Hi,

I am trying to load a fixed width file into an external table, then
copy that table to a "real" table.

Here is the schema for the external table:
create table eOffices external file 'c:\temp\dataFiles\Offices.txt'
(
OF_OFFICEID VARCHAR(10),
OF_MLS_CODE VARCHAR(12)
)

and the "real" table:
create table Offices(
ROF_OFFICEID VARCHAR(10),
ROF_MLS_CODE VARCHAR(12)
)

The format of the txt file is like this:
0123456789MLSCODEXXXXX
1111111111MLSCODE2XXXX
2222222222MLSCODE34XXX
0000000001MLSCODE345XX
0000000002MLSCODE3456X

So the first ten columns are the officeid, then the next 12 columns
are
the mlscode terminated by a newline.

This format repeats for many rows.

I receive no errors when creating the external table, and again no
errors when doing the:

Insert into Offices select of_officeid, of_mlscode from eOffices;

However the data in the Offices table after the insert seems skewed;
meaning it appears that the columns are not lining up correctly.

For example my result set looks like:

ROF_OFFICEID ROF_MLS_CODE
23456789ML ODEXXXXX 11
111111MLSC E2XXXX 2222
2222MLSCOD 4XXX 000000
01MLSCODE3 XX 00000000

Obviously, it is skewed by some constant amount, but I cannot figure
out what I am doing wrong. Is my line delimiter incorrect? Is my
file
format incorrect? I have been scouring the web for examples all day
and have come up completely empty.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
pm