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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-14T08:33:45+00:00

I studied the new MERGE Statement and there is a nice example for importing

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I studied the new MERGE Statement and there is a nice example for importing a flatfile.

INSERT <Table>
SELECT * FROM OPENROWSET BULK <Import-Flat-File>, <Format-File>...

seems to be a good replacment for such a simple job and avoids to build a SSIS-Package.

EXEC XP_CMDSHELL bcp <Table or View> out <Flat-File> ...

is almost simpler than building an SSIS, isn’t it?
The old style DTS fitted better for this small jobs.

(I know that the MERGE-Statement doesn’t run on a SQL2005)

Do you think that scripting is the best approach for such ‘easy things’? Or schould i go deeper into SSIS doing simple import/export’s?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Having xp_CmdShell active on a SQL machine is considered a security risk, so I’d avoid that if possible.

    I’d do this in SSIS if it were me – It will be a few minutes more work, but you get the ability to version control via source control so the logic of the task is backed up, you’ll also get error-handling so you can decide how to handle the error when it inevitably goes wrong.

    Also you’ll get better with SSIS, no harm practising with minor tasks 🙂

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