On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 9:49 AM, Rich Shepard <rshepard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > I have a lot of data currently in .pdf files. I can extract the relevant > data to plain text and format it to create a large text file of "INSERT INTO > ..." rows. I need a unique ID for each row and there are no columns that > would make a natural key so the serial data type would be appropriate. > > When I prepare the text file I can start each row with the delimiter (',') > to indicate there's a table column preceding. If I define the primary key > as serial type on that first position in the file, will postgres > automagically fill it in as each row is read into the table? > > If not, or if there's a better way of approaching this task, please clue > me in to that. If you format your copy statement with a column list that leaves out the serial key the db will insert that for you. file: /tmp/input.sql copy test (i1) from stdin; 10 20 30 40 50 \. create table test (id serial primary key, i1 int); \i /tmp/input.sql select * from test id | i1 ----+---- 1 | 10 2 | 20 3 | 30 4 | 40 5 | 50 (5 rows) -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general