My table has a NOT NULL column called 'created' with DEFAULT CLOCK_TIMESTAMP(). My CSV file from which I am copying intentionally does not have a column called 'created' because I want the database to use the default value for it. My copy command is:
\copy table_name from '/local/path/to/file.csv' delimiter ',' CSV HEADER
The error I receive is:
missing data for column "created_"
The PostgreSQL documentation says: "If there are any columns in the table that are not in the column list, COPY FROM will insert the default values for those columns."
Thanks for any help
The clue is in the "that are not in the column list".
You need to specify the "column list" for this to work and leave out the one with the default value:
\copy table_name (column1, column2, ...) from '/local/path/to/file.csv' delimiter ',' CSV HEADER
Related
Well consider a table created like this:
CREATE TABLE public.test
(
id integer NOT NULL DEFAULT nextval('user_id_seq'::regclass),
name text,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
)
So the table has a unique 'id' column that auto generates default values using a sequence.
Now I wish to import data from a csv file, extending this table. However "obviously" the ids need to be unique, and thus I wish to let the database itself generate the ids, the csv file itself (coming from a complete different source) has hence an "empty column" for the ids:
,username
,username2
However if I then import this csv using psql:
\copy public."user" FROM '/home/paul/Downloads/test.csv' WITH (FORMAT csv);
The following error pops up:
ERROR: null value in column "id" violates not-null constraint
So how can I do this?
The empty colum from the CSV file is interpreted as SQL NULL, and inserting that value overrides the DEFAULT and leads to the error.
You should omit the empty column from the file and use:
\copy public."user"(name) FROM '...' (FORMAT 'csv')
Then the default value will be used for id.
I use basketball data tables to get some understanding of Postgres 9.2 & phppgadmin. Therefore I would like to import csv tables into that database. However, I get:
ERROR: missing data for column "year"
CONTEXT: COPY coaches, line 1: ""coachid";"year";"yr_order";"firstname";"lastname";"season_win";"season_loss";"playoff_win";"playoff..."
with command:
\copy coaches FROM '/Users/Desktop/Database/NBAPostGres/DataOriginal/coaches_data.csv' DELIMITER ',' CSV;
The current table has no missings. So my questions are:
What did I wrong and if using a table with missing values?
How to import such table or handle such structure generally(also in respect to missing values)?
Data structure:
coachid year yr_order firstname lastname season_win
HAMBLFR01 204 2 Frank Hamblen 10
RUSSEJO01 1946 1 John Russell 22
I used:
varchar integer integer character character integer
You can have columns missing for the whole table. Tell COPY (or the psql wrapper \copy) to only fill selected columns by appending a column list to the table:
\copy coaches (coachid, yr_order, firstname)
FROM '/Users/.../coaches_data.csv' (FORMAT csv, HEADER, DELIMITER ',');
Missing values are filled in with column defaults. The manual:
If there are any columns in the table that are not in the column list,
COPY FROM will insert the default values for those columns.
But you cannot have values missing for just some rows. That's not possible. The text representation of NULL can be used (overruling respective column defaults).
It's all in the manual, really:
SQL-COPY
psql \copy
ERROR: missing data for column "year" CONTEXT: COPY coaches, line 1:
""coachid";"year";"yr_order";"firstname";"lastname";"season_win";"season_loss";"playoff_win";"playoff..."
This type of error is also the result of a Table-mismatch. The table you are importing the text file into either has more columns or less columns than the text file has.
When trying to use the COPY command via SQL in Postgres 9.5.1 in a simple example database…
I am getting this error:
ERROR: invalid input syntax for integer: "Sally"
CONTEXT: COPY customer_, line 2, column id_: "Sally"
********** Error **********
ERROR: invalid input syntax for integer: "Sally"
SQL state: 22P02
Context: COPY customer_, line 2, column id_: "Sally"
…when importing this data in CSV (comma-separated value):
"first_name_","last_name_","phone_","email_"
"Sally","Jones","425.555.1324","s.jones#acme.com"
"Jarrod","Barkley","206.555.3454","j.barkley#example.com"
"Wendy","Melvin","415.555.2343","wendy#wendyandlisa.com"
"Lisa","Coleman","425.555.7282","lisa#wendyandlisa.com"
"Jesse","Johnson","507.555.7865","j.j#guitar.com"
"Jean-Luc","Martin","212.555.2244","jean-luc.martin#example.com"
…being imported via the following SQL executed in pgAdmin:
COPY customer_
FROM '/home/parallels/Downloads/customer_.csv'
CSV
HEADER
;
…into this table:
-- Table: public.customer_
-- DROP TABLE public.customer_;
CREATE TABLE public.customer_
(
id_ integer NOT NULL DEFAULT nextval('customer__id__seq'::regclass),
first_name_ text NOT NULL,
last_name_ text NOT NULL,
phone_ text NOT NULL DEFAULT ''::text,
email_ text NOT NULL DEFAULT ''::text,
CONSTRAINT pkey_customer_ PRIMARY KEY (id_)
)
WITH (
OIDS=FALSE
);
ALTER TABLE public.customer_
OWNER TO postgres;
COMMENT ON TABLE public.customer_
IS 'Represents a person whose pets visit our clinic.';
So it seems the first row containing the names of the columns is being processed successfully. The failure point is with the first data value in the first data line of the CSV. None of my imported data is of integer type, so the I am befuddled by the error message. The only integer is the id_ primary key, auto-incrementing SERIAL.
I did read the Question page on PG COPY error: invalid input syntax for integer. But that question did involve integer values, and the lack thereof in an empty quoted string being interpreted as a NULL. In my case here we have no integer values in the data; the only integer is the primary key SERIAL column with a DEFAULT generated value (not in the data being imported).
I also found the Question, PostgreSQL ERROR: invalid input syntax for integer. But it seems irrelevant.
Try specifying the columns . . . without the primary key:
COPY customer_ (first_name_ text, last_name_ text, phone_ text, email_ text)
FROM '/home/parallels/Downloads/customer_.csv'
CSV
HEADER
;
Without the column list, it is looking for a value for id_.
The import data file’s first row of column names are not used for mapping to the table columns. The HEADER flag merely tells Postgres to skip over that first line, as documented:
HEADER
Specifies that… on input, the first line is ignored. …
COPY table_name FROM 'C:\path\file.csv' DELIMITERS ',' CSV header;
This wasn't the OP's problem, but posting because this is one of the top results when I google the error message.
I was trying to import a .csv file with no header. Adding a header to the file and changing COPY ... CSV to COPY ... CSV HEADER in the sql command fixed the problem for me.
I use basketball data tables to get some understanding of Postgres 9.2 & phppgadmin. Therefore I would like to import csv tables into that database. However, I get:
ERROR: missing data for column "year"
CONTEXT: COPY coaches, line 1: ""coachid";"year";"yr_order";"firstname";"lastname";"season_win";"season_loss";"playoff_win";"playoff..."
with command:
\copy coaches FROM '/Users/Desktop/Database/NBAPostGres/DataOriginal/coaches_data.csv' DELIMITER ',' CSV;
The current table has no missings. So my questions are:
What did I wrong and if using a table with missing values?
How to import such table or handle such structure generally(also in respect to missing values)?
Data structure:
coachid year yr_order firstname lastname season_win
HAMBLFR01 204 2 Frank Hamblen 10
RUSSEJO01 1946 1 John Russell 22
I used:
varchar integer integer character character integer
You can have columns missing for the whole table. Tell COPY (or the psql wrapper \copy) to only fill selected columns by appending a column list to the table:
\copy coaches (coachid, yr_order, firstname)
FROM '/Users/.../coaches_data.csv' (FORMAT csv, HEADER, DELIMITER ',');
Missing values are filled in with column defaults. The manual:
If there are any columns in the table that are not in the column list,
COPY FROM will insert the default values for those columns.
But you cannot have values missing for just some rows. That's not possible. The text representation of NULL can be used (overruling respective column defaults).
It's all in the manual, really:
SQL-COPY
psql \copy
ERROR: missing data for column "year" CONTEXT: COPY coaches, line 1:
""coachid";"year";"yr_order";"firstname";"lastname";"season_win";"season_loss";"playoff_win";"playoff..."
This type of error is also the result of a Table-mismatch. The table you are importing the text file into either has more columns or less columns than the text file has.
I have a database whereas the first column is labeled as serial not null primary key. The table creation and automatic sequence table creation is successful. However, whenever I do:
copy <table_name> from '/path/to/file' delimiter ',' CSV HEADER;
PostgreSQL tries to read my first column into the serial column, which fails because my first column in my CSV file contains characters (not an integer).
How can I tell the COPY command to populate using a serial column as the first column?
I determined that if I specified the header names and named my columns exactly like the header names in my CSV file, that the import worked:
copy <table_name>(column1, column2, etc) from '/path/to/file' delimiter ',' CSV HEADER;