Exporting tables from SQL Server

Question

I have to export some data from SQL Server 2012. I'm interested in flat file export (i.e.: .csv) but my database has about 500 tables.

Here is an example for you to better understand the situation:

• Database: ETTEDB_list

• Table1: list_20140101

• Table2: list_20140102
• .
• ..
• ...
• TableN: list_20151706

All these tables have the same structure (number of columns, column names, data types).

Is there any way to automatically export all these tables into .csv files for later joining into one ore more BIG .csv files?

Answer 1

You have three options.

1. Use the gui of SQL Server Management Studio.
2. Use BCP to export your data in a loop (see here)
3. Use Powershell and script your export in a loop for example.

Here an example in PowerShell:

 $Tables = invoke-sqlcmd -query "SELECT name FROM sys.tables WHERE name LIKE 'list[_]%'" -database "ETTEDB_list" -serverinstance "YOURSERVER"
 foreach ($Table in $Tables)
 {
     $TableName = $Table["name"]
     write-host -ForegroundColor White "Creating File $TableName.csv"
     invoke-sqlcmd -query "SELECT * FROM $TableName" -database "ETTEDB_list" -serverinstance "YOURSERVER" |export-csv -path c:\scripts\$TableName.csv
 }

You'll need to adjust "YOURSERVER" to the right value and maybe change the path property to the correct folder. Hopefully this will help.