Exports the results of a SELECT query to Amazon S3 in your specified file format. You can specify the output file format, compression type, and other options to control how the data is written, such as file name conventions and whether to overwrite existing files. Use COPY TO for backing up query results or integrating Firebolt with other data processing tools.

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Syntax

COPY (<select_query>)
  TO <location_name>
  [ WITH ( <option> [, ...] ) ]

COPY (<select_query>)
  TO '<url>'
  [ WITH ( <option> [, ...] ) ]

<option>:
    [ CREDENTIALS = ( <credentials> ) ] 
    [ TYPE = CSV | TSV | JSON | PARQUET ]
    [ COMPRESSION = GZIP | SNAPPY | NONE ]
    [ INCLUDE_QUERY_ID_IN_FILE_NAME = TRUE | FALSE ]
    [ FILE_NAME_PREFIX = <string> ]
    [ SINGLE_FILE = TRUE | FALSE ]
    [ MAX_FILE_SIZE = <bytes> ]
    [ OVERWRITE_EXISTING_FILES = TRUE | FALSE ]
    [ HEADER = TRUE | FALSE ]
    [ <settings> ]


<credentials>: (    -- Only applicable when using URL destination
  AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = '<aws_access_key_id>',
  AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = '<aws_secret_access_key>'
  [, AWS_SESSION_TOKEN = '<aws_session_token>' ]
  |
  AWS_ROLE_ARN = '<aws_role_arn>'
  [, AWS_ROLE_EXTERNAL_ID = '<aws_role_external_id>' ]
)

​
Parameters

ParameterDescription
<select_query>Any valid SELECT statement.
<location_name>The name of a location object that contains the Amazon S3 URL and credentials. This is the recommended approach for specifying the destination. See CREATE LOCATION for more information.
<URL>The path to an Amazon S3 URL where the query result file or files are saved. For example, s3://my_bucket/my_folder.
CREDENTIALSThe Amazon S3 credentials for accessing the specified <s3_url>. For more information, see CREDENTIALS.
TYPESpecifies the file type to save to Amazon S3. If omitted, CSV is the default.
COMPRESSIONSpecifies the compression algorithm to use for the output files. If omitted, defaults to GZIP. If NONE is specified, exported files are not compressed. For TYPE=PARQUET, COMPRESSION can be set to NONE, the default GZIP, or SNAPPY. Each output file is written in Parquet format, using the specified algorithm to compress each column according to the Parquet specification. This kind of compression is internal to the Parquet file. For TYPE=CSV, TSV, or JSON, COMPRESSION can be set to NONE or the default GZIP. With GZIP, the file is first created in the specified format and then compressed into a GZIP file.
INCLUDE_QUERY_ID_IN_FILE_NAMESpecifies whether a query ID is included in the file name. Each time the statement runs, Firebolt generates a new query ID. If omitted, defaults to TRUE, and Firebolt saves file names using the pattern <query_id>.[type].gz, for example, 123ABCXY2.csv.gz. This allows Firebolt to generate unique file names by default. If FALSE, and FILE_NAME_PREFIX is not specified, files are exported with a generic output file name, for example, output.csv.gz.
FILE_NAME_PREFIXSpecifies an optional string to use in the file name. If FILE_NAME_PREFIX is omitted and INCLUDE_QUERY_ID_IN_FILE_NAME is TRUE, the exported file name is in the pattern <query_id><file_string>.<type>.gz. If FILE_NAME_PREFIX is specified and INCLUDE_QUERY_ID_IN_FILE_NAME is set to FALSE, the specified string replaces output and the file is in the pattern <file_string>.<type>.gz.
SINGLE_FILESpecifies whether the export should be a single file or multiple files. If omitted, the default is FALSE, and the export is split based on the MAX_FILE_SIZE value. Exported files are appended with _<n> incrementally to indicate the position in series, starting with 0. For example, the first file in a series might be named 123ABCXY2_0.parquet.gz. If TRUE, only a single file is written. If set to TRUE and the file exceeds MAX_FILE_SIZE, an error occurs.
MAX_FILE_SIZESpecifies the max file size in bytes. If omitted, the default value is 16,000,000 bytes (about 16 MB). The maximum file size that can be specified is 5,368,709,120 bytes (5 GB).
OVERWRITE_EXISTING_FILESSpecifies whether exported files should overwrite existing files of the same name in the specified Amazon S3 URL. If omitted, defaults to FALSE, and files of the same name are not overwritten.
HEADERSpecifies whether CSV files should contain a header line containing the column names. If omitted, defaults to TRUE. Must be omitted for TSV, JSON, or Parquet files.
<settings>List of query-specific settings overrides.

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Credentials

Firebolt needs permissions to write query results to the specified Amazon S3 URL. You can specify IAM credentials using the AWS access keys, and the specified credentials must be associated with a user with permissions to write objects to the bucket.

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Credentials for Amazon S3

Specify access key credentials using the syntax shown below. 
  CREDENTIALS = ( AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = '<aws_access_key_id>', AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = '<aws_secret_access_key>' [, AWS_SESSION_TOKEN = '<aws_session_token>' ] | AWS_ROLE_ARN = '<aws_role_arn>' [, AWS_ROLE_EXTERNAL_ID = '<aws_role_external_id>' ] )
For Amazon S3 locations, you can use either access key-based authentication or role-based authentication:
ParameterDescription
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_IDYour AWS access key ID
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEYYour AWS secret access key
AWS_SESSION_TOKENOptional temporary session token for temporary credentials
AWS_ROLE_ARNThe ARN of the IAM role to assume
AWS_ROLE_EXTERNAL_IDOptional external ID for role assumption
For more information on how to create access keys, see Creating Access Key and Secret ID.

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Least privileged permissions

The example AWS IAM policy statement below demonstrates the minimum actions that must be allowed for Firebolt to write query files to an example Amazon S3 URL. A permissions policy that allows at least these actions for the <s3_url> that you specify in the COPY TO statement must be attached to the user or role specified in the CREDENTIALS clause. 
{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "s3:Get*",
                "s3:List*",
                "s3:PutObject",
                "s3:DeleteObject"
            ],
            "Resource": [
                "arn:aws:s3:::my_s3_bucket",
                "arn:aws:s3:::my_s3_bucket/*"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

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Using Location Objects

Location objects provide a secure and reusable way to specify Amazon S3 destinations for your data exports. This is the recommended approach as it:
  • Centralizes credential management
  • Eliminates the need to specify credentials in each COPY statement
  • Provides better security through role-based access control
  • Simplifies maintenance and updates
For a comprehensive guide to LOCATION objects, see LOCATION objects. For complete syntax reference, see CREATE LOCATION.

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Example with Location Object

COPY (
  SELECT * FROM test_table
)
TO my_export_location
WITH (
  TYPE = JSON,
  COMPRESSION = NONE,
  SINGLE_FILE = TRUE,
  FILE_NAME_PREFIX = 'latest-export',
  MAX_FILE_SIZE = 5000000000,
  OVERWRITE_EXISTING_FILES = TRUE
);
The location object my_export_location contains the Amazon S3 URL and credentials, making the statement cleaner and more secure.

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Examples

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COPY TO with location object

This example demonstrates the recommended approach using a location object. The location object contains the Amazon S3 URL and credentials, making the statement more secure and maintainable. 
COPY (
  SELECT * FROM test_table
)
TO my_export_location
WITH (
  TYPE = JSON,
  COMPRESSION = NONE,
  SINGLE_FILE = TRUE,
  FILE_NAME_PREFIX = 'latest-export',
  MAX_FILE_SIZE = 5000000000,
  OVERWRITE_EXISTING_FILES = TRUE
);
Firebolt writes a single file as shown below. 
s3://my_bucket/exports/
  latest-export.json

​
COPY TO with defaults and role ARN

The example below shows a COPY TO statement with minimal parameters that specifies an AWS_ROLE_ARN. Because TYPE is omitted, the file or files will be written in CSV format, and because COMPRESSION is omitted, they are compressed using GZIP (*.csv.gz). 
COPY (
  SELECT * FROM test_table
)
TO 's3://my-bucket/path/to/data'
WITH (
  CREDENTIALS = (AWS_ROLE_ARN='arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/my-firebolt-role')
);
Firebolt assigns the query ID 16B903C4206098FD to the query at runtime. The compressed output is 40 MB, exceeding the default of 16 MB, so Firebolt writes 4 files as shown below. 
s3://my_bucket/my_fb_queries/
  16B903C4206098FD_0.csv.gz
  16B903C4206098FD_1.csv.gz
  16B903C4206098FD_2.csv.gz
  16B903C4206098FD_3.csv.gz

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COPY TO with single file and AWS access keys

The example below exports a single, uncompressed JSON file with the same name as the query ID. If the file to be written exceeds the specified MAX_FILE_SIZE (5 GB), an error occurs. AWS access keys are specified for credentials. 
COPY (
  SELECT * FROM test_table
)
TO 's3://my-bucket/path/to/data'
WITH (
  TYPE=JSON,
  COMPRESSION=NONE,
  CREDENTIALS=(AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID='AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE', AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY='wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY'),
  INCLUDE_QUERY_ID_IN_FILE_NAME=TRUE,
  SINGLE_FILE=TRUE,
  MAX_FILE_SIZE=5000000000
);
Firebolt writes a single file as shown below. 
s3://my_bucket/my_fb_queries/
  16B90E96716236D0.json

​
COPY TO with custom file name prefix and ARN with external ID

In the example below, because FILE_NAME_PREFIX parameter is specified, Firebolt adds a string to the query ID to form file names. The IAM role specified for CREDENTIALS also has an external ID configured in AWS, so the ID is specified. 
COPY (
  SELECT * FROM test_table
)
TO 's3://my-bucket/path/to/data'
WITH (
  TYPE=JSON,
  COMPRESSION=NONE,
  CREDENTIALS = (AWS_ROLE_ARN='arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/my-firebolt-role', AWS_ROLE_EXTERNAL_ID='99291'),
  FILE_NAME_PREFIX='_query_result'
);
Firebolt assigns the query an id of 16B90E96716236D6 at runtime and writes files as shown below. 
s3://my_bucket/my_fb_queries/
  16B90E96716236D6_query_result_0.json
  16B90E96716236D6_query_result_1.json
  16B90E96716236D6_query_result_2.json
  16B90E96716236D6_query_result_3.json
  16B90E96716236D6_query_result_4.json

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COPY TO with custom file name and overwrite set to TRUE

In the example below, INCLUDE_QUERY_ID_IN_FILE_NAME is set to FALSE and a FILE_NAME_PREFIX is specified. In this case, Firebolt writes files using only the specified FILE_NAME_PREFIX as the file name. In addition, SINGLE_FILE and OVERWRITE_EXISTING_FILES are set to TRUE so that the Amazon S3 URL always contains a single file with the latest query results. 
COPY (
  SELECT * FROM test_table
)
TO 's3://my_bucket/my_fb_query'
WITH (
  TYPE=JSON,
  COMPRESSION=NONE,
  CREDENTIALS=(AWS_ROLE_ARN = 'arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/my-firebolt-role'),
  INCLUDE_QUERY_ID_IN_FILE_NAME=FALSE,
  SINGLE_FILE=TRUE,
  FILE_NAME_PREFIX='latest-fb-query-result',
  MAX_FILE_SIZE=5000000000,
  OVERWRITE_EXISTING_FILES=TRUE
);
Firebolt writes a single file as shown below. 
s3://my_bucket/my_fb-query/
  latest-fb-query-result.json