Importing Data

You can use INSERT, COPY, or \copy (a gsql meta-command) to import data to the GaussDB database. The methods have different characteristics. For details, see Table 1.

**Table 1** Import modes
Mode	Characteristics
INSERT	Insert one or more rows of data, or insert data from a specified table.
COPY	Run the COPY FROM STDIN statement to write data into the GaussDB database. Service data does not need to be stored in files when it is written from other databases to the GaussDB database through the CopyManager interface driven by JDBC.
\copy, a gsql meta-command	Different from the SQL COPY statement, the \copy command can read data from or write data into only local files on a gsql client. NOTE: \copy applies only to small-scale data import in good format. It does not preprocess invalid characters or provide error tolerance. Therefore, \copy cannot be used in scenarios where abnormal data exists. COPY is preferred for data import.