Convert Pipe-Delimited files to SQL

How to convert a pipe-delimited file to SQL

Pipe-delimited files separate columns with a vertical bar (|) instead of a comma. They turn up constantly in legacy and financial systems precisely because real data — names, addresses, notes — so often contains commas. SQLified detects the pipe delimiter automatically and converts the file into a clean CREATE TABLE + INSERT script for whichever database you pick.

1. Drop your file onto the converter above — SQLified auto-detects the | separator.
2. Choose a database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, or SQLite) and review the inferred schema.
3. Generate the SQL — a CREATE TABLE plus batched INSERT statements.
4. Run it in your database client.

Where pipe-delimited files come from

Banking and payment feeds, mainframe and ERP exports, healthcare records, and many log formats all favor the pipe. Because | almost never appears inside real values, these files parse cleanly without the quoting gymnastics a messy CSV needs — which is why they remain a default for system-to-system data transfer.

What the generated SQL looks like

A pipe-delimited file like account_id|holder|opened_on|balance becomes (PostgreSQL shown):

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS "accounts" (
  "account_id" INTEGER NOT NULL,
  "holder" TEXT NOT NULL,
  "opened_on" DATE NOT NULL,
  "balance" NUMERIC(18,2) NOT NULL
);

INSERT INTO "accounts" ("account_id", "holder", "opened_on", "balance") VALUES
('1001', 'Smith, John', '2026-01-04', '4820.15'),
('1002', 'Doe, Jane', '2026-02-11', '199.00');

Note the value Smith, John — its comma stays safely inside the field, because columns were split on pipes, not commas.

Large files import without errors

Legacy exports are often huge. SQLified handles millions of rows and batches the INSERT output into 1,000-row statements, so the script imports cleanly everywhere — including SQL Server, which rejects any single INSERT over 1,000 rows.

Frequently asked questions