---json
{
    "name":"Loading a csv",
    "canonical":"howto:database:load_csv",
    "title":"How to load a CSV file into a SQL table",
    "description":"How to upload a CSV file into a SQL table in two steps"
}
---

====== Tabli - How to load a CSV file into a SQL table ======

===== About =====
How to [[docs:op:upload|load]] a [[docs:connection:cd|local]] <icon name="carbon:csv"/> [[docs:resource:csv|CSV file]] into a [[docs:resource:table|SQL table]] with the [[docs:tabli:data:transfer|data transfer]] command.


===== Steps =====

==== Prerequisites ====
You should have ''Tabulify'' installed on your computer. [[howto:getting_started:1_install]]

<unit display="none">
<code dos>
tabli data drop --not-strict characters@sqlite
</code>
</unit>
==== The CSV file to load ====

We will load the ''characters.csv'' file of the [[docs:connection:howto|HowTo connection]]. The file can be seen with the [[docs:tabli:data:head|head command]].
<unit>
<code dos>
tabli data head characters.csv@howto
</code>
<console>
Last Name           First Name   Birth Date   Wikipedia Page
-----------------   ----------   ----------   ---------------------------------------------------
Schwarzenegger      Arnold       1947-07-30   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger
Norman              Don          1935-12-25   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Norman
Harbison Carnagey   Dale         1888-11-24   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Carnegie
Kahneman            Daniel       1934-03-05   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman
</console>
</unit>


<note tip>
If you want to change a [[docs:resource:csv|CSV property]], use the ''a'' attribute

Example with:
  * a text file extension, 
  * another separator 
  * and no header
<code bash>
tabli data head -a "type=csv" -a 'delimiterCharacter=;' -a 'headerRowId=0' characters.txt@howto
</code>
</note>

==== Loading the CSV file with the transfer command ====

We can load the above data using the [[docs:tabli:data:transfer|transfer command]] and the [[docs:connection:howtos#sqlite|sqlite built-in database]]
<unit>
<code dos>
tabli data transfer characters.csv@howto @sqlite
</code>
<console>
Source                 Target              Latency (ms)   Row Count   Error   Message
--------------------   -----------------   ------------   ---------   -----   -------
characters.csv@howto   characters@sqlite   25             4
</console>
</unit>

==== Check the data structure ====

We can check with the [[docs:tabli:data:struct|structure command]] that the process has created a table with the same [[docs:resource:structure|structure]].
<unit >
<code dos>
tabli data struct characters@sqlite
</code>
<console>
Position   Column Name      Data Type   Primary Key   Not Null   Auto Increment   Description
--------   --------------   ---------   -----------   --------   --------------   -----------
1          Last Name        text                      x          false
2          First Name       text                      x          false
3          Birth Date       text                      x          false
4          Wikipedia Page   text                      x          false
</console>
</unit>

==== Print the Sql table ====

We can check with the [[docs:tabli:data:print|print command]] that the same data was loaded
<unit>
<code dos>
tabli data print characters@sqlite
</code>
<console>
Last Name           First Name   Birth Date   Wikipedia Page
-----------------   ----------   ----------   ---------------------------------------------------
Schwarzenegger      Arnold       1947-07-30   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger
Norman              Don          1935-12-25   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Norman
Harbison Carnagey   Dale         1888-11-24   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Carnegie
Kahneman            Daniel       1934-03-05   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman
</console>
</unit>