CSV to PostgreSQL without COPY permission problems

COPY FROM a server file needs superuser rights or a special role, and on hosted Postgres you usually cannot place a file on the server at all. The client side alternative works, but only from psql and only when the file matches the expected format exactly. A SQL script with INSERT statements runs anywhere you can send a query.

This converter writes PostgreSQL syntax with double quoted identifiers and standard string escaping. For spreadsheets, start from Excel to PostgreSQL, and if your server is MySQL instead, use CSV to MySQL.

How to convert CSV to PostgreSQL in three steps

1. 1Upload the .csv file.
2. 2Confirm delimiter and header row, then name the table.
3. 3Convert and execute the .sql script with psql or your query editor.

How PostgreSQL treats identifiers, quotes and empty values

PostgreSQL folds unquoted identifiers to lower case, so a CSV header like CustomerID becomes customerid unless it is quoted, and later queries that use the original case fail. The script quotes every identifier exactly as it appears in your header, which keeps names predictable. If you prefer lower case names, rename the headers before converting.

String values use standard SQL escaping: a single quote is doubled, and backslashes are kept as literal characters, which is the default behavior since PostgreSQL 9.1. That means file paths and regular expressions in your data arrive unchanged. Text is written as UTF-8, so the database encoding should be UTF8, which is the default on practically every modern installation.

Empty fields deserve a decision. In a numeric or date column an empty string is not a valid value and the insert fails, so the converter writes NULL for empty cells in typed columns. In text columns the distinction between empty and NULL often matters for constraints, so check the result in the preview. For other dialects and general type inference see CSV to SQL.