I resolved it by doing this - is there another more efficient method? And yes, the text file I am working with doesn't have any TABs 5162 OK SM 06/12/04 06:12 substr("data", 30, 2)||'-'||substr("data", 27, 2)||'-20'||substr("data", 24, 2)||substr("data", 32, 6) as inspection_date On 13/08/07, novice <user.postgresql@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Thanks again guys =) > I've managed to use temp table to load the data and create new table/s > Now, how do I convert a text field with 'YY/MM/DD' to date field 'DD/MM/YY'? > > On 13/08/07, Tom Lane <tgl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Paul Lambert <paul.lambert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > > >> novice wrote: > > >>> db5=> \copy maintenance FROM test.txt > > > > > I don't think copy allows you to leave columns out of your input file - > > > even if they belong to a sequence. > > > > Well, it does, but you have to specify which ones are being provided, > > eg \copy tab(col1,col4,col7, ... > > > > But the long and the short of it is that COPY doesn't see any column > > delimiters at all in this file. We're guessing as to what the OP > > intends the columns to be, but whatever he wants, he needs something > > other than an uncertain number of spaces to separate them ... > > > > regards, tom lane > > > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- > > TIP 9: In versions below 8.0, the planner will ignore your desire to > > choose an index scan if your joining column's datatypes do not > > match > > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 3: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq