SQL Server Bulk INSERT with Square Bracket Quoting

SQL Server-Specific Bulk INSERT

SQL Server has unique syntax requirements that set it apart from MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite. The bulk INSERT tool generates fully compatible output when you select the SQL Server dialect.

Square Bracket Identifiers

SQL Server uses square brackets for quoting identifiers:

INSERT INTO [users] ([id], [first_name], [email])
VALUES
  (1, 'Alice', 'alice@example.com'),
  (2, 'Bob', 'bob@example.com');

Type Mappings

SQL Server uses different type names:

Standard SQL	SQL Server
BOOLEAN	BIT
VARCHAR(n)	NVARCHAR(n)
TEXT	NTEXT
INTEGER	INTEGER
DECIMAL(p,s)	DECIMAL(p,s)

The N prefix (NVARCHAR, NTEXT) indicates Unicode support, which is the modern standard for SQL Server.

Row Limit

SQL Server has a hard limit of 1,000 rows per INSERT statement. The tool respects this by capping the batch size at 1000 when SQL Server is selected.

Transaction Syntax

SQL Server uses BEGIN TRANSACTION (not just BEGIN):

BEGIN TRANSACTION;

INSERT INTO [events] ([id], [type])
VALUES
  (1, 'login'),
  (2, 'click');

COMMIT;

CREATE TABLE Example

CREATE TABLE [products] (
  [sku] NVARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
  [name] NVARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
  [price] DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL,
  [active] BIT NOT NULL
);

MERGE for Upserts

SQL Server does not support ON CONFLICT. For upserts, the MERGE statement is used, but its syntax is complex for bulk operations. The tool adds a comment noting this when upsert is selected for SQL Server.