DB2 10.5 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows

Export/Import/Load utility file formats

Four operating system file formats supported by the DB2® export, import, and load utilities are described:

DEL: Delimited ASCII, for data exchange among a wide variety of database managers and file managers. This common approach to storing data uses special character delimiters to separate column values.
ASC: Non-delimited ASCII, for importing or loading data from other applications that create flat text files with aligned column data.
PC/IXF: PC version of the Integration Exchange Format (IXF), the preferred method for data exchange within the database manager. PC/IXF is a structured description of a database table that contains an external representation of the internal table.
CURSOR: A cursor declared against an SQL query. This file type is only supported by the load utility.

When using DEL or ASC data file formats, define the table, including its column names and data types, before importing the file. The data types in the operating system file fields are converted into the corresponding type of data in the database table. The import utility accepts data with minor incompatibility problems, including character data imported with possible padding or truncation, and numeric data imported into different types of numeric fields.

When using the PC/IXF data file format, the table does not need to exist before you begin the import operation. However, the user-defined distinct type (UDT) does need to be defined, otherwise you receive an undefined name error (SQL0204N). Similarly, when you are exporting to the PC/IXF data file format, UDTs are stored in the output file.

When using the CURSOR file type, the table, including its column names and data types, must be defined before beginning the load operation. The column types of the SQL query must be compatible with the corresponding column types in the target table. It is not necessary for the specified cursor to be open before starting the load operation. The load utility will process the entire result of the query associated with the specified cursor whether or not the cursor has been used to fetch rows.