
FIRSTROW = 2
); ' + char(13)
from ALLFILENAMES
print #sql
exec (#sql)
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