Data Movement Utilities Guide and Reference

Recreating an Exported Table

You can use the import utility to recreate a table that was saved through the export utility. The table must have been exported to an IXF file, and the SELECT statement used during the export operation must have met certain conditions (for example, no column names can be used in the SELECT clause; only select * is permitted). When creating a table from an IXF file, not all attributes of the original table are preserved. For example, referential constraints, foreign key definitions, and user-defined data types are not retained. The following attributes of the original table are retained:

• Primary key name, and definition
• Unique constraints names, and definitions, but not other types of constraints or triggers
• Column information:
  • Column name
  • Column data type, including user-defined distinct types, which are preserved as their base type
  • Identity properties
  • Lengths (except for lob_file types)
  • Code page (if applicable)
  • DATALINK options
  • Identity options
  • Whether the column is defined as nullable or not nullable
  • Default values for constants, if any, but not other types of default values
• Index information:
  • Index name
  • Index creator name
  • Column names, and whether each column is sorted in ascending, or in descending order
  • Whether the index is defined as unique
  • Whether the index is clustered
  • Whether the index allows reverse scans
  • pctfree values
  • minpctused values

The following attributes of the original table are not retained:

• Whether the source was a normal table, a summary table, a view, or a set of columns from any or all of these sources
• Table information:
  • Summary table definition (if applicable)
  • Summary table options (if applicable)
  • Table space options; however, this information can be specified through the IMPORT command
• Column information:
  • Any default value except constant values
  • LOB options (if any)
  • References clause of the create table statement (if any)
  • Referential constraints (if any)
  • Check constraints (if any)
  • Generated column options (if any)
• Index information:
  • Include columns (if any)