FreeTDS(November 27, 2004) FreeTDS(November 27, 2004)
NAME
freebcp - bulk loading utility for Sybase and Microsoft databases
SYNOPSIS
freebcp [database.[owner].]table_name {in | out} datafile
{ -c | -n | -f formatfile }
[-b batchsize] [-F firstrow] [-L lastrow] [-e errfile]
[-I interfaces_file] [-m maxerrors] [-t field_term] [-r row_term]
[-S servername] [-U username] [-P password]
DESCRIPTION
freebcp is a utility program distributed with FreeTDS. freebcp repli-
cates (in part at least) the functionality of the "bcp" utility pro-
grams distributed by Sybase and Microsoft.
freebcp makes use of the dblib bcp api built into FreeTDS. This api is
also available to application developers.
The manual pages or online help for Sybase or SQL Server can be refer-
enced for more detailed information on "bcp" functionality.
TABLES AND FILES
database
is optional if the table being copied is in your default
database or in master. Otherwise, you must specify a database
name.
owner is optional if you or the database owner are the owner of the
table being copied.
table_name
is the name of the database table you wish to access.
in | out
is the direction of the bulk copy operation. file into a
database table, ’out’ indicates that data is being copied from a
database table to a host file.
datafile
is the full path name of an operating system file.
OPTIONS
-c specifies that the host data file is in ’character’ format.
Briefly, this means the following: that all data in the file is
(or will be written) in ASCII; that the (tab) is the default
field terminator; that (newline) is the default row terminator.
-n specifies that the host data file is in ’native’ format. This
is a format that freebcp will be able to process, but is not
portable or readable.
-f formatfile
specifies that the format of the host data file is described by
the specified formatfile. The format of formatfile is identical
to that understood by Sybase or MS bcp, but is too complicated
to describe here.
-b batchsize
is the number of rows per batch of data copied. Batching applies
only when you are bulk copying into the database. each batch of
data is effectively ’committed’ into the database. the default
value for batchsize is 1000.
-F firstrow
is the number of the first row to copy from the input file or
database table the default is the first row.
-L lastrow
is the number of the last row to copy from an input file or
database table the default is the last row.
-r row_term
specifies the row terminator. Default is newline (’\n’)
-t field_term
specifies the field terminator. Default is tab (’\t’)
-S servername
specifies the name of the Database Server to which to connect.
-U username
specifies a database login name.
-P password
specifies a database password.
NOTES
To date, freebcp has been tested against Sybase ASE 11, and SQL Server
2000. There are currently a number of restrictions on its use.
When connecting to a Sybase database server, it is required that the
TDS 5.0 protocol be used. When connecting to a Microsoft SQL Server
2000 database server, the TDS 8.0 protocol is required.
Theoretically both Sybase and Microsoft support the TDS 4.2 protocol,
but in reality they implement the bcp portion of TDS 4.2 differently.
Freetds has no way of knowing which type of server it’s connected to,
hence TDS protocol 4.2 is not supported.
HISTORY
freebcp first appeared in FreeTDS 0.60
AUTHORS
The freebcp utility was written by Bill Thompson (thomp-
bil@exchange.uk.ml.com)
BUGS
Currently, there is no support for text data types in freebcp, when SQL
Server 2000 is the target database.
The following parameters are accepted but unimplemented
[-e errfile]
[-I interfaces_file]
[-m maxerrors]
0.63RC1 FreeTDS(November 27, 2004)
