MySQL Bugs: #1524: Can you load from flat files with fixed positions?

Bug #1524	Can you load from flat files with fixed positions?
Submitted:	10 Oct 2003 11:48	Modified:	13 Oct 2003 5:34
Reporter:	Udi Karni	Email Updates:
Status:	Closed	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server: Command-line Clients	Severity:	S4 (Feature request)
Version:	4.0.15	OS:	Windows (Windows)
Assigned to:	Sergei Golubchik	CPU Architecture:	Any

Description:
Is there or will there soon be an ability to load from flat files where the incoming data is described similar to the Oracle POSITIONS clause? in leu of the FIELDS TERMINATED notation?

PID    POSITION (001:010),
NAME   POSITION (011:040),
ADDR   POSITION (041:080)....

How to repeat:
n/a

Sergei we have plans in the future for that import option ?

1) I should note that you can achieve desired result even with current LOAD DATA using its ability to work with fixed-row file format (although it may require creating of temporary table if field widths in your file differ from display widths of columns in target table).

Please, read documentation on this subject at http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/LOAD_DATA.html

2) Also we are going to support extended syntax for LOAD DATA which will allow you to use construction similar to next statement:

LOAD DATA INFILE 'data.txt' INTO TABLE sometable FIELDS TERMINATED BY '#somebogussymbol' (@a) SET pid=mid(@a,1,10), name=mid(@a,11,30), addr=mid(@a,41,40);

So instead of direct loading of parts of the string from 'data.txt' into fields of table, you load each string in variable and then fill fields with parts of variable value.

It is not yet known will this feature appear in 4.1 or in 5.0
(it will likely to break 4.1 -> 4.0 replication in first case...)

Thank you for your interest in MySQL Udi!