import from SQL Server

G'day all.

I have a need to transfer data from a SQL Server database to a PostgreSQL
database.

For reasons known best to the designer of the SQL Server database, several of
the columns which I wish to transfer are defined as "binary" but contain
characters which one would normally expect to be defined as varchar.

This means that values exported from SQL Server look like enormous hex numbers
rather than ASCII character strings. That is, rather than seeing 'ABC', one
sees 0x616263.

Can anyone please tell me:

a) why anyone would define a column this way,

b) how I can import the data without writing a program.

Cheers and thanks,
Stephen.

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Stephen Davies Consulting scldad(at)sdc(dot)com(dot)au
Adelaide, South Australia. Voice: 61-8-82728863
Computing & Network solutions. Fax: 61-8-82741015