On 06/06/2009 14:37, DimitryASuplatov wrote: > But then comes the problem because the only command I found to read in > the file content is COPY but the following command would not work Yes, this wont work here - COPY is intended for reading an entire table to or from a disk file, not a single column. It's used for bulk loading/exporting of data - pg_dump uses it, for example, when backing up a database. BTW, "index" is a reserved word, so you shouldn't use it as a column name. If you *really* have to use it, you'll need to double-quote it every time, which is a PITA. > mypdb=# copy pdb (filecontent) from > '/home/sda/Documents/Work/PVA_India/PGA_test_modeling/pdb/1gm9.pdb' > where index=1; > ERROR: syntax error at or near "where" > LINE 1: ...ts/Work/PVA_India/PGA_test_modeling/pdb/1gm9.pdb' where > inde... > > > QUESTION: what is the command to read the content of a plain text file > into a SPECIFIED table entry? I don't think you can, directly in the database. Instead, write a short script which reads the file contents into a string and then issues an SQL query to INSERT a new row or UPDATE an existing one. In PHP, for example (untested): // Get the file contents. $filename = 'my_file'; $h = fopen($filename, 'r'); $lines = fread($h, filesize($filename)); fclose($h); // Write the contents to the database. $sql = 'insert into pdb("index", filename, filecontents) values ($1, $2, $3)'; $conn = pg_connect([..your connection string..]); pg_query_params($sql, array(1, $filename, $lines)); HTH, Ray. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Raymond O'Donnell, Director of Music, Galway Cathedral, Ireland rod@xxxxxx Galway Cathedral Recitals: http://www.galwaycathedral.org/recitals ------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general