How to import a csv into Postgres table

Intro

Often we are given a csv of data, and we would like to now how to copy that data directly to a SQL table. Using the COPY command, we can do that easily. In this article, we will learn how to use the COPY command in PSQL.

The Syntax

The basic syntax of COPY is as follows:

COPY [tablename]([columns]])
FROM 'C:\sampledb\data.csv'
DELIMITER ','
CSV HEADER;

Getting Setup

We will be using docker in this article, but feel free to install your database locally instead. Once you have docker installed, create a new file called docker-compose.yml and add the following.

version: '3'
 
services:
  db:
    image: 'postgres:latest'
    ports:
      - 5432:5432
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: username
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
      POSTGRES_DB: default_database
    volumes:
      - psqldata:/var/lib/postgresql

  phpmyadmin:
    image: phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin
    links:
      - db
    environment:
      PMA_HOST: db
      PMA_PORT: 3306
      PMA_ARBITRARY: 1
    restart: always
    ports:
      - 8081:80

volumes:
  psqldata:

Next, run docker-compose up.

Now, navigate to http://localhost:8081/ to access phpMyAdmin. Then log in with the username root and pass root_pass.

Click the SQL tab and you are ready to go.

Creating a DB

In this article, we will need some data to work with. If you don't understand these commands, don't worry, we will cover them in later articles.

We will be using the sample db provided here: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/sakila/en/. However, we will only enter what we need rather than import the whole db.

Next, let's create an employee table. This is a slightly simplified version of the sakila database.

CREATE TABLE employees (
    emp_no      INT             NOT NULL,
    birth_date  DATE            NOT NULL,
    first_name  VARCHAR(14)     NOT NULL,
    last_name   VARCHAR(16)     NOT NULL,
    gender      VARCHAR(1),
    hire_date   DATE            NOT NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY (emp_no)
);

An Example

Now that we have a table, create a csv file with the following information.

"emp_no","birth_date","first_name","last_name","gender","hire_date"
10001,1953-09-02,Georgi,Facello,M,1986-06-26
10002,1964-06-02,Bezalel,Simmel,F,1985-11-21
10003,1959-12-03,Parto,Bamford,M,1986-08-28
10004,1954-05-01,Chirstian,Koblick,M,1986-12-01
10005,1955-01-21,Kyoichi,Maliniak,M,1989-09-12
10006,1953-04-20,Anneke,Preusig,F,1989-06-02
10007,1957-05-23,Tzvetan,Zielinski,F,1989-02-10
10008,1958-02-19,Saniya,Kalloufi,M,1994-09-15

Now copy the path of your file. Then let's import the data using the following.

COPY employees
FROM [filepath]
DELIMITER ','
CSV HEADER;

Now, select your data and you should have the following.

SELECT * FROM employees e ;

emp_no	birth_date	first_name	last_name	gender	hire_date
10004	1954-05-01	Chirstian	Koblick	M	1986-12-01
10005	1955-01-21	Kyoichi	Maliniak	M	1989-09-12
10006	1953-04-20	Anneke	Preusig	F	1989-06-02
10007	1957-05-23	Tzvetan	Zielinski	F	1989-02-10
10008	1958-02-19	Saniya	Kalloufi	M	1994-09-15

How to import a csv into Postgres table

02.23.2022

Intro

The Syntax

Getting Setup

Creating a DB

An Example

Working with Drop Database in Postgres

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