Convert pipe delimited text to SQL

Shiji Pan

1 year ago

Want to convert TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) file to SQL file?

If you want to import TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) file to SQL Server, see this page: TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) to SQL Server.

If you want to import TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) file to SQLite, see this page: TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) to SQLite.

Try Withdata Data File Converter, a desktop TXT to SQL converter for Windows, MacOS, and Linux, Convert TXT to SQL, Easy and Fast.

Can run in GUI mode, Step by Step, just a few mouse clicks.
Can run in Command line, for Scheduled Tasks and Streams.
Convert files locally and privately, avoid uploading large TXT file(s) to online services.
Support Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Convert TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) to SQL

“Start a New Convert” for “TXT to SQL”.

Select From “File” “TXT” To “File” “SQL”.

Support large TXT file ( > 4GB ).

Source TXT file’s content is like this:

After converting, you can view the output SQL file.

Value kind	in Pipe-delimited text	in SQL
Int	`1234`	`INT`
Bigint	`9007199254740993`	`BIGINT`
Decimal	`1234.56`	`DECIMAL(p,s)`
Float	`1.234e+10`	`DOUBLE PRECISION`
Text	`quoted only when it contains a pipe or a quote`	`VARCHAR(n)`
Long text	`must be quoted; line breaks inside force multi-line records`	`TEXT / CLOB`
Date	`2026-09-18`	`DATE`
Datetime	`2026-09-18 14:30:00`	`TIMESTAMP`
Binary	`not representable - base64 or hex string`	`BLOB / BYTEA`
Boolean	`TRUE / FALSE, or 1 / 0 depending on the writer`	`BOOLEAN / SMALLINT`
JSON	`the whole JSON value quoted, with internal quotes doubled`	`JSON / TEXT`

Both Pipe-delimited text and SQL are file formats, so what differs below is how each one chooses to represent a value.

Property	in Pipe-delimited text	in SQL
identifiers	`Double quotes; a literal quote is doubled ("" )`	`Two competing conventions: single-quoted literals and diale...`
dates	`Conventional text: 2026-09-18 or 2026-09-18 14:30:00`	`Depends on the dialect: DATE literals, TO_DATE(), or plain ...`
binary	`Not supported`	`Dialect-specific: X-quoted literal, 0x hex, or decode()`
separator	`Pipe "\|"`	`Statement terminators (;)`
encoding	`No declaration - UTF-8 works only with a BOM`	`No declaration`
typing	`None - every field is text`	`Types belong to the target database, and they differ betwee...`
shape	`Flat table, optional header row`	`Statements; a dump usually means CREATE TABLE plus INSERT rows`
ceiling	`No formal limit; row count bounded by memory`	`No formal limit, but a single INSERT statement has to fit i...`

For batch jobs, large files and scheduling use the Data File Converter converter — an offline desktop app for Windows, Linux and macOS. Free trial.