Convert SQL to pipe delimited text

Shiji Pan

1 year ago

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

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

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

Try Withdata Data File Converter, a desktop SQL to TXT converter for Windows, MacOS, and Linux, Convert SQL to TXT, 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 SQL file(s) to online services.
Support Windows, Linux, and macOS.

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

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

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

Support large SQL file ( > 4GB ).

Source SQL file’s content is like this:

After converting, you can view the output TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) file.

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

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

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

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