The dbload utility
The dbload utility loads data into databases or tables that IBM® Informix® products created. It transfers data from one or more text files into one or more existing tables.
Prerequisites: If the database contains label-based access control (LBAC) objects, the dbload utility can load only those rows in which your security label dominates the column-security label or the row-security label. If the entire table is to be loaded, you must have the necessary LBAC credentials for writing all of the labeled rows and columns. For more information about LBAC objects, see the IBM Informix Security Guide and the IBM Informix Guide to SQL: Syntax.
You cannot use the dbload utility on secondary servers in high-availability clusters.
When you use the dbload utility, you can manipulate a data file that you are loading or access a database while it is loading. When possible, use the LOAD statement, which is faster than dbload.
The dbload utility gives you a great deal of flexibility, but it is not as fast as the other methods, and you must prepare a command file to control the input. You can use dbload with data in a variety of formats.
- You can use dbload to load data from input files that were created with a variety of format arrangements. The dbload command file can accommodate data from entirely different database management systems.
- You can specify a starting point in the load by directing dbload to read but ignore x number of rows.
- You can specify a batch size so that after every x number of rows are inserted, the insert is committed.
- You can limit the number of bad rows read, beyond which dbload ends.
The cost of dbload flexibility is the time and effort spent creating the dbload command file, which is required for dbload operation. The input files are not specified as part of the dbload command line, and neither are the tables into which the data is inserted. This information is contained in the command file.