Re: Ragged CSV import

On 9/9/09 12:59 PM, Andrew Dunstan wrote:
> 
> I have received a requirement for the ability to import ragged CSV
> files, i.e. files that contain variable numbers of columns per row. The
> requirement is that extra columns would be ignored and missing columns
> filled with NULL. The client wanting this has wrestled with some
> preprocessors to try to get what they want, but they would feel happier
> with this built in. This isn't the first time I have received this
> request since we implemented CSV import. People have complained on
> numerous occasions about the strictness of the import routines w.r.t.
> the number of columns.

Would this just work on columns on the end, or would it work on the
basis of parsing the CSV header and matching columns?

While the former functionality would be relatively simple, I think the
latter is what people really want.

-- 
Josh Berkus
PostgreSQL Experts Inc.
www.pgexperts.com