1FREEBCP(1) BSD General Commands Manual FREEBCP(1)
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4 freebcp — bulk loading utility for Sybase and Microsoft databases
5
7 freebcp [[⟨database⟩.]⟨owner⟩.]⟨object_name⟩ {in | [query]out} datafile
8 {-c | -n | -f formatfile} [-S servername] [-D dbname]
9 [-U username] [-P password] [-b batchsize] [-F firstrow]
10 [-L lastrow] [-e errfile] [-I interfaces] [-m maxerror]
11 [-t field_term] [-r row_term] [-h hints] [-T textsize]
12 [-A packet_size] [-O options] [-i inputfile] [-o outputfile]
13 [-C charset] [-EdVv]
14
16 freebcp is a utility program distributed with FreeTDS. freebcp repli‐
17 cates (in part at least) the functionality of the bcp utility programs
18 distributed by Sybase and Microsoft. freebcp makes use of the DB-Library
19 bcp API provided by FreeTDS. This API is also available to application
20 developers.
21
22 The manual pages or online help for Sybase or SQL Server can be refer‐
23 enced for more detailed information on bcp functionality.
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26 database
27 The name of the database containing object to be copied.
28 Optional if the table/view is in the default database for
29 username.
30
31 schema The schema of the object being copied. If not provided, the
32 default schema for username is used.
33
34 object The name of the database object you wish to access, typically a
35 table. It can also be a view. All views can be read; some can be
36 written, subject to constraints. With queryout, object can also
37 be an SQL query.
38
39 in Copy data from a host file to a database table.
40
41 out Copy data from a database table to a host file.
42
43 queryout
44 indicates that table_name is in fact SQL, rather than a database
45 object. freebcp will execute the query and write the results to
46 a file. (It is a good idea to have the query return one and only
47 one result set.)
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49 datafile
50 The name of an operating system file.
51
53 -A packet_size
54 Set the size of a TDS packet to packet_size. Not sure why you
55 would want to do this, except as an experiment.
56
57 -D dbname
58 The name of the default database to use. Overrides default data‐
59 base associated with the login account. Causes freebcp to issue
60 a USE dbname command immediately after logging in, before com‐
61 mencing BCP operations.
62
63 -E Write the data in datafile to the table's IDENTITY column. With‐
64 out this flag, the identity data present in the datafile will be
65 ignored, and new IDENTITY values will be generated for the
66 imported rows.
67
68 -F firstrow
69 The first row to copy from the input file or database table. The
70 default is the first row, row 1.
71
72 -I interfaces
73 The name and location of the interfaces file to search when con‐
74 necting to servername. Overrides freetds.conf.
75
76 -L lastrow
77 The last row to copy from an input file or database table. The
78 default is the last row.
79
80 -O options
81 SQL text to set connection options prior to the bcp operation.
82 If options is a valid filename, the SQL is read from the file
83 instead. Sometimes needed for queryout. Example: -O `SET
84 QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON'.
85
86 -P password
87 The password associated with username.
88
89 -S servername
90 The name of the Database Server to which to connect.
91
92 -T textsize
93 For text or image columns, set the maximum number of characters
94 to request from the server. Defaults to the setting in
95 freetds.conf. If not specified anywhere, defaults to the full
96 size of the data.
97
98 -U username
99 A database login name. For TDS 7+ connections, a domain login is
100 attempted if username is not provided.
101
102 -b batchsize
103 The number of rows per batch of data copied. Batching applies
104 only when you are bulk copying into the database. Each batch of
105 data is effectively “committed” into the database. The default
106 value for batchsize is 1000.
107
108 -c The host data file is (or will be) in "character" format, i.e., a
109 text file. Encoding is determined by the client charset attribute
110 in freetds.conf.
111
112 -d Turn off any logging. (Unintuitive, perhaps.)
113
114 -e errfile
115 Write errors to errfile. For uploads. Includes line and column
116 information, and the row data.
117
118 -f formatfile
119 The format of the host data file is described by formatfile. The
120 layout of formatfile is identical to that understood by the
121 Sybase and Microsoft bcp utilities, but is too complicated to
122 describe here.
123
124 -h hints
125 Set bcp hints. For valid values, cf. bcp_options() in the
126 FreeTDS Reference Manual.
127
128 -m maxerror
129 Stop after encountering maxerror errors. Default 10.
130
131 -n The host data file is in “native” format. This is a format that
132 freebcp will be able to process, but is not portable or readable.
133
134 -r row_term
135 The row terminator for a character file. May be more than one
136 character. Default is newline ('\n'). Cf. -c, above.
137
138 -t field_term
139 The field terminator for character file. Also known as a column
140 delimiter. May be more than one character. Default is tab
141 ('\t'). Cf. -c, above.
142
143 -v
144
145 -V Print the version information and exit.
146
147 -i inputfile
148 Read input data from file specified.
149
150 -o outputfile
151 Write output data to file specified.
152
153 -C charset
154 Specify character set to use to talk to server.
155
157 DSQUERY default servername
158
160 When connecting to a Sybase database server, it is required that the TDS
161 5.0 protocol be used. When connecting to a Microsoft SQL Server 2000
162 database server, the TDS 7 (or later) protocol is required.
163
164 Sybase and Microsoft define different versions of the bcp portion of TDS
165 4.2. Because FreeTDS has no way of knowing which type of server it's
166 connected to, freebcp does not support version 4.2 of the TDS protocol.
167
169 freebcp first appeared in FreeTDS 0.60
170
172 The freebcp utility was written by Bill Thompson
173 <thompbil@exchange.uk.ml.com>
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176 Currently, there is no support for text data types in freebcp, when SQL
177 Server 2000 is the target server.
178
179FreeTDS 1.00.38 March 25, 2015 FreeTDS 1.00.38