332ad8c3   
   From: esquel@sommarskog.se   
      
    (bevanward@gmail.com) writes:   
   > I have a large csv file to import into a SQL Server 2005 database as   
   > an intermediate step to processing. The file has over 900 columns and   
   > 500,000 rows. The columns have different widths however it would be   
   > fine to make them all varchar(255).   
   >   
   > I have been using the "Import Data ..." feature however finding I   
   > would need to manually set all column widths from 50 to 255 manually.   
   >   
   > If I use the "Sugest Types ..." feature to determine the string length   
   > it will only read down 10000 lines so it is not determining the   
   > correct width and is resulting in truncation.   
   >   
   > Does anyone know of a way to do this automatically using "Data   
   > Import ..." or is it easiest to go back to bcp or bulk insert?   
      
   BCP or BULK INSERT certainly seems easier than dealing with point-and-click   
   GUI:n that are not repeatable. However, if the quoting in the file is   
   not consistent, BCP/BULK INSERT is not going to work out anyway.   
      
   As for the table definition and the format file, you could write a small   
   program in VBA or whatever to generate them.   
      
      
   --   
   Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@sommarskog.se   
      
   Links for SQL Server Books Online:   
   SQL 2008: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/cc514207.aspx   
   SQL 2005: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb895970.aspx   
   SQL 2000: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/previousversions/books.mspx   
      
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