COPY (Transact-SQL)

Article
02/02/2023
16 minutes to read

This article explains how to use the COPY statement in Azure Synapse Analytics for loading from external storage accounts. The COPY statement provides the most flexibility for high-throughput data ingestion into Azure Synapse Analytics. Use COPY for the following capabilities:

Use lower privileged users to load without needing strict CONTROL permissions on the data warehouse
Execute a single T-SQL statement without having to create any additional database objects
Properly parse and load CSV files where delimiters (string, field, row) are escaped within string delimited columns
Specify a finer permission model without exposing storage account keys using Share Access Signatures (SAS)
Use a different storage account for the ERRORFILE location (REJECTED_ROW_LOCATION)
Customize default values for each target column and specify source data fields to load into specific target columns
Specify a custom row terminator for CSV files
Leverage SQL Server Date formats for CSV files
Specify wildcards and multiple files in the storage location path
Automatic schema discovery simplifies the process of defining and mapping source data into target tables
The automatic table creation process automatically creates the tables and works alongside with automatic schema discovery

Visit the following documentation for comprehensive examples and quickstarts using the COPY statement:

Syntax

COPY INTO [schema.]table_name
[(Column_list)] 
FROM '<external_location>' [,...n]
WITH  
 ( 
 [FILE_TYPE = {'CSV' | 'PARQUET' | 'ORC'} ]
 [,FILE_FORMAT = EXTERNAL FILE FORMAT OBJECT ]    
 [,CREDENTIAL = (AZURE CREDENTIAL) ]
 [,ERRORFILE = '[http(s)://storageaccount/container]/errorfile_directory[/]]' 
 [,ERRORFILE_CREDENTIAL = (AZURE CREDENTIAL) ]
 [,MAXERRORS = max_errors ] 
 [,COMPRESSION = { 'Gzip' | 'DefaultCodec'| 'Snappy'}] 
 [,FIELDQUOTE = 'string_delimiter'] 
 [,FIELDTERMINATOR =  'field_terminator']  
 [,ROWTERMINATOR = 'row_terminator']
 [,FIRSTROW = first_row]
 [,DATEFORMAT = 'date_format'] 
 [,ENCODING = {'UTF8'|'UTF16'}] 
 [,IDENTITY_INSERT = {'ON' | 'OFF'}]
 [,AUTO_CREATE_TABLE = {'ON' | 'OFF'} ]
)

Arguments

schema_name

Is optional if the default schema for the user performing the operation is the schema of the specified table. If schema is not specified, and the default schema of the user performing the COPY operation is different from the specified table, COPY will be canceled, and an error message will be returned.

table_name

Is the name of the table to COPY data into. The target table can be a temporary or permanent table and must already exist in the database. For automatic schema detection mode, do not provide a column list.

(column_list)

Is an optional list of one or more columns used to map source data fields to target table columns for loading data.

Do not specify a column_list when AUTO_CREATE_TABLE = 'ON'.

column_list must be enclosed in parentheses and delimited by commas. The column list is of the following format:

[(Column_name [default Default_value] [Field_number] [,...n])]

Column_name - the name of the column in the target table.
Default_value - the default value that will replace any NULL value in the input file. Default value applies to all file formats. COPY will attempt to load NULL from the input file when a column is omitted from the column list or when there is an empty input file field. Default value is preceded by the keyword 'default'
Field_number - the input file field number that will be mapped to the target column name.
The field indexing starts at 1.

When a column list is not specified, COPY will map columns based on the source and target ordinality: Input field 1 will go to target column 1, field 2 will go to column 2, etc.

External locations(s)

Is where the files containing the data is staged. Currently Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS) Gen2 and Azure Blob Storage are supported:

External location for Blob Storage: https://<account\>.blob.core.windows.net/<container\>/<path\>
External location for ADLS Gen2: https://<account\>.dfs.core.windows.net/<container\>/<path\>

Note

The .blob endpoint is available for ADLS Gen2 as well and currently yields the best performance. Use the .blob endpoint when .dfs is not required for your authentication method.

Account - The storage account name
Container - The blob container name
Path - the folder or file path for the data. The location starts from the container. If a folder is specified, COPY will retrieve all files from the folder and all its subfolders. COPY ignores hidden folders and doesn't return files that begin with an underline (_) or a period (.) unless explicitly specified in the path. This behavior is the same even when specifying a path with a wildcard.

Wildcards cards can be included in the path where

Wildcard path name matching is case-sensitive
Wildcard can be escaped using the backslash character (\)
Wildcard expansion is applied recursively. For instance, all CSV files under Customer1 (including subdirectories of Customer1) will be loaded in the following example: Account/Container/Customer1/*.csv

Note

For best performance, avoid specifying wildcards that would expand over a larger number of files. If possible, list multiple file locations instead of specifying wildcards.

Multiple file locations can only be specified from the same storage account and container via a comma-separated list such as:

https://<account>.blob.core.windows.net/<container\>/<path\>, https://<account\>.blob.core.windows.net/<container\>/<path\>…

FILE_TYPE = { 'CSV' | 'PARQUET' | 'ORC' }

FILE_TYPE specifies the format of the external data.

CSV: Specifies a comma-separated values file compliant to the RFC 4180 standard.
PARQUET: Specifies a Parquet format.
ORC: Specifies an Optimized Row Columnar (ORC) format.

Note

The file type 'Delimited Text' in PolyBase is replaced by the 'CSV' file format where the default comma delimiter can be configured via the FIELDTERMINATOR parameter.

FILE_FORMAT = external_file_format_name

FILE_FORMAT applies to Parquet and ORC files only and specifies the name of the external file format object that stores the file type and compression method for the external data. To create an external file format, use CREATE EXTERNAL FILE FORMAT.

CREDENTIAL (IDENTITY = '', SECRET = '')

CREDENTIAL specifies the authentication mechanism to access the external storage account. Authentication methods are:

	CSV	Parquet	ORC
Azure Blob Storage	SAS/MSI/SERVICE PRINCIPAL/KEY/AAD	SAS/KEY	SAS/KEY
Azure Data Lake Gen2	SAS/MSI/SERVICE PRINCIPAL/KEY/AAD	SAS (blob¹)/MSI (dfs²)/SERVICE PRINCIPAL/KEY/AAD	SAS (blob¹)/MSI (dfs²)/SERVICE PRINCIPAL/KEY/AAD

1: The .blob endpoint (.blob.core.windows.net) in your external location path is required for this authentication method.

2: The .dfs endpoint (.dfs.core.windows.net) in your external location path is required for this authentication method.

Note

When authenticating using Azure Active Directory (AAD) or to a public storage account, CREDENTIAL does not need to be specified.
If your storage account is associated with a VNet, you must authenticate using MSI (Managed Identity).

Authenticating with Shared Access Signatures (SAS)
- IDENTITY: A constant with a value of 'Shared Access Signature'
- SECRET: The shared access signature provides delegated access to resources in your storage account.
- Minimum permissions required: READ and LIST
Authenticating with Service Principals
- IDENTITY: <ClientID>@<OAuth_2.0_Token_EndPoint>
- SECRET: AAD Application Service Principal key
- Minimum RBAC roles required: Storage blob data contributor, Storage blob data contributor, Storage blob data owner, or Storage blob data reader
Authenticating with Storage account key
- IDENTITY: A constant with a value of 'Storage Account Key'
- SECRET: Storage account key
Authenticating with Managed Identity (VNet Service Endpoints)
- IDENTITY: A constant with a value of 'Managed Identity'
- Minimum RBAC roles required: Storage blob data contributor or Storage blob data owner for the AAD registered SQL Database server
Authenticating with an AAD user
- CREDENTIAL is not required
- Minimum RBAC roles required: Storage blob data contributor or Storage blob data owner for the AAD user

ERRORFILE = Directory Location

ERRORFILE only applies to CSV. Specifies the directory within the COPY statement where the rejected rows and the corresponding error file should be written. The full path from the storage account can be specified or the path relative to the container can be specified. If the specified path doesn't exist, one will be created on your behalf. A child directory is created with the name "rejectedrows". The "" character ensures that the directory is escaped for other data processing unless explicitly named in the location parameter.

Within this directory, there's a folder created based on the time of load submission in the format YearMonthDay -HourMinuteSecond (Ex. 20180330-173205). In this folder, two types of files are written, the reason (Error) file and the data (Row) file each pre-appending with the queryID, distributionID, and a file guid. Because the data and the reason are in separate files, corresponding files have a matching prefix.

If ERRORFILE has the full path of the storage account defined, then the ERRORFILE_CREDENTIAL will be used to connect to that storage. Otherwise, the value mentioned for CREDENTIAL will be used.

ERRORFILE_CREDENTIAL = (IDENTITY= '', SECRET = '')

ERRORFILE_CREDENTIAL only applies to CSV files. Supported data source and authentication methods are:

Azure Blob Storage - SAS/SERVICE PRINCIPAL/KEY/AAD
Azure Data Lake Gen2 - SAS/MSI/SERVICE PRINCIPAL/KEY/AAD
Authenticating with Shared Access Signatures (SAS)
- IDENTITY: A constant with a value of 'Shared Access Signature'
- SECRET: The shared access signature provides delegated access to resources in your storage account.
- Minimum permissions required: READ, LIST, WRITE, CREATE, DELETE
Authenticating with Service Principals
- IDENTITY: <ClientID>@<OAuth_2.0_Token_EndPoint>
- SECRET: AAD Application Service Principal key
- Minimum RBAC roles required: Storage blob data contributor or Storage blob data owner

Note

Use the OAuth 2.0 token endpoint V1

Authenticating with Storage account key
- IDENTITY: A constant with a value of 'Storage Account Key'
- SECRET: Storage account key
Authenticating with Managed Identity (VNet Service Endpoints)
- IDENTITY: A constant with a value of 'Managed Identity'
- Minimum RBAC roles required: Storage blob data contributor or Storage blob data owner for the AAD registered SQL Database server
Authenticating with an AAD user
- CREDENTIAL is not required
- Minimum RBAC roles required: Storage blob data contributor or Storage blob data owner for the AAD user

Note

If you are using the same storage account for your ERRORFILE and specifying the ERRORFILE path relative to the root of the container, you do not need to specify the ERROR_CREDENTIAL.

MAXERRORS = max_errors

MAXERRORS specifies the maximum number of reject rows allowed in the load before the COPY operation is canceled. Each row that cannot be imported by the COPY operation is ignored and counted as one error. If max_errors is not specified, the default is 0.

COMPRESSION = { 'DefaultCodec '| 'Snappy' | 'GZIP' | 'NONE'}

COMPRESSION is optional and specifies the data compression method for the external data.

CSV supports GZIP
Parquet supports GZIP and Snappy
ORC supports DefaultCodec and Snappy.
Zlib is the default compression for ORC

The COPY command will autodetect the compression type based on the file extension when this parameter is not specified:

.gz - GZIP
.snappy – Snappy
.deflate - DefaultCodec (Parquet and ORC only)

FIELDQUOTE = 'field_quote'

FIELDQUOTE applies to CSV and specifies a single character that will be used as the quote character (string delimiter) in the CSV file. If not specified, the quote character (") will be used as the quote character as defined in the RFC 4180 standard. Extended ASCII and multi-byte characters and are not supported with UTF-8 for FIELDQUOTE.

Note

FIELDQUOTE characters are escaped in string columns where there is a presence of a double FIELDQUOTE (delimiter).

FIELDTERMINATOR = 'field_terminator'

FIELDTERMINATOR Only applies to CSV. Specifies the field terminator that will be used in the CSV file. The field terminator can be specified using hexadecimal notation. The field terminator can be multi-character. The default field terminator is a (,). Extended ASCII and multi-byte characters and are not supported with UTF-8 for FIELDTERMINATOR.

ROW TERMINATOR = 'row_terminator'

ROW TERMINATOR Only applies to CSV. Specifies the row terminator that will be used in the CSV file. The row terminator can be specified using hexadecimal notation. The row terminator can be multi-character. By default, the row terminator is \r\n.

The COPY command prefixes the \r character when specifying \n (newline) resulting in \r\n. To specify only the \n character, use hexadecimal notation (0x0A). When specifying multi-character row terminators in hexadecimal, do not specify 0x between each character.

Extended ASCII and multi-byte characters and are not supported with UTF-8 for ROW TERMINATOR.

FIRSTROW = First_row_int

FIRSTROW applies to CSV and specifies the row number that is read first in all files for the COPY command. Values start from 1, which is the default value. If the value is set to two, the first row in every file (header row) is skipped when the data is loaded. Rows are skipped based on the existence of row terminators.

DATEFORMAT = { 'mdy' | 'dmy' | 'ymd' | 'ydm' | 'myd' | 'dym' }

DATEFORMAT only applies to CSV and specifies the date format of the date mapping to SQL Server date formats. For an overview of all Transact-SQL date and time data types and functions, see Date and Time Data Types and Functions (Transact-SQL). DATEFORMAT within the COPY command takes precedence over DATEFORMAT configured at the session level.

ENCODING = 'UTF8' | 'UTF16'

ENCODING only applies to CSV. Default is UTF8. Specifies the data encoding standard for the files loaded by the COPY command.

IDENTITY_INSERT = 'ON' | 'OFF'

IDENTITY_INSERT specifies whether the identity value or values in the imported data file are to be used for the identity column. If IDENTITY_INSERT is OFF (default), the identity values for this column are verified, but not imported. Azure Synapse Analytics will automatically assign unique values based on the seed and increment values specified during table creation. Note the following behavior with the COPY command:

If IDENTITY_INSERT is OFF, and table has an identity column
- A column list must be specified which does not map an input field to the identity column.
If IDENTITY_INSERT is ON, and table has an identity column
- If a column list is passed, it must map an input field to the identity column.
Default value is not supported for the IDENTITY COLUMN in the column list.
IDENTITY_INSERT can only be set for one table at a time.

AUTO_CREATE_TABLE = { 'ON' | 'OFF' }

AUTO_CREATE_TABLE specifies if the table could be automatically created by working alongside with automatic schema discovery. It is available only for parquet files.

ON: Enables automatic table creation. The COPY INTO process will create a new table automatically by discovering the structure of the file to be loaded.
OFF: Automatic table creation is not enabled. Default.

Note

The automatic table creation works alongside with automatic schema discovery. The automatic table creation is NOT enabled by default.

Do not load into hash distributed tables from parquet files using COPY INTO with AUTO_CREATE_TABLE = 'ON'.

If parquet files are to be loaded into hash distributed tables using COPY INTO, load it into a round robin staging table followed by INSERT ... SELECT from that table to the target hash distributed table.

Permissions

The user executing the COPY command must have the following permissions:

Requires INSERT and ADMINISTER BULK OPERATIONS permissions. In Azure Synapse Analytics, INSERT, and ADMINISTER DATABASE BULK OPERATIONS permissions are required.

Examples

A. Load from a public storage account

The following example is the simplest form of the COPY command, which loads data from a public storage account. For this example, the COPY statement's defaults match the format of the line item csv file.

COPY INTO dbo.[lineitem] 
FROM 'https://unsecureaccount.blob.core.windows.net/customerdatasets/folder1/lineitem.csv'

The default values of the COPY command are:

DATEFORMAT = Session DATEFORMAT
MAXERRORS = 0
COMPRESSION default is uncompressed
FIELDQUOTE = ""
FIELDTERMINATOR = ","
ROWTERMINATOR = '\n'

Important

COPY treats '\n' as '\r\n' internally. For more information, see the ROWTERMINATOR section.

FIRSTROW = 1
ENCODING = 'UTF8'
FILE_TYPE = 'CSV'
IDENTITY_INSERT = 'OFF'

The following example loads files that use the line feed as a row terminator such as a UNIX output. This example also uses a SAS key to authenticate to Azure Blob Storage.

COPY INTO test_1
FROM 'https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myblobcontainer/folder1/'
WITH (
    FILE_TYPE = 'CSV',
    CREDENTIAL=(IDENTITY= 'Shared Access Signature', SECRET='<Your_SAS_Token>'),
    --CREDENTIAL should look something like this:
    --CREDENTIAL=(IDENTITY= 'Shared Access Signature', SECRET='?sv=2018-03-28&ss=bfqt&srt=sco&sp=rl&st=2016-10-17T20%3A14%3A55Z&se=2021-10-18T20%3A19%3A00Z&sig=IEoOdmeYnE9%2FKiJDSHFSYsz4AkNa%2F%2BTx61FuQ%2FfKHefqoBE%3D'),
    FIELDQUOTE = '"',
    FIELDTERMINATOR=';',
    ROWTERMINATOR='0X0A',
    ENCODING = 'UTF8',
    DATEFORMAT = 'ymd',
    MAXERRORS = 10,
    ERRORFILE = '/errorsfolder',--path starting from the storage container
    IDENTITY_INSERT = 'ON'
)

C. Load with a column list with default values authenticating via Storage Account Key

This example loads files specifying a column list with default values.

--Note when specifying the column list, input field numbers start from 1
COPY INTO test_1 (Col_one default 'myStringDefault' 1, Col_two default 1 3)
FROM 'https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myblobcontainer/folder1/'
WITH (
    FILE_TYPE = 'CSV',
    CREDENTIAL=(IDENTITY= 'Storage Account Key', SECRET='<Your_Account_Key>'),
    --CREDENTIAL should look something like this:
    --CREDENTIAL=(IDENTITY= 'Storage Account Key', SECRET='x6RWv4It5F2msnjelv3H4DA80n0PQW0daPdw43jM0nyetx4c6CpDkdj3986DX5AHFMIf/YN4y6kkCnU8lb+Wx0Pj+6MDw=='),
    FIELDQUOTE = '"',
    FIELDTERMINATOR=',',
    ROWTERMINATOR='0x0A',
    ENCODING = 'UTF8',
    FIRSTROW = 2
)

D. Load Parquet or ORC using existing file format object

This example uses a wildcard to load all parquet files under a folder.

COPY INTO test_parquet
FROM 'https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myblobcontainer/folder1/*.parquet'
WITH (
    FILE_FORMAT = myFileFormat,
    CREDENTIAL=(IDENTITY= 'Shared Access Signature', SECRET='<Your_SAS_Token>')
)

E. Load specifying wild cards and multiple files

COPY INTO t1
FROM 
'https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myblobcontainer/folder0/*.txt', 
    'https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myblobcontainer/folder1'
WITH ( 
    FILE_TYPE = 'CSV',
    CREDENTIAL=(IDENTITY= '<client_id>@<OAuth_2.0_Token_EndPoint>',SECRET='<key>'),
    FIELDTERMINATOR = '|'
)

F. Load using MSI credentials

COPY INTO dbo.myCOPYDemoTable
FROM 'https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myblobcontainer/folder0/*.txt'
WITH (
    FILE_TYPE = 'CSV',
    CREDENTIAL = (IDENTITY = 'Managed Identity'),
    FIELDQUOTE = '"',
    FIELDTERMINATOR=','
)

G. Load using automatic schema detection

COPY INTO [myCOPYDemoTable]
FROM 'https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/customerdatasets/folder1/lineitem.parquet'
WITH (
    FILE_TYPE = 'Parquet',
    CREDENTIAL = ( IDENTITY = 'Shared Access Signature',  SECRET='<key>'),
    AUTO_CREATE_TABLE = 'ON'
)

FAQ

What is the performance of the COPY command compared to PolyBase?

The COPY command will have better performance depending on your workload.

Compressed files cannot be split automatically. For best loading performance, consider splitting your input into multiple files when loading compressed CSVs.
Large uncompressed CSV files can be split and loaded in parallel automatically, so there is no need to manually split uncompressed CSV files in most cases. In certain cases where auto file splitting is not feasible due to data characteristics, manually splitting large CSV’s may still benefit performance.

What is the file splitting guidance for the COPY command loading compressed CSV files?

Guidance on the number of files is outlined in the table below. Once the recommended number of files are reached, you will have better performance the larger the files. The number of files is determined by number of compute nodes multiplied by 60. For example, at 6000DWU we have 12 compute nodes and 12*60 = 720 partitions. For a simple file splitting experience, refer to How to maximize COPY load throughput with file splits.

DWU	#Files
100	60
200	60
300	60
400	60
500	60
1,000	120
1,500	180
2,000	240
2,500	300
3,000	360
5,000	600
6,000	720
7,500	900
10,000	1200
15,000	1800
30,000	3600

What is the file splitting guidance for the COPY command loading Parquet or ORC files?

There is no need to split Parquet and ORC files because the COPY command will automatically split files. Parquet and ORC files in the Azure storage account should be 256 MB or larger for best performance.

Are there any limitations on the number or size of files?

There are no limitations on the number or size of files; however, for best performance, we recommend files that are at least 4 MB.

Are there any known issues with the COPY statement?

If you have a Azure Synapse workspace that was created prior to 12/07/2020, you may run into a similar error message when authenticating using Managed Identity: com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: Managed Service Identity has not been enabled on this server. Please enable Managed Service Identity and try again.

Follow these steps to work around this issue by re-registering the workspace's managed identity:

Go to your Azure Synapse workspace in the Azure portal.
Go to the Managed identities page.
If the "Allow Pipelines" option is already checked, you must uncheck this setting and save.
Check the "Allow Pipelines" option and save.

Next steps

Loading overview with Azure Synapse Analytics

COPY (Transact-SQL)

Syntax

Arguments

schema_name

table_name

(column_list)

External locations(s)

FILE_TYPE = { 'CSV' | 'PARQUET' | 'ORC' }

FILE_FORMAT = external_file_format_name

CREDENTIAL (IDENTITY = '', SECRET = '')

ERRORFILE = Directory Location

ERRORFILE_CREDENTIAL = (IDENTITY= '', SECRET = '')

MAXERRORS = max_errors

COMPRESSION = { 'DefaultCodec '| 'Snappy' | 'GZIP' | 'NONE'}

FIELDQUOTE = 'field_quote'

FIELDTERMINATOR = 'field_terminator'

ROW TERMINATOR = 'row_terminator'

FIRSTROW = First_row_int

DATEFORMAT = { 'mdy' | 'dmy' | 'ymd' | 'ydm' | 'myd' | 'dym' }

ENCODING = 'UTF8' | 'UTF16'

IDENTITY_INSERT = 'ON' | 'OFF'

AUTO_CREATE_TABLE = { 'ON' | 'OFF' }

Permissions

Examples

A. Load from a public storage account

C. Load with a column list with default values authenticating via Storage Account Key

D. Load Parquet or ORC using existing file format object

E. Load specifying wild cards and multiple files

F. Load using MSI credentials

G. Load using automatic schema detection

FAQ

What is the performance of the COPY command compared to PolyBase?

What is the file splitting guidance for the COPY command loading compressed CSV files?

What is the file splitting guidance for the COPY command loading Parquet or ORC files?

Are there any limitations on the number or size of files?

Are there any known issues with the COPY statement?

Next steps

Additional resources

Additional resources

COPY (Transact-SQL)

Syntax

Arguments

schema_name

table_name

(column_list)

External locations(s)

FILE_TYPE = { 'CSV' | 'PARQUET' | 'ORC' }

FILE_FORMAT = external_file_format_name

CREDENTIAL (IDENTITY = '', SECRET = '')

ERRORFILE = Directory Location

ERRORFILE_CREDENTIAL = (IDENTITY= '', SECRET = '')

MAXERRORS = max_errors

COMPRESSION = { 'DefaultCodec '| 'Snappy' | 'GZIP' | 'NONE'}

FIELDQUOTE = 'field_quote'

FIELDTERMINATOR = 'field_terminator'

ROW TERMINATOR = 'row_terminator'

FIRSTROW = First_row_int

DATEFORMAT = { 'mdy' | 'dmy' | 'ymd' | 'ydm' | 'myd' | 'dym' }

ENCODING = 'UTF8' | 'UTF16'

IDENTITY_INSERT = 'ON' | 'OFF'

AUTO_CREATE_TABLE = { 'ON' | 'OFF' }

Permissions

Examples

A. Load from a public storage account

B. Load authenticating via Share Access Signature (SAS)

C. Load with a column list with default values authenticating via Storage Account Key

D. Load Parquet or ORC using existing file format object

E. Load specifying wild cards and multiple files

F. Load using MSI credentials

G. Load using automatic schema detection

FAQ

What is the performance of the COPY command compared to PolyBase?

What is the file splitting guidance for the COPY command loading compressed CSV files?

What is the file splitting guidance for the COPY command loading Parquet or ORC files?

Are there any limitations on the number or size of files?

Are there any known issues with the COPY statement?

Next steps

Additional resources

Additional resources