Skipping a Column in SQL Loader

Question

Hi all,
I have successfully used SQL*Loader in the example below.
Data to Import:
1     Ahmed Baraka     1000     1.87     1-1-2000
2     John Rice     5000     2.4     10-5-1998
3     Emme Rak     2500     2.34     
4     King Size     2700     
5     Small Size     3000          31-3-2001
Table Structure
PERSONS
(ID NUMBER,     
PNAME VARCHAR2(100),
BALANCE NUMBER,
RATE NUMBER,
JOIN_DATE DATE );
Control File:
OPTIONS ( ERRORS=0)
LOAD DATA
INFILE 'C:\temp\data\persons.dat'
BADFILE 'C:\temp\data\persons.bad'
DISCARDFILE 'C:\temp\data\persons.dsc'
INTO TABLE "HR"."PERSONS" REPLACE
FIELDS TERMINATED BY X'9' TRAILING NULLCOLS
(ID INTEGER EXTERNAL,
PNAME CHAR,
BALANCE INTEGER EXTERNAL,
RATE FLOAT EXTERNAL,
JOIN_DATE date 'dd-mm-yyyy')My question is: suppose the table PERSONS doesn't have RATE column, what modification shall I do in the control file to import the data into the table without the RATE data?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hello Ahmed.
Based on the last control file, you would need to change toOPTIONS ( ERRORS=0)
LOAD DATA
INFILE 'C:\temp\data\persons.dat'
BADFILE 'C:\temp\data\persons.bad'
DISCARDFILE 'C:\temp\data\persons.dsc'
INTO TABLE "MYTABLE" REPLACE FIELDS TERMINATED BY X'9' TRAILING NULLCOLS
(B INTEGER EXTERNAL,
A CHAR)As you can see, I just changed the table and then the column names to match the columns in the target table. I experimented with BOUNDFILLER a bit to demonstrate how you could retain the original file definition and then use it for the new table, but I wasn't happy enough with how it works and when it doesn't to demonstrate its use here.
Hope this helps,
Luke
P.S. You may want to create a new post especially when the existing thread is noted as answered instead of using an old post. I only happened to see this because I was navigating through the threads and scrolling down.