# bash file=/tmp/flatfile.dat t=flattable sep='|' echo "head1|head2|head3 val1|val2|val3 val1|val4|val5 val6|val4|val5 val2|val7|val5 val3|val7|val3" > $file # postgres extension 'file_fdw' must be installed (but haven't we all): psql -qXa -c "create server if not exists fs foreign data wrapper file_fdw;" psql -qXa << SQL_PERL drop foreign table if exists $t; create foreign table $t ($( < $file perl -ne 'chomp; my $t = "'$t'"; print join("\n , ", map{$_ .= " text"} split(/['${sep}']/)); exit;' )) server fs options(delimiter'$sep',format'csv',header'TRUE',filename'$file'); SQL_PERL