Creating table with the same columns as in a csv

Question

I am writing a stored procedure which is supposed to take data from a csv file and insert into a table . My problem is that the number of columns in the csv file are not fixed(ie number of columns is variable). So I need some way to create a temporary table with exactly the same number of columns as in the csv file. So that I can use bulk insert .

Answer 1

improved nadeems script... A little bit more robust.

This code is excelent for loading multiple CSV files without using the default wizzards.

SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO


CREATE proc [dbo].[importeer_csv_as_table]
@path nvarchar(255),
@new_table_name varchar(255), 
@field_terminator varchar(255),
@row_terminator varchar(255)
as
begin
declare @execsql nvarchar(max)
declare @tempstr varchar(max)
declare @col varchar(max)
declare @table nvarchar(max)
declare @drop_table varchar(max)


-- Create a temp table to with one column to hold the first row of the csv file

  create table #tbl (line varchar(1000))
   set @execsql = 
        'bulk insert #tbl  
        from ''' + @path + '''  
        with (  
                 fieldterminator =''' + @row_terminator + ''',
                 firstrow = 1,  
                 rowterminator = ''' + @row_terminator + ''',
                 lastrow = 1 
              )         
       ' 

   exec sp_executesql @stmt=@execsql 


   --replace field terminator with comma
   update #tbl set line = replace(line, @field_terminator, ',')

   set @col = ''
   set @tempstr = (select top 1 rtrim(replace(line, char(9), ',')) from #tbl)
   drop table #tbl
   while charindex(',',@tempstr) > 0
    begin           

       set @col=@col + '[' + ltrim(rtrim(substring(@tempstr, 1, charindex(',',@tempstr)-1))) + '] varchar(max),'     

       set @tempstr = substring(@tempstr, charindex(',',@tempstr)+1, len(@tempstr)) 
    end
    set @col = @col + '[' + @tempstr + '] varchar(max)'

   if object_id(@new_table_name) is not null
   begin
      set @drop_table = 'drop table [' + @new_table_name + ']'

      exec sp_executesql @stmt= @drop_table
   end 

   set @table = 'create table [' + @new_table_name + '] (' + @col + ')'

   --select @table


   exec sp_executesql @stmt=@table

   --Load data from csvle
   set @execsql = 
        'bulk insert [' + @new_table_name + ']
        from ''' + @path + '''  
        with (  
                 fieldterminator =''' + @field_terminator + ''',
                 firstrow = 2,  
                 rowterminator = ''' + @row_terminator + '''              
              )         
       '  

   exec sp_executesql @stmt=@execsql 

end

GO

Answer 2

You could use Powershell to process the CSV file, there is an example here which you could probably adapt to take account of the variable number of fields. You can build the SQL to create a table and then issue a bulk load.

Answer 3

Well I tried solving the issue by writing a sp which will take the csv file path as parameter and create a table names as temptable with the same format as that of the number of columns in the csv. CSV file looks like

eid,ename,esalary,etemp
1,Mark,1000,
2,Peter,1000,

Stored Proc script

create proc createtable
@path nvarchar(50)
as
begin
declare @execSQL nvarchar(1000)
declare @tempstr varchar(1000)
declare @col varchar(1000)
declare @table nvarchar(1000)

-- Create a temp table to with one column to hold the first row of the csv file

  CREATE TABLE #tbl (line VARCHAR(1000))
   SET @execSQL = 
        'BULK INSERT #tbl  
        FROM ''' + @path + '''  
        WITH (  
                 FIELDTERMINATOR =''\n'',
                 FIRSTROW = 1,  
                 ROWTERMINATOR = ''\n'',
                 LASTROW = 1 
              )         
       ' 

   EXEC sp_executesql @stmt=@execSQL 

   SET @col = ''
   SET @tempstr = (SELECT TOP 1 RTRIM(REPLACE(Line, CHAR(9), ',')) FROM #tbl)
   DROP TABLE #tbl
   WHILE CHARINDEX(',',@tempstr) > 0
    BEGIN           

       SET @col=@col + LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(@tempstr, 1, CHARINDEX(',',@tempstr)-1))) + ' varchar(100),'     

       SET @tempstr = SUBSTRING(@tempstr, CHARINDEX(',',@tempstr)+1, len(@tempstr)) 
    END
    SET @col = @col + @tempstr + ' varchar(100)'

   if object_id('temptable') is not null
   drop table temptable

   SET @table = 'create table temptable (' + @col + ')'

   EXEC sp_executesql @stmt=@table

-- Load data from csv
   SET @execSQL = 
        'BULK INSERT temptable
        FROM ''' + @path + '''  
        WITH (  
                 FIELDTERMINATOR ='','',
                 FIRSTROW = 2,  
                 ROWTERMINATOR = ''\n''              
              )         
       '  

   EXEC sp_executesql @stmt=@execSQL 

end