LOAD DATA|V4.2.5| docs|Distributed Database

LOAD DATA

Last Updated：2026-02-11 07:43:39 Updated

Purpose

This statement is used to import data from an external file.

Notice

Tables with triggers cannot use the LOAD DATA statement.
To import data from an external file, you must have the FILE privilege and the following settings are required:
- When loading a server-side file, you must set the system variable secure_file_priv in advance. This variable specifies the path for accessing files during import or export.
- When loading a client-side file, you must add the --local-infile[=1] option when starting the MySQL/OBClient client to enable loading data from the local file system.

OceanBase Database supports the following input file types for the LOAD DATA statement:

Server-side (OBServer node) files: These files are stored on the OBServer node of OceanBase Database. You can use the LOAD DATA INFILE statement to load data from these files into a database table.
Client-side (local) files: These files are stored on the local file system of the client. You can use the LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE statement to load data from these files into a database table.

Note

Starting from V4.2.2 of OceanBase Database's Oracle mode, you can use the LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE statement to load local data files.
OSS files: These files are stored in the OSS file system. You can use the LOAD DATA REMOTE_OSS INFILE statement to load data from these files into a database table.

The LOAD DATA statement can currently import data from CSV text files. The entire import process can be divided into the following steps:

Parse the file: OceanBase Database reads the data from the file based on the file name provided by the user. It then determines whether to parse the data in parallel or sequentially based on the specified parallelism.
Distribute the data: Since OceanBase Database is a distributed database, data in different partitions may be stored on different OBServer nodes. The LOAD DATA statement calculates the parsed data and determines which OBServer node the data should be sent to.
Insert the data: Once the target OBServer node receives the data, it executes the INSERT statement to insert the data into the corresponding partition.

To import data from an external file, you must have the FILE privilege. You can use the GRANT FILE ON *.* TO $user_name; statement to grant this privilege, where $user_name is the user who needs to execute the LOAD DATA statement.

Syntax

LOAD DATA
    [ [/*+ PARALLEL(N) load_batch_size(M) APPEND */]
      | [/*+ PARALLEL(N) direct(bool, int) */] ]
    [REMOTE_OSS | LOCAL] INFILE 'file_name'
    INTO TABLE table_name
    [{FIELDS | COLUMNS}
        [TERMINATED BY 'string']
        [[OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY 'char']
        [ESCAPED BY 'char']
    ]
    [LINES
        [STARTING BY 'string']
        [TERMINATED BY 'string']
    ]
    [IGNORE number {LINES | ROWS}]
    [(column_name_var
        [, column_name_var] ...)]

Parameters

Parameter	Description
parallel(N)	The degree of parallelism for data loading. The default value is `4`.
load_batch_size(M)	The size of the batch to be inserted each time. The default value is `100`. We recommend that you set the value to a number in the range of [100,1000].
APPEND	A hint for enabling direct load, which allows you to directly allocate space in the data file and write data to the file. By default, the `APPEND` hint is equivalent to the `direct(true, 0)` hint. In addition, the `APPEND` hint enables online statistics collection (the `GATHER_OPTIMIZER_STATISTICS` hint).
direct	A hint for enabling direct load. In the `direct(bool, int)` hint, the `bool` parameter indicates whether the specified CSV file needs to be sorted. If the value is `true`, the file needs to be sorted. The `int` parameter indicates the maximum number of error rows that can be tolerated.
REMOTE_OSS \| LOCAL	Optional. `REMOTE_OSS` specifies whether to read data from the OSS file system. Notice If you specify this parameter, `file_name` must be an OSS address. `LOCAL` specifies whether to read data from the local file system of the client. If you do not specify the `LOCAL` parameter, data is read from the file system of the server (OBServer node).
file_name	The path and name of the input file. `file_name` can be in the following formats: If the import file is stored on the OBServer node or the client: `/$PATH/$FILENAME`. If the import file is stored on OSS: `oss://$PATH/$FILENAME/?host=$HOST&access_id=$ACCESS_ID&access_key=$ACCESSKEY`. The following table describes the parameters: `$PATH`: the file path in the storage bucket, which indicates the directory where the file is stored. `$FILENAME`: the name of the file to be accessed. `$HOST`: the hostname or CDN-accelerated domain name of the OSS service, which indicates the address of the OSS service. `$ACCESS_ID`: the Access Key ID required to access the OSS service, which is used for authentication. `$ACCESSKEY`: the Access Key Secret required to access the OSS service, which is used for authentication. Note When you import a file from OSS, make sure that the following conditions are met: You have the required permissions to access the specified storage bucket and file. You need to set the access permissions in the OSS console or by using the OSS API, and configure the Access Key ID and Access Key Secret as appropriate credentials. The database server can connect to the specified `$HOST` address to access the OSS service. If you use the CDN-accelerated domain name of the OSS service, make sure that the CDN is correctly configured and the network connection is normal.
table_name	The name of the table to which the data is imported. You can import data to a partitioned table or a non-partitioned table.
FIELDS \| COLUMNS	The format of the fields. `ENCLOSED BY` specifies the modifier for the exported values. `TERMINATED BY` specifies the delimiter for the exported columns. `ESCAPED BY` specifies the character to be ignored when the exported values are processed.
LINES STARTING BY	The starting delimiter of a line.
LINES TERMINATED BY	The ending delimiter of a line.
IGNORE number { LINES \| ROWS }	The number of lines to be ignored. `LINES` specifies the number of lines at the beginning of the file, and `ROWS` specifies the number of rows at the beginning of the file. By default, the input file is matched with the columns of the table. If the input file does not contain all the columns, the missing columns are filled with default values as follows: For a character column: an empty string. For a numeric column: 0. For a date column: `0000-00-00`.
column_name_var	The name of the column to be imported.

Examples

Example 1: Import data from a file on the server (OBServer node)

Set the global secure file path.

Notice

Due to security reasons, when you set the secure_file_priv system variable, you can only modify the global variable by using a local socket connection. For more information, see secure_file_priv.
```
obclient> SET GLOBAL secure_file_priv = "/";
```
Log out.

Note

Since secure_file_priv is a GLOBAL variable, you need to execute the \q command to make the change take effect.
```
obclinet> \q
```
The return result is as follows:
```
Bye
```

After you reconnect to the database, use the LOAD DATA statement to import data.

Normal import.

obclient> LOAD DATA INFILE '/home/admin/test.csv' INTO TABLE t1;

Enable direct load by using the APPEND hint.

LOAD DATA /*+ PARALLEL(4) APPEND */ INFILE '/home/admin/test.csv' INTO TABLE t1;

Example 2: Import data from an OSS file

Notice

When you use an OSS path, the parameters in the path are separated by the & symbol. Make sure that the parameter values you enter contain only uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, \/-_$+=, and wildcards. If you enter other characters, the settings may fail.

Enable direct load by using the direct(bool, int) hint. The imported file is stored on OSS.

LOAD DATA /*+ direct(true,1024) parallel(16) */ REMOTE_OSS INFILE 'oss://antsys-oceanbasebackup/backup_rd/xiaotao.ht/lineitem2.tbl?host=***.oss-cdn.***&access_id=***&access_key=***' INTO TABLE tbl1 FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',';

Example 3: Import data from a local file (client)

Run the following statement to import data from a local file to a table in OceanBase Database.

Open the terminal or command prompt window and enter the following command to start the client.

obclient --local-infile -hxxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -P2881 -usys@oracle001 -p******

The return result is as follows:

Welcome to the OceanBase.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your OceanBase connection id is 3221548006
Server version: OceanBase 4.2.2.0 (r100000032024010510-75c47d4be18a399e13c5309de1a81da5caf4e7c0) (Built Jan  5 2024 10:17:55)

Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, OceanBase and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

obclient [SYS]>

Notice

To use the LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE feature, use OBClient V2.2.4 or later.

In the client, execute the LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE statement to load the local data file.

obclient [SYS]> LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE '/home/admin/test_data/tbl1.csv' INTO TABLE tbl1 FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',';

The return result is as follows:

Query OK, 3 rows affected
Records: 3  Deleted: 0  Skipped: 0  Warnings: 0

References

For more information about how to use the LOAD DATA statement, see Import data by using the LOAD DATA statement.
For more information about how to use the LOAD DATA statement for direct load, see Import data by using the LOAD DATA statement for direct load.

LOAD DATA

Purpose

Notice

Note

Syntax

Parameters

Notice

Note

Examples

Example 1: Import data from a file on the server (OBServer node)

Notice

Note

Example 2: Import data from an OSS file

Notice

Example 3: Import data from a local file (client)

Notice

References