Import data from CSV

To import data from a CSV file into your Neon database, create the target table first, then run the psql \copy meta command from a session connected to your database. \copy streams the CSV from your l...

To import data from a CSV file into your Neon database, create the target table first, then run the psql \copy meta-command from a session connected to your database. \copy streams the CSV from your local machine over the existing connection, so it works without any special server-side file access. This topic walks through the process with a simple example.

The instructions require a working installation of psql. The psql client is the native command-line client for Postgres. It provides an interactive session for sending commands to Postgres. For installation instructions, see How to install psql.

The following example uses the ready-to-use neondb database that is created with your Neon project, a table named customer, and a data file named customer.csv. Data is loaded from the customer.csv file into the customer table.

Connect to your database
Connect to the neondb database using psql. For example:
Bash
```
psql "<your_neon_database_connection_string>"
```
You can find your connection string by clicking Connect in the Console nav. Use the drop-down menu to copy a full psql connection command.
For more information about connecting to Neon with psql, see Connect with psql.
Create the target table
Create the customer table: the table you are importing to must exist in your database and the columns must match your CSV file.
SQL
```
CREATE TABLE customer (
   id SERIAL,
   first_name VARCHAR(50),
   last_name VARCHAR(50),
   email VARCHAR(255),
   PRIMARY KEY (id)
)
```
You can also create tables using the SQL Editor in the Neon Console. See Query with Neon's SQL Editor.
Prepare the CSV file
Prepare a customer.csv file with the following data. Note that the columns in the CSV file match the columns in the table you created in the previous step.
```
First Name,Last Name,Email
1,Casey,Smith,casey.smith@example.com
2,Sally,Jones,sally.jones@example.com
```
Load the data
From your psql prompt, load the data from the customer.csv file using the \copy option.
Bash
```
\copy customer FROM '/path/to/customer.csv' DELIMITER ',' CSV HEADER
```
If the command runs successfully, it returns the number of records copied to the database:
Bash
```
COPY 2
```
For more information about the \copy option, refer to the psql reference, in the PostgreSQL Documentation.

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Import data from CSV

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