There is a huge difference between a NULL and NOT NULL and an empty string and it would be handled in the table definition statements of the 'new' RDBMS usually with a default column setting.
However, in this case the MySQL columns values are NULL the problem (if it is one) is that /N does not mean NULL in other RDBMS and you have to craft a method of converting or parsing the data either at load or pre-load to another format to allow for the /N. e.g. Oracle would use a nullif (column name ="//N") in a sql load script but that is a real pain to have to do with a large number of tables involved. There does not appear to be any way to figure out an alternative method of outputing a NULL value... that was what I was driving at... If it were possible to produce a csv file say where the values for a row were exportable as: 7543753, 4545, hgchkgc,,,,, or 7543753, 4545, 'hgchkgc','','',,'','' Instead of: 7543753, 4545, hgchkgc,/N,/N,/N,/N,/N Where you can see the difference between a string and numerical null columns even I'd be happier .... Is this possible at MySQL mysqldump execution time. Regards, Dominic -----Original Message----- From: Keith C. Ivey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 27 February 2002 15:12 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: NULL Values in mysqldump On 27 Feb 2002, at 8:18, Baines, Dominic wrote: > If you immediately use the dump, this is fine if it is to be used > with MySQL but if you want to port it to another RDBMS the /N for > a NULL causes some 'issues'. If you don't care about the difference between NULL and the empty string or 0, why not just set the columns to NOT NULL and be done with it? If you do care about the difference, how do you propose to preserve it when you're porting to another database? --Keith Filter fodder: SQL, query -- Keith C. Ivey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Washington, DC --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before posting, please check: http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before posting, please check: http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php
