Question

I am trying to import a csv file to a mssql database with the BULK INSERT method. Problem is that it contains special character (norwegian letters æ, ø, and å) and after the insert is ran they get replaced by characters I don’t know the encoding of.

To be more specific, ø is replaced with °, å is replaced with Õ and æ is replaced with µ.

I also tried to convert them to UTF-8 before inserting, but I understood that the BULK INSERT method doesn’t support this. The respective UTF-8 encodings for æøå then ended up with something like +©.

I have also tried to use the wizard import function, but since I have identity on one of the columns, the import will just insert a 0 for every record rendering the import useless for copying.

Anyone know how I could set the encoding when running the bulk insert as it works perfectly with the identity column. I am using MS SQL Server Managent Studio 2008

Answer 1

I think there are two ways:

1. Specify CODEPAGE = RAW in your BULK INSERT command (see MSDN).
2. Create a format file and specify a collation for each column.