Is there a way using SSMS or other tool to output about 600 tables from a SQL Server database. The catch is they need to have column headers.
Basically I need to dump 600+ tables with a bar '|' delimiter, and they need to all have column names in the first row.
If I remember right you should be able to use the command line sqlcmd tool to export data together with headers. Something like this:
sqlcmd -S localhost -d YourDatabase
-E -Q “SELECT * FROM YourTable” -o “CSVData.csv” -W -w 1024 -s”|”
You'll have to look into the options to get them right.
Related
I was wondering if anyone can help.
I have a number of queries in SQL (all in separate *.sql files). I wanted to know if there is a way to run these queries automatically or mass run them to be saved to either a csv or txt file?
Also, I have come variables within these queries which will need to be amended on a weekly bases before the queries are run.
Thanks.
KJ
Could you please provide some additional help in relation to the variables? Previously I would declare and set variables as:
DECLARE #TW_FROM DATETIME
DECLARE #TW_TO DATETIME
SET #TW_FROM = '2015-11-16 00:00:00';
SET #TW_TO = '2015-11-22 23:00:00';
How do I do this using sqlcmd?
Yes, you can use sqlcmd to do this.
First of all - variables. You can refer to your variables in the .sql files using $(variablename) wherever you want to substitue the variable. For example,
use $(dbname);
select $(columnname) from table1 where column= '$(var1)'
You then call sqlcmd with the following command (note the argument -v variables)
sqlcmd -S servername -d database -i "yoursqlfile.sql" -v dbname="database" columnname="column" var1="Fred"
In order to output this to a file, you tag > filename.txt on the end
sqlcmd -S servername -d database -i "yoursqlfile.sql" -v dbname="database" columnname="column" var1="Fred" > filename.txt
If you want to output to a csv, you can also specify the delimiter using the argument -s (note the idfference with the capital S for server). So now we have
sqlcmd -S servername -d database -s "," -i "yoursqlfile.sql" -v dbname="database" columnname="column" var1="Fred" > filename.csv
If you want to output several commands to the same csv or txt file, use >> instead of > as it add to teh bottom of the file, rather than replacing it.
sqlcmd -S servername -d database -s "," -i "yoursqlfile.sql" -v dbname="database" columnname="column" var1="Fred" >> filename.csv
To run this for several scripts, you can put the statements in a batch file, and then change the variables every week.
You could write a batch file that uses sqlcmd:
MSDN sqlcmd
That will allow you to call script files in a loop and output the results to a file.
Convert your current scrips to a Stored Procedure.
You can then pass your variables to that and run the query.
If you have SQL Server agent available (SQL standard or better) you can use this to automate the running of the stored procedures.
Otherwise the same can be achieved with Task Scheduler in windows.
As for exporting to CSV this will be useful.
It depends on where your SQL Server is acutally running. It might be quite tricky to write anything to the location you want.
You could read about BCP.
My suggestion is:
Create an UDF (best is inline-UDF!) from all of your queries within your database. Than call them from EXCEL or any other fitting product. You might want to set up an Excel where all your queries are filled one on each Sheet automatically
I'am trying to import data into sql server table from a file using a format file.
In fact I have 2 databases: a production database and a local database
I want to insert some row of the table shipper of the production database in the local one. The table shipper don't have neither the same columns nor the same order of column in the 2 databases.
That's why I used a file format to do my bcp.
I generate file containing the rows I want to insert in my local database with the following commande
bcp "SELECT shipper_id,Shipper_name FROM ProductionDatabase.dbo.shipper where shipper_id >5" queryout shipper.txt -c -T
It works !!
I generate then the format file with the schema of my local table with the following commande
bcp LocalDatabase.dbo.shipper nul -T -n -f shipper-n.fmt
It works !!
Unfortunately when I tried to insert the file data in my local table
with the following commande:
bcp LocalDatabase.dbo.shipper in shipper.txt -T -f shipper-n.fmt
it generates the following error (translated from french)
Can anyone know what is the problem and how can I get arround it.
Thanks in advance
unexpected end of file encountered in the bcp data file
Your format file does not match the data. You are exporting using text using -c
bcp "SELECT shipper_id,Shipper_name FROM ProductionDatabase.dbo.shipper where shipper_id >5" queryout shipper.txt -c -T
But your format file is made for native (binary) data using -n
bcp LocalDatabase.dbo.shipper nul -T -n -f shipper-n.fmt
Either export both as native (my recommendation), or both as text. To prevent this error, export the data file and the format file at the same time, simply add -f shipper.fmt to your export
Text version:
bcp "SELECT shipper_id,Shipper_name FROM ProductionDatabase.dbo.shipper where shipper_id >5" queryout shipper.txt -c -T -f shipper.fmt
or
Native Version:
bcp "SELECT shipper_id,Shipper_name FROM ProductionDatabase.dbo.shipper where shipper_id >5" queryout shipper.txt -n -T -f shipper.fmt
PS. Since you can run into scenarios where your record or row delimiters exist in the data you should pick a character sequence that does not exist in your data as a separator for instance -t"\t|\t" (Tab-Pipe-Tab) for fields and -r"\t|\n" (Tab-Pipe-Newline) for rows. If you combine the format statement with the export the data and the format file will match and you have the freedom to change the separators on a single command line.
Specify separators after the -n or -c on the command line
That I'm a beginner and I have to export from SQL SERVER Management studio, the result of a query by generating an Excel file, I use either BCP or SQLCMD like this:
enter code here
exec xp_cmdshell 'sqlcmd -S localhost -d BaseName -E -Q "SELECT * FROM TableName" -o "c:\MyTest.csv" -W -w 1024 -s"|"'
This is supposed to separate the columns in Excel
My problem is that all the results are placed in the first column and within this column actually columns are separated by the character I entered (here "|"). But I want each column to go in a different column.
I'm beginning to think that this might be possible with BCP or with SQLCMD
would anyone answer?
thank you in advance for reading
This needs to be formatted in Excel using "Text to Columns"
Refer Link: Text to Columns in Excel
exec master..xp_cmdshell 'BCP "sp_who" QUERYOUT C:\av\sp_who.txt -S MC0XENTC -T -c '
i have looked all over the internet and cant seem to find a solution to this problem.
i am trying to output query results as a CSV through using a combination of sqlcmd and windows batch. here is what i have so far:
sqlcmd.exe -S %DBSERVER% -U %DBUSER% -P %DBPASS% -d %USERPREFIX% -Q "SELECT Username, UserDOB, UserGender FROM TABLE" -o %USERDATA%\%USERPREFIX%\FACT_BP.CSV -h-1 -s","
is there something i'm missing here? some setting that only looks at the first column of the query results?
any advice at all would be a huge help - i'm lost.
Here is the reference page from MSDN on SQLCMD.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms162773.aspx
I placed this command in a batch file in C:\temp as go.bat.
sqlcmd -S(local) -E -dmaster
-Q"select cast(name as varchar(16)), str(database_id,1,0), create_date from sys.databases"
-oc:\temp\sys.databases.csv -h-1 -s,
Notice I hard coded the file name and removed the "" around the field delimiter.
I get the expected output below.
Either the command does not like the system variables or something else is wrong. Please try my code as a base line test. It works for SQL 2012.
Also, the number of lines is always dumped to file. You must clear this out of the file. That is why I do not use SQLCMD for ETL.
Why not use BCP instead?
I have writing several articles on my website.
http://craftydba.com/?p=1584
I have a huge database which I want to dump out using BCP and then load it up elsewhere. I have done quite a bit of research on the Sybase version of BCP (being more familiar with the MSSQL one) and I see how to USE an Import file but I can't figure out for the life of me how to create one.
I am currently making my Sybase bcp out files of data like this:
bcp mytester.dbo.XTABLE out XTABLE.bcp -U sa -P mypass -T -n
and trying to import them back in like this:
bcp mytester.dbo.XTABLE in XTABLE.bcp -E -n -S Sybase_157 -U sa -P SyAdmin
Right now, the IN part gives me an error about IDENTITY_INSERT regardless of if the table has an identity or not:
Server Message: Sybase157 - Msg 7756, Level 16, State 1: Cannot use
'SET IDENTITY_INSERT' for table 'mytester.dbo.XTABLE' because the
table does not have the identity property.
I have often used the great info on this page for help, but this is the first time i've put in a question, so i humbly request any guidance you all can provide :)
In your BCP in, the -E flag tells bcp to take identity column values from the input file. I would try running it without that flag. fmt files in Sybase are a bit finicky, and I would try to avoid if possible. So as long as your schemas are the same between your systems the following command should work:
bcp mytester.dbo.XTABLE in XTABLE.bcp -n -S Sybase_157 -U sa -P SyAdmin
Also, the -T flag on your bcp out seems odd. I know SQLServer -T is a security setting, but in Sybase it indicates the max size of a text or image column, and is followed by a number..e.g -T 32000 (would be 32Kbytes)
But to answer the question in your title, if you run bcp out interactively (without specifying -c,-n, or -f) it will step through each column, prompting for information. At the end it will ask if you want to create a format file, and allow you to specify the name of the file.
For reference, here is the syntax and available flags:
http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.sybase.infocenter.dc30191.1550/html/utility/X14951.htm
And the chapter in the Utility Guide:
http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.sybase.infocenter.dc30191.1550/html/utility/BABGCCIC.htm