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---
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sidebar_position: 37
sidebar_label: file
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---
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# file
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Creates a table from a file. This table function is similar to [url ](../../sql-reference/table-functions/url.md ) and [hdfs ](../../sql-reference/table-functions/hdfs.md ) ones.
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`file` function can be used in `SELECT` and `INSERT` queries on data in [File ](../../engines/table-engines/special/file.md ) tables.
**Syntax**
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``` sql
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file(path, format, structure)
```
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**Parameters**
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- `path` — The relative path to the file from [user_files_path ](../../operations/server-configuration-parameters/settings.md#server_configuration_parameters-user_files_path ). Path to file support following globs in read-only mode: `*` , `?` , `{abc,def}` and `{N..M}` where `N` , `M` — numbers, `'abc', 'def'` — strings.
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- `format` — The [format ](../../interfaces/formats.md#formats ) of the file.
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- `structure` — Structure of the table. Format: `'column1_name column1_type, column2_name column2_type, ...'` .
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**Returned value**
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A table with the specified structure for reading or writing data in the specified file.
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**Examples**
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Setting `user_files_path` and the contents of the file `test.csv` :
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``` bash
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$ grep user_files_path /etc/clickhouse-server/config.xml
< user_files_path > /var/lib/clickhouse/user_files/< / user_files_path >
$ cat /var/lib/clickhouse/user_files/test.csv
1,2,3
3,2,1
78,43,45
```
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Getting data from a table in `test.csv` and selecting the first two rows from it:
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``` sql
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SELECT * FROM file('test.csv', 'CSV', 'column1 UInt32, column2 UInt32, column3 UInt32') LIMIT 2;
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```
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``` text
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┌─column1─┬─column2─┬─column3─┐
│ 1 │ 2 │ 3 │
│ 3 │ 2 │ 1 │
└─────────┴─────────┴─────────┘
```
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Getting the first 10 lines of a table that contains 3 columns of [UInt32 ](../../sql-reference/data-types/int-uint.md ) type from a CSV file:
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``` sql
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SELECT * FROM file('test.csv', 'CSV', 'column1 UInt32, column2 UInt32, column3 UInt32') LIMIT 10;
```
Inserting data from a file into a table:
``` sql
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INSERT INTO FUNCTION file('test.csv', 'CSV', 'column1 UInt32, column2 UInt32, column3 UInt32') VALUES (1, 2, 3), (3, 2, 1);
SELECT * FROM file('test.csv', 'CSV', 'column1 UInt32, column2 UInt32, column3 UInt32');
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```
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``` text
┌─column1─┬─column2─┬─column3─┐
│ 1 │ 2 │ 3 │
│ 3 │ 2 │ 1 │
└─────────┴─────────┴─────────┘
```
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## Globs in Path
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Multiple path components can have globs. For being processed file must exist and match to the whole path pattern (not only suffix or prefix).
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- `*` — Substitutes any number of any characters except `/` including empty string.
- `?` — Substitutes any single character.
- `{some_string,another_string,yet_another_one}` — Substitutes any of strings `'some_string', 'another_string', 'yet_another_one'` .
- `{N..M}` — Substitutes any number in range from N to M including both borders.
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Constructions with `{}` are similar to the [remote ](remote.md ) table function.
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**Example**
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Suppose we have several files with the following relative paths:
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- 'some_dir/some_file_1'
- 'some_dir/some_file_2'
- 'some_dir/some_file_3'
- 'another_dir/some_file_1'
- 'another_dir/some_file_2'
- 'another_dir/some_file_3'
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Query the number of rows in these files:
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``` sql
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SELECT count(*) FROM file('{some,another}_dir/some_file_{1..3}', 'TSV', 'name String, value UInt32');
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```
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Query the number of rows in all files of these two directories:
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``` sql
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SELECT count(*) FROM file('{some,another}_dir/*', 'TSV', 'name String, value UInt32');
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```
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:::warning
If your listing of files contains number ranges with leading zeros, use the construction with braces for each digit separately or use `?` .
:::
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**Example**
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Query the data from files named `file000` , `file001` , … , `file999` :
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``` sql
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SELECT count(*) FROM file('big_dir/file{0..9}{0..9}{0..9}', 'CSV', 'name String, value UInt32');
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```
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## Virtual Columns
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- `_path` — Path to the file.
- `_file` — Name of the file.
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**See Also**
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- [Virtual columns ](../../engines/table-engines/index.md#table_engines-virtual_columns )
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[Original article ](https://clickhouse.com/docs/en/sql-reference/table-functions/file/ ) <!--hide-->