Thread: psql generate insert command based on select

Hi, today I needed to re-create certain records deleted from a mysql
database, so I restored an old backup, opened a terminal and logged in
to the old database using the "mysql" command line utility, then opened
a new terminal with mysql connected to the production database. Then did
a "select * from table where id=xxx \G;" to display a record, then, on
the other terminal I had to write "insert into table(field1,
field2,...,fieldN) values(...);" for each record.

While doing that I tought of a neat feature that psql could provide,
that is something like "\insert for select * from table where id=xxx;"
this should create the insert command for the requested query.

Is such a thing already present in psql?.

Regards,

--
Leonardo M. Ramé
Medical IT - Griensu S.A.
Av. Colón 636 - Piso 8 Of. A
X5000EPT -- Córdoba
Tel.: +54(351)4246924 +54(351)4247788 +54(351)4247979 int. 19
Cel.: +54 9 (011) 40871877

On 10/10/2014 10:27 AM, "Leonardo M. Ramé" wrote:
> Hi, today I needed to re-create certain records deleted from a mysql
> database, so I restored an old backup, opened a terminal and logged in
> to the old database using the "mysql" command line utility, then opened
> a new terminal with mysql connected to the production database. Then did
> a "select * from table where id=xxx \G;" to display a record, then, on
> the other terminal I had to write "insert into table(field1,
> field2,...,fieldN) values(...);" for each record.
>
> While doing that I tought of a neat feature that psql could provide,
> that is something like "\insert for select * from table where id=xxx;"
> this should create the insert command for the requested query.
>
> Is such a thing already present in psql?.

I may be missing something but:

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/interactive/sql-insert.html

INSERT INTO films SELECT * FROM tmp_films WHERE date_prod < '2004-05-07';

or are you thinking of something that takes a SELECT query and turns it
into a series of INSERT queries.

The only way I can of doing this is to use pg_dump -t some_table -a
--inserts or --column-inserts

>
> Regards,
>


--
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com

El 10/10/14 a las 14:37, Adrian Klaver escibió:
> On 10/10/2014 10:27 AM, "Leonardo M. Ramé" wrote:
>> Hi, today I needed to re-create certain records deleted from a mysql
>> database, so I restored an old backup, opened a terminal and logged in
>> to the old database using the "mysql" command line utility, then opened
>> a new terminal with mysql connected to the production database. Then did
>> a "select * from table where id=xxx \G;" to display a record, then, on
>> the other terminal I had to write "insert into table(field1,
>> field2,...,fieldN) values(...);" for each record.
>>
>> While doing that I tought of a neat feature that psql could provide,
>> that is something like "\insert for select * from table where id=xxx;"
>> this should create the insert command for the requested query.
>>
>> Is such a thing already present in psql?.
>
> I may be missing something but:
>
> http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/interactive/sql-insert.html
>
> INSERT INTO films SELECT * FROM tmp_films WHERE date_prod < '2004-05-07';
>
> or are you thinking of something that takes a SELECT query and turns
> it into a series of INSERT queries.
>
> The only way I can of doing this is to use pg_dump -t some_table -a
> --inserts or --column-inserts

The problem is I needed the make the insert statements in another
database, not the one I was connected to for soing the select.

The pg_dump could help in part, because after creating it I need to
delete all the unneeded records.

--
Leonardo M. Ramé
Medical IT - Griensu S.A.
Av. Colón 636 - Piso 8 Of. A
X5000EPT -- Córdoba
Tel.: +54(351)4246924 +54(351)4247788 +54(351)4247979 int. 19
Cel.: +54 9 (011) 40871877

On Oct 10, 2014, at 1:27 PM, Leonardo M. Ramé <l.rame@griensu.com> wrote:

> Hi, today I needed to re-create certain records deleted from a mysql database, so I restored an old backup, opened a
terminaland logged in to the old database using the "mysql" command line utility, then opened a new terminal with mysql
connectedto the production database. Then did a "select * from table where id=xxx \G;" to display a record, then, on
theother terminal I had to write "insert into table(field1, field2,...,fieldN) values(...);" for each record. 
>
> While doing that I tought of a neat feature that psql could provide, that is something like "\insert for select *
fromtable where id=xxx;" this should create the insert command for the requested query. 

You can do something like given below:
CREATE TABLE temp_generate_inserts AS SELECT * FROM table id=xx
Then use pg_dump --column-inserts  -t temp_generate_inserts db1|psql db2
and later you can drop temp_generate_inserts table.

With this you can also explore dblink_build_sql_insert function which comes with dblink module:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/interactive/contrib-dblink-build-sql-insert.html

Thanks & Regards,
Vibhor Kumar
(EDB) EnterpriseDB Corporation
The Postgres Database Company
Blog:http://vibhork.blogspot.com

El 10/10/14 a las 14:50, vibhor.kumar@enterprisedb.com escibió:
>
> On Oct 10, 2014, at 1:27 PM, Leonardo M. Ramé <l.rame@griensu.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi, today I needed to re-create certain records deleted from a mysql database, so I restored an old backup, opened a
terminaland logged in to the old database using the "mysql" command line utility, then opened a new terminal with mysql
connectedto the production database. Then did a "select * from table where id=xxx \G;" to display a record, then, on
theother terminal I had to write "insert into table(field1, field2,...,fieldN) values(...);" for each record. 
>>
>> While doing that I tought of a neat feature that psql could provide, that is something like "\insert for select *
fromtable where id=xxx;" this should create the insert command for the requested query. 
>
> You can do something like given below:
> CREATE TABLE temp_generate_inserts AS SELECT * FROM table id=xx
> Then use pg_dump --column-inserts  -t temp_generate_inserts db1|psql db2
> and later you can drop temp_generate_inserts table.
>
> With this you can also explore dblink_build_sql_insert function which comes with dblink module:
> http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/interactive/contrib-dblink-build-sql-insert.html
>
> Thanks & Regards,
> Vibhor Kumar
> (EDB) EnterpriseDB Corporation
> The Postgres Database Company
> Blog:http://vibhork.blogspot.com
>

Nice!, I didn't know the create table...as select... command.

--
Leonardo M. Ramé
Medical IT - Griensu S.A.
Av. Colón 636 - Piso 8 Of. A
X5000EPT -- Córdoba
Tel.: +54(351)4246924 +54(351)4247788 +54(351)4247979 int. 19
Cel.: +54 9 (011) 40871877

On 10/10/2014 10:42 AM, "Leonardo M. Ramé" wrote:
>
> El 10/10/14 a las 14:37, Adrian Klaver escibió:
>> On 10/10/2014 10:27 AM, "Leonardo M. Ramé" wrote:
>>> Hi, today I needed to re-create certain records deleted from a mysql
>>> database, so I restored an old backup, opened a terminal and logged in
>>> to the old database using the "mysql" command line utility, then opened
>>> a new terminal with mysql connected to the production database. Then did
>>> a "select * from table where id=xxx \G;" to display a record, then, on
>>> the other terminal I had to write "insert into table(field1,
>>> field2,...,fieldN) values(...);" for each record.
>>>
>>> While doing that I tought of a neat feature that psql could provide,
>>> that is something like "\insert for select * from table where id=xxx;"
>>> this should create the insert command for the requested query.
>>>
>>> Is such a thing already present in psql?.
>>
>> I may be missing something but:
>>
>> http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/interactive/sql-insert.html
>>
>> INSERT INTO films SELECT * FROM tmp_films WHERE date_prod < '2004-05-07';
>>
>> or are you thinking of something that takes a SELECT query and turns
>> it into a series of INSERT queries.
>>
>> The only way I can of doing this is to use pg_dump -t some_table -a
>> --inserts or --column-inserts
>
> The problem is I needed the make the insert statements in another
> database, not the one I was connected to for soing the select.

Another Postgres database or some other type.

>
> The pg_dump could help in part, because after creating it I need to
> delete all the unneeded records.

Well in Postgres 9.3+ you have the PROGRAM option to COPY that allows
you to pipe to/from an external program for further processing. In 9.2-
you could still use COPY to output to a CSV format say and then process
in a separate step. This could be done in a transaction in either case,
where the last step is a DELETE. Though whatever happens outside the
database would not be covered by the transaction.

Again if you are in 9.3+ you would be able to use the Postgres FDW to
write from one Postgres database to another. Otherwise you could use dblink:

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/interactive/dblink.html

>


--
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com

Still I think optimal way of doing this will be to use COPY command something like given below: