Question

Is there a way to import a table and at that moment include an incremental primary key

I am importing a flat file, but I would like that SQL Server adds it an incremental primary key.

Is there a way, to avoid doing this:

1. CREATE TEMPORAL TABLE
2. INSERT ALL DATA TO A TEMPORAL TABLE
3. ALTER TEMPORAL TABLE AND ADD IT
   PRIMARY KEY;

I guess doing this costs lots of time…

Answer 1

Like this:

SELECT IDENTITY(int,1,1) AS ID, *
INTO #newtable
FROM dbo.OldTable;

But I would recommend investigating your particular problem and probably solving it using the ranking functions.