2 doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
3 PostgreSQL documentation
7 <refentry id="SQL-COPY">
9 <refentrytitle>COPY</refentrytitle>
10 <manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
11 <refmiscinfo>SQL - Language Statements</refmiscinfo>
15 <refname>COPY</refname>
16 <refpurpose>copy data between a file and a table</refpurpose>
19 <indexterm zone="sql-copy">
20 <primary>COPY</primary>
25 COPY <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ...] ) ]
26 FROM { '<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable>' | STDIN }
27 [ [ WITH ] ( <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable> [, ...] ) ]
29 COPY { <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ...] ) ] | ( <replaceable class="parameter">query</replaceable> ) }
30 TO { '<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable>' | STDOUT }
31 [ [ WITH ] ( <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable> [, ...] ) ]
33 <phrase>where <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable> can be one of:</phrase>
35 FORMAT <replaceable class="parameter">format_name</replaceable>
36 OIDS [ <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> ]
37 DELIMITER '<replaceable class="parameter">delimiter_character</replaceable>'
38 NULL '<replaceable class="parameter">null_string</replaceable>'
39 HEADER [ <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> ]
40 QUOTE '<replaceable class="parameter">quote_character</replaceable>'
41 ESCAPE '<replaceable class="parameter">escape_character</replaceable>'
42 FORCE_QUOTE { ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ...] ) | * }
43 FORCE_NOT_NULL ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ...] ) |
44 ENCODING '<replaceable class="parameter">encoding_name</replaceable>'
49 <title>Description</title>
52 <command>COPY</command> moves data between
53 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> tables and standard file-system
54 files. <command>COPY TO</command> copies the contents of a table
55 <emphasis>to</> a file, while <command>COPY FROM</command> copies
56 data <emphasis>from</> a file to a table (appending the data to
57 whatever is in the table already). <command>COPY TO</command>
58 can also copy the results of a <command>SELECT</> query.
62 If a list of columns is specified, <command>COPY</command> will
63 only copy the data in the specified columns to or from the file.
64 If there are any columns in the table that are not in the column list,
65 <command>COPY FROM</command> will insert the default values for
70 <command>COPY</command> with a file name instructs the
71 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> server to directly read from
72 or write to a file. The file must be accessible to the server and
73 the name must be specified from the viewpoint of the server. When
74 <literal>STDIN</literal> or <literal>STDOUT</literal> is
75 specified, data is transmitted via the connection between the
76 client and the server.
81 <title>Parameters</title>
85 <term><replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable></term>
88 The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table.
94 <term><replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable></term>
97 An optional list of columns to be copied. If no column list is
98 specified, all columns of the table will be copied.
104 <term><replaceable class="parameter">query</replaceable></term>
107 A <xref linkend="sql-select"> or
108 <xref linkend="sql-values"> command
109 whose results are to be copied.
110 Note that parentheses are required around the query.
116 <term><replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></term>
119 The absolute path name of the input or output file. Windows users
120 might need to use an <literal>E''</> string and double any backslashes
121 used in the path name.
127 <term><literal>STDIN</literal></term>
130 Specifies that input comes from the client application.
136 <term><literal>STDOUT</literal></term>
139 Specifies that output goes to the client application.
145 <term><replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable></term>
148 Specifies whether the selected option should be turned on or off.
149 You can write <literal>TRUE</literal>, <literal>ON</>, or
150 <literal>1</literal> to enable the option, and <literal>FALSE</literal>,
151 <literal>OFF</>, or <literal>0</literal> to disable it. The
152 <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> value can also
153 be omitted, in which case <literal>TRUE</literal> is assumed.
159 <term><literal>FORMAT</literal></term>
162 Selects the data format to be read or written:
164 <literal>csv</> (Comma Separated Values),
165 or <literal>binary</>.
166 The default is <literal>text</>.
172 <term><literal>OIDS</literal></term>
175 Specifies copying the OID for each row. (An error is raised if
176 <literal>OIDS</literal> is specified for a table that does not
177 have OIDs, or in the case of copying a <replaceable
178 class="parameter">query</replaceable>.)
184 <term><literal>DELIMITER</literal></term>
187 Specifies the character that separates columns within each row
188 (line) of the file. The default is a tab character in text format,
189 a comma in <literal>CSV</> format.
190 This must be a single one-byte character.
191 This option is not allowed when using <literal>binary</> format.
197 <term><literal>NULL</literal></term>
200 Specifies the string that represents a null value. The default is
201 <literal>\N</literal> (backslash-N) in text format, and an unquoted empty
202 string in <literal>CSV</> format. You might prefer an
203 empty string even in text format for cases where you don't want to
204 distinguish nulls from empty strings.
205 This option is not allowed when using <literal>binary</> format.
210 When using <command>COPY FROM</command>, any data item that matches
211 this string will be stored as a null value, so you should make
212 sure that you use the same string as you used with
213 <command>COPY TO</command>.
221 <term><literal>HEADER</literal></term>
224 Specifies that the file contains a header line with the names of each
225 column in the file. On output, the first line contains the column
226 names from the table, and on input, the first line is ignored.
227 This option is allowed only when using <literal>CSV</> format.
233 <term><literal>QUOTE</literal></term>
236 Specifies the quoting character to be used when a data value is quoted.
237 The default is double-quote.
238 This must be a single one-byte character.
239 This option is allowed only when using <literal>CSV</> format.
245 <term><literal>ESCAPE</literal></term>
248 Specifies the character that should appear before a
249 data character that matches the <literal>QUOTE</> value.
250 The default is the same as the <literal>QUOTE</> value (so that
251 the quoting character is doubled if it appears in the data).
252 This must be a single one-byte character.
253 This option is allowed only when using <literal>CSV</> format.
259 <term><literal>FORCE_QUOTE</></term>
263 used for all non-<literal>NULL</> values in each specified column.
264 <literal>NULL</> output is never quoted. If <literal>*</> is specified,
265 non-<literal>NULL</> values will be quoted in all columns.
266 This option is allowed only in <command>COPY TO</>, and only when
267 using <literal>CSV</> format.
273 <term><literal>FORCE_NOT_NULL</></term>
276 Do not match the specified columns' values against the null string.
277 In the default case where the null string is empty, this means that
278 empty values will be read as zero-length strings rather than nulls,
279 even when they are not quoted.
280 This option is allowed only in <command>COPY FROM</>, and only when
281 using <literal>CSV</> format.
287 <term><literal>ENCODING</></term>
290 Specifies that the file is encoded in the <replaceable
291 class="parameter">encoding_name</replaceable>. If this option is
292 omitted, the current client encoding is used. See the Notes below
302 <title>Outputs</title>
305 On successful completion, a <command>COPY</> command returns a command
308 COPY <replaceable class="parameter">count</replaceable>
310 The <replaceable class="parameter">count</replaceable> is the number
319 <command>COPY</command> can only be used with plain tables, not
320 with views. However, you can write <literal>COPY (SELECT * FROM
321 <replaceable class="parameter">viewname</replaceable>) TO ...</literal>.
325 <command>COPY</command> only deals with the specific table named;
326 it does not copy data to or from child tables. Thus for example
327 <literal>COPY <replaceable class="parameter">table</> TO</literal>
328 shows the same data as <literal>SELECT * FROM ONLY <replaceable
329 class="parameter">table</></literal>. But <literal>COPY
330 (SELECT * FROM <replaceable class="parameter">table</>) TO ...</literal>
331 can be used to dump all of the data in an inheritance hierarchy.
335 You must have select privilege on the table
336 whose values are read by <command>COPY TO</command>, and
337 insert privilege on the table into which values
338 are inserted by <command>COPY FROM</command>. It is sufficient
339 to have column privileges on the column(s) listed in the command.
343 Files named in a <command>COPY</command> command are read or written
344 directly by the server, not by the client application. Therefore,
345 they must reside on or be accessible to the database server machine,
346 not the client. They must be accessible to and readable or writable
347 by the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> user (the user ID the
348 server runs as), not the client. <command>COPY</command> naming a
349 file is only allowed to database superusers, since it allows reading
350 or writing any file that the server has privileges to access.
354 Do not confuse <command>COPY</command> with the
355 <application>psql</application> instruction
356 <command><link linkend="APP-PSQL-meta-commands-copy">\copy</link></command>. <command>\copy</command> invokes
357 <command>COPY FROM STDIN</command> or <command>COPY TO
358 STDOUT</command>, and then fetches/stores the data in a file
359 accessible to the <application>psql</application> client. Thus,
360 file accessibility and access rights depend on the client rather
361 than the server when <command>\copy</command> is used.
365 It is recommended that the file name used in <command>COPY</command>
366 always be specified as an absolute path. This is enforced by the
367 server in the case of <command>COPY TO</command>, but for
368 <command>COPY FROM</command> you do have the option of reading from
369 a file specified by a relative path. The path will be interpreted
370 relative to the working directory of the server process (normally
371 the cluster's data directory), not the client's working directory.
375 <command>COPY FROM</command> will invoke any triggers and check
376 constraints on the destination table. However, it will not invoke rules.
380 <command>COPY</command> input and output is affected by
381 <varname>DateStyle</varname>. To ensure portability to other
382 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> installations that might use
383 non-default <varname>DateStyle</varname> settings,
384 <varname>DateStyle</varname> should be set to <literal>ISO</> before
385 using <command>COPY TO</>. It is also a good idea to avoid dumping
386 data with <varname>IntervalStyle</varname> set to
387 <literal>sql_standard</>, because negative interval values might be
388 misinterpreted by a server that has a different setting for
389 <varname>IntervalStyle</varname>.
393 Input data is interpreted according to <literal>ENCODING</literal>
394 option or the current client encoding, and output data is encoded
395 in <literal>ENCODING</literal> or the current client encoding, even
396 if the data does not pass through the client but is read from or
397 written to a file directly by the server.
401 <command>COPY</command> stops operation at the first error. This
402 should not lead to problems in the event of a <command>COPY
403 TO</command>, but the target table will already have received
404 earlier rows in a <command>COPY FROM</command>. These rows will not
405 be visible or accessible, but they still occupy disk space. This might
406 amount to a considerable amount of wasted disk space if the failure
407 happened well into a large copy operation. You might wish to invoke
408 <command>VACUUM</command> to recover the wasted space.
414 <title>File Formats</title>
417 <title>Text Format</title>
420 When the <literal>text</> format is used,
421 the data read or written is a text file with one line per table row.
422 Columns in a row are separated by the delimiter character.
423 The column values themselves are strings generated by the
424 output function, or acceptable to the input function, of each
425 attribute's data type. The specified null string is used in
426 place of columns that are null.
427 <command>COPY FROM</command> will raise an error if any line of the
428 input file contains more or fewer columns than are expected.
429 If <literal>OIDS</literal> is specified, the OID is read or written as the first column,
430 preceding the user data columns.
434 End of data can be represented by a single line containing just
435 backslash-period (<literal>\.</>). An end-of-data marker is
436 not necessary when reading from a file, since the end of file
437 serves perfectly well; it is needed only when copying data to or from
438 client applications using pre-3.0 client protocol.
442 Backslash characters (<literal>\</>) can be used in the
443 <command>COPY</command> data to quote data characters that might
444 otherwise be taken as row or column delimiters. In particular, the
445 following characters <emphasis>must</> be preceded by a backslash if
446 they appear as part of a column value: backslash itself,
447 newline, carriage return, and the current delimiter character.
451 The specified null string is sent by <command>COPY TO</command> without
452 adding any backslashes; conversely, <command>COPY FROM</command> matches
453 the input against the null string before removing backslashes. Therefore,
454 a null string such as <literal>\N</literal> cannot be confused with
455 the actual data value <literal>\N</literal> (which would be represented
456 as <literal>\\N</literal>).
460 The following special backslash sequences are recognized by
461 <command>COPY FROM</command>:
467 <entry>Sequence</entry>
468 <entry>Represents</entry>
474 <entry><literal>\b</></entry>
475 <entry>Backspace (ASCII 8)</entry>
478 <entry><literal>\f</></entry>
479 <entry>Form feed (ASCII 12)</entry>
482 <entry><literal>\n</></entry>
483 <entry>Newline (ASCII 10)</entry>
486 <entry><literal>\r</></entry>
487 <entry>Carriage return (ASCII 13)</entry>
490 <entry><literal>\t</></entry>
491 <entry>Tab (ASCII 9)</entry>
494 <entry><literal>\v</></entry>
495 <entry>Vertical tab (ASCII 11)</entry>
498 <entry><literal>\</><replaceable>digits</></entry>
499 <entry>Backslash followed by one to three octal digits specifies
500 the character with that numeric code</entry>
503 <entry><literal>\x</><replaceable>digits</></entry>
504 <entry>Backslash <literal>x</> followed by one or two hex digits specifies
505 the character with that numeric code</entry>
511 Presently, <command>COPY TO</command> will never emit an octal or
512 hex-digits backslash sequence, but it does use the other sequences
513 listed above for those control characters.
517 Any other backslashed character that is not mentioned in the above table
518 will be taken to represent itself. However, beware of adding backslashes
519 unnecessarily, since that might accidentally produce a string matching the
520 end-of-data marker (<literal>\.</>) or the null string (<literal>\N</> by
521 default). These strings will be recognized before any other backslash
526 It is strongly recommended that applications generating <command>COPY</command> data convert
527 data newlines and carriage returns to the <literal>\n</> and
528 <literal>\r</> sequences respectively. At present it is
529 possible to represent a data carriage return by a backslash and carriage
530 return, and to represent a data newline by a backslash and newline.
531 However, these representations might not be accepted in future releases.
532 They are also highly vulnerable to corruption if the <command>COPY</command> file is
533 transferred across different machines (for example, from Unix to Windows
538 <command>COPY TO</command> will terminate each row with a Unix-style
539 newline (<quote><literal>\n</></>). Servers running on Microsoft Windows instead
540 output carriage return/newline (<quote><literal>\r\n</></>), but only for
541 <command>COPY</> to a server file; for consistency across platforms,
542 <command>COPY TO STDOUT</> always sends <quote><literal>\n</></>
543 regardless of server platform.
544 <command>COPY FROM</command> can handle lines ending with newlines,
545 carriage returns, or carriage return/newlines. To reduce the risk of
546 error due to un-backslashed newlines or carriage returns that were
547 meant as data, <command>COPY FROM</command> will complain if the line
548 endings in the input are not all alike.
553 <title>CSV Format</title>
556 This format option is used for importing and exporting the Comma
557 Separated Value (<literal>CSV</>) file format used by many other
558 programs, such as spreadsheets. Instead of the escaping rules used by
559 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>'s standard text format, it
560 produces and recognizes the common CSV escaping mechanism.
564 The values in each record are separated by the <literal>DELIMITER</>
565 character. If the value contains the delimiter character, the
566 <literal>QUOTE</> character, the <literal>NULL</> string, a carriage
567 return, or line feed character, then the whole value is prefixed and
568 suffixed by the <literal>QUOTE</> character, and any occurrence
569 within the value of a <literal>QUOTE</> character or the
570 <literal>ESCAPE</> character is preceded by the escape character.
571 You can also use <literal>FORCE_QUOTE</> to force quotes when outputting
572 non-<literal>NULL</> values in specific columns.
576 The <literal>CSV</> format has no standard way to distinguish a
577 <literal>NULL</> value from an empty string.
578 <productname>PostgreSQL</>'s <command>COPY</> handles this by quoting.
579 A <literal>NULL</> is output as the <literal>NULL</> parameter string
580 and is not quoted, while a non-<literal>NULL</> value matching the
581 <literal>NULL</> parameter string is quoted. For example, with the
582 default settings, a <literal>NULL</> is written as an unquoted empty
583 string, while an empty string data value is written with double quotes
584 (<literal>""</>). Reading values follows similar rules. You can
585 use <literal>FORCE_NOT_NULL</> to prevent <literal>NULL</> input
586 comparisons for specific columns.
590 Because backslash is not a special character in the <literal>CSV</>
591 format, <literal>\.</>, the end-of-data marker, could also appear
592 as a data value. To avoid any misinterpretation, a <literal>\.</>
593 data value appearing as a lone entry on a line is automatically
594 quoted on output, and on input, if quoted, is not interpreted as the
595 end-of-data marker. If you are loading a file created by another
596 application that has a single unquoted column and might have a
597 value of <literal>\.</>, you might need to quote that value in the
603 In <literal>CSV</> format, all characters are significant. A quoted value
604 surrounded by white space, or any characters other than
605 <literal>DELIMITER</>, will include those characters. This can cause
606 errors if you import data from a system that pads <literal>CSV</>
607 lines with white space out to some fixed width. If such a situation
608 arises you might need to preprocess the <literal>CSV</> file to remove
609 the trailing white space, before importing the data into
610 <productname>PostgreSQL</>.
616 CSV format will both recognize and produce CSV files with quoted
617 values containing embedded carriage returns and line feeds. Thus
618 the files are not strictly one line per table row like text-format
625 Many programs produce strange and occasionally perverse CSV files,
626 so the file format is more a convention than a standard. Thus you
627 might encounter some files that cannot be imported using this
628 mechanism, and <command>COPY</> might produce files that other
629 programs cannot process.
636 <title>Binary Format</title>
639 The <literal>binary</literal> format option causes all data to be
640 stored/read as binary format rather than as text. It is
641 somewhat faster than the text and <literal>CSV</> formats,
642 but a binary-format file is less portable across machine architectures and
643 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> versions.
644 Also, the binary format is very data type specific; for example
645 it will not work to output binary data from a <type>smallint</> column
646 and read it into an <type>integer</> column, even though that would work
651 The <literal>binary</> file format consists
652 of a file header, zero or more tuples containing the row data, and
653 a file trailer. Headers and data are in network byte order.
658 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> releases before 7.4 used a
659 different binary file format.
664 <title>File Header</title>
667 The file header consists of 15 bytes of fixed fields, followed
668 by a variable-length header extension area. The fixed fields are:
672 <term>Signature</term>
675 11-byte sequence <literal>PGCOPY\n\377\r\n\0</> — note that the zero byte
676 is a required part of the signature. (The signature is designed to allow
677 easy identification of files that have been munged by a non-8-bit-clean
678 transfer. This signature will be changed by end-of-line-translation
679 filters, dropped zero bytes, dropped high bits, or parity changes.)
685 <term>Flags field</term>
688 32-bit integer bit mask to denote important aspects of the file format. Bits
689 are numbered from 0 (<acronym>LSB</>) to 31 (<acronym>MSB</>). Note that
690 this field is stored in network byte order (most significant byte first),
691 as are all the integer fields used in the file format. Bits
692 16-31 are reserved to denote critical file format issues; a reader
693 should abort if it finds an unexpected bit set in this range. Bits 0-15
694 are reserved to signal backwards-compatible format issues; a reader
695 should simply ignore any unexpected bits set in this range. Currently
696 only one flag bit is defined, and the rest must be zero:
702 if 1, OIDs are included in the data; if 0, not
706 </variablelist></para>
711 <term>Header extension area length</term>
714 32-bit integer, length in bytes of remainder of header, not including self.
715 Currently, this is zero, and the first tuple follows
716 immediately. Future changes to the format might allow additional data
717 to be present in the header. A reader should silently skip over any header
718 extension data it does not know what to do with.
726 The header extension area is envisioned to contain a sequence of
727 self-identifying chunks. The flags field is not intended to tell readers
728 what is in the extension area. Specific design of header extension contents
729 is left for a later release.
733 This design allows for both backwards-compatible header additions (add
734 header extension chunks, or set low-order flag bits) and
735 non-backwards-compatible changes (set high-order flag bits to signal such
736 changes, and add supporting data to the extension area if needed).
741 <title>Tuples</title>
743 Each tuple begins with a 16-bit integer count of the number of fields in the
744 tuple. (Presently, all tuples in a table will have the same count, but that
745 might not always be true.) Then, repeated for each field in the tuple, there
746 is a 32-bit length word followed by that many bytes of field data. (The
747 length word does not include itself, and can be zero.) As a special case,
748 -1 indicates a NULL field value. No value bytes follow in the NULL case.
752 There is no alignment padding or any other extra data between fields.
756 Presently, all data values in a binary-format file are
757 assumed to be in binary format (format code one). It is anticipated that a
758 future extension might add a header field that allows per-column format codes
763 To determine the appropriate binary format for the actual tuple data you
764 should consult the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> source, in
765 particular the <function>*send</> and <function>*recv</> functions for
766 each column's data type (typically these functions are found in the
767 <filename>src/backend/utils/adt/</filename> directory of the source
772 If OIDs are included in the file, the OID field immediately follows the
773 field-count word. It is a normal field except that it's not included
774 in the field-count. In particular it has a length word — this will allow
775 handling of 4-byte vs. 8-byte OIDs without too much pain, and will allow
776 OIDs to be shown as null if that ever proves desirable.
781 <title>File Trailer</title>
784 The file trailer consists of a 16-bit integer word containing -1. This
785 is easily distinguished from a tuple's field-count word.
789 A reader should report an error if a field-count word is neither -1
790 nor the expected number of columns. This provides an extra
791 check against somehow getting out of sync with the data.
798 <title>Examples</title>
801 The following example copies a table to the client
802 using the vertical bar (<literal>|</literal>) as the field delimiter:
804 COPY country TO STDOUT (DELIMITER '|');
809 To copy data from a file into the <literal>country</> table:
811 COPY country FROM '/usr1/proj/bray/sql/country_data';
816 To copy into a file just the countries whose names start with 'A':
818 COPY (SELECT * FROM country WHERE country_name LIKE 'A%') TO '/usr1/proj/bray/sql/a_list_countries.copy';
823 Here is a sample of data suitable for copying into a table from
824 <literal>STDIN</literal>:
832 Note that the white space on each line is actually a tab character.
836 The following is the same data, output in binary format.
837 The data is shown after filtering through the
838 Unix utility <command>od -c</command>. The table has three columns;
839 the first has type <type>char(2)</type>, the second has type <type>text</type>,
840 and the third has type <type>integer</type>. All the rows have a null value
843 0000000 P G C O P Y \n 377 \r \n \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0
844 0000020 \0 \0 \0 \0 003 \0 \0 \0 002 A F \0 \0 \0 013 A
845 0000040 F G H A N I S T A N 377 377 377 377 \0 003
846 0000060 \0 \0 \0 002 A L \0 \0 \0 007 A L B A N I
847 0000100 A 377 377 377 377 \0 003 \0 \0 \0 002 D Z \0 \0 \0
848 0000120 007 A L G E R I A 377 377 377 377 \0 003 \0 \0
849 0000140 \0 002 Z M \0 \0 \0 006 Z A M B I A 377 377
850 0000160 377 377 \0 003 \0 \0 \0 002 Z W \0 \0 \0 \b Z I
851 0000200 M B A B W E 377 377 377 377 377 377
852 </programlisting></para>
856 <title>Compatibility</title>
859 There is no <command>COPY</command> statement in the SQL standard.
863 The following syntax was used before <productname>PostgreSQL</>
864 version 9.0 and is still supported:
867 COPY <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ...] ) ]
868 FROM { '<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable>' | STDIN }
872 [ DELIMITER [ AS ] '<replaceable class="parameter">delimiter</replaceable>' ]
873 [ NULL [ AS ] '<replaceable class="parameter">null string</replaceable>' ]
875 [ QUOTE [ AS ] '<replaceable class="parameter">quote</replaceable>' ]
876 [ ESCAPE [ AS ] '<replaceable class="parameter">escape</replaceable>' ]
877 [ FORCE NOT NULL <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ...] ] ] ]
879 COPY { <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ...] ) ] | ( <replaceable class="parameter">query</replaceable> ) }
880 TO { '<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable>' | STDOUT }
884 [ DELIMITER [ AS ] '<replaceable class="parameter">delimiter</replaceable>' ]
885 [ NULL [ AS ] '<replaceable class="parameter">null string</replaceable>' ]
887 [ QUOTE [ AS ] '<replaceable class="parameter">quote</replaceable>' ]
888 [ ESCAPE [ AS ] '<replaceable class="parameter">escape</replaceable>' ]
889 [ FORCE QUOTE { <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ...] | * } ] ] ]
892 Note that in this syntax, <literal>BINARY</> and <literal>CSV</> are
893 treated as independent keywords, not as arguments of a <literal>FORMAT</>
898 The following syntax was used before <productname>PostgreSQL</>
899 version 7.3 and is still supported:
902 COPY [ BINARY ] <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [ WITH OIDS ]
903 FROM { '<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable>' | STDIN }
904 [ [USING] DELIMITERS '<replaceable class="parameter">delimiter</replaceable>' ]
905 [ WITH NULL AS '<replaceable class="parameter">null string</replaceable>' ]
907 COPY [ BINARY ] <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [ WITH OIDS ]
908 TO { '<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable>' | STDOUT }
909 [ [USING] DELIMITERS '<replaceable class="parameter">delimiter</replaceable>' ]
910 [ WITH NULL AS '<replaceable class="parameter">null string</replaceable>' ]