Project: Converting a CSV file to a MySQL table

The CSV file is a very common way to share tabular information across several platforms and programs. Every mature spreadsheet application supports the format. Therefore, various sectors of enterprise rely on it daily.

As the name implies, CSV files contain comma-separated values. These values are often enclosed in quotation marks. This tends to make CSV a predictable format for data and makes for easy development.

But for all its uses, the CSV format is very slow for searching and for collating data. Relational databases (RDBMS) are much more efficient. Therefore, it is useful to be able to import data from a CSV file into MySQL. Unfortunately, MySQL does not do this natively and not without considerable trouble.

Note

For examples of what some MySQL users do to import CSV file content into MySQL, see the comments on the mysqlimport client: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.4/en/mysqlimport.html

Further, if one tries to use mysqlimport for files...