Re: Carriage return in text fields

on 5/30/05 2:19 AM, ets(at)rolland-fr(dot)com purportedly said:

> I have to transfert data from MS-Access to PostgreSQL 8.03 under Windows 2003
> server.
> Text fields may contain a carriage return (CR-LF).
> I use the copy instruction.
> Under Pg-Admin III 1.21, I obtain an error message for that carriage return
> and a hint : use \n.
> If I use a filter on the cvs file replacing carriage return with \n, copy
> works but I have the char \n
> in the text fields, not the carriage return !?
> If I use PSQL, the carriage return are replaced by a space !
> In Pg-Admin III I can insert a carriage return (with SHIFT ENTER) in a text
> field.
>
> How can I transfert my text fields WITH all the carriage return inside the
> text fields ?

The line break in a DOS text file is two characters, and you will need to
escape both for a COPY command to work: \r\n. For best results, you may
want to use the COPY command from the psql command line.

I am not sure what you are using to convert the text file, but you should
create a new text file so you can inspect and ensure your filter is working
correctly. My thought is that if you are getting a literal '\n' in your
field content it means that something is re-escaping and PG is actually
getting '\\n'.

Best,

Keary Suska
(719) 473-6431
(719) 440-9952 (cell)