Importing and exporting CSV files with PostgreSQL

Let’s see how to use PostgreSQL to import and export CSV files painlessly with the COPY command.

Import CSV into table t_words:

COPY t_words FROM '/path/to/file.csv' DELIMITER ',' CSV;

You can tell quote char with QUOTE and change delimiter with DELIMITER.

Import CSV into table t_words, telling what columns to use:

COPY t_words("name", "count", "def") FROM 'file.csv' DELIMITER ',' CSV; 

Export table to a CSV file:

COPY t_words TO 'file.csv' DELIMITER ',' CSV HEADER; 

Export custom results to a CSV file:

COPY (SELECT word, def FROM t_words) TO 'file.csv' CSV;