Port Bug Report: Can't import nullable date field with COPY in psql

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POSTGRESQL BUG REPORT TEMPLATE
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Your name : Jay MacDonald
Your email address : jaym(at)aztech-cs(dot)com

Category : runtime: back-end
Severity : non-critical

Summary: Can't import nullable date field with COPY in psql

System Configuration
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Operating System : Linux 2.0.35 ELF

PostgreSQL version : 6.4

Compiler used : gcc 2.7.2.1

Hardware:
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AMD K6 266, 128 MB RAM
S.u.S.E 5.2
Linux minotaur 2.0.35 #1 Tue Aug 11 14:25:16 PDT 1998 i586 unknown

Versions of other tools:
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GNU Make version 3.76.1

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Problem Description:
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I have defined a date type field that can be null. When I
try to use COPY to import a text file it pukes if there
is no value in that field.

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Test Case:
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1. Create a table test:
CREATE TABLE test (
stock char(6) NOT NULL,
date_in date NOT NULL,
date_out date,
sort_date date NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (stock)
);

2. Create file test.dat with the following lines:

M10004|19981219||19981219
M10008|19981219||19981219
M10011|19981219||19981219

3. Attempt to use COPY to import the data:
ram=> COPY test FROM '/disk2/data/ram/test.dat' USING DELIMITERS '|';
ERROR: Bad date external representation
ram=>

If I enter a date value into that null field in the data
file it imports okay. I tried filling it with the string
NULL, but no success.

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Solution:
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