Loading CSV file to SQL Server table

Loading CSV file to database using BULK INSERT

Below are the step by step approach to easily load data from CSV file into SQL Server database table.

1. First create the table in the database corresponding to CSV file

CREATE TABLE NameList
(
FirstName varchar(40),
LastName varchar(40)
)

2. Now, generate format file for the above table using BCP Format option

C:\Users\venkat>BCP master.dbo.NameList format nul 
-x -S ServerName -c -f c:\dev\NameListFormat.xml -t, -T

3. Now, load data into the table using BULK INSERT

TRUNCATE TABLE dbo.NameList; -- (for testing)
BULK INSERT dbo.NameList
FROM 'c:\dev\NameList.csv'
WITH (FORMATFILE = 'C:\dev\NameListFormat.xml');
GO

4. Now, data is successfully loaded from CSV to SQL Server table.