Importing CSV files

In this section, we will examine how to import CSV files. There are two possible methods—CSV and CSV using LOAD DATA. The first method is implemented internally by phpMyAdmin and is the recommended one for its simplicity. With the second method, phpMyAdmin receives the file to be loaded, and passes it to MySQL. In theory, this method should be faster. However, it has more requirements due to MySQL itself (refer to the Requirements sub-section of the CSV using LOAD DATA section).

Differences between SQL and CSV formats

Usually, the SQL format contains both structure and data. The CSV file format contains data only, so if we import in Table view, we must already have an existing table in place. This table does not need to have the same structure as the original table (from which the data comes); the Column names dialog enables us to choose which columns are affected in the target table.

Since version 3.4, we can also import a CSV file in Database view. In this case, phpMyAdmin...