unixODBC - Text File Driver

What Is It

The unixODBC ODBC Text File Driver implements a tiny SQL engine based upon a Text File I/O API.
 

Weaknesses

1. Too slow for large data sets.
2. Only most basic SQL supported.
3. No support for a catalog (at this time) so;

- only varchar data type
- length always default length (compiled into driver)
- table files must have column names on 1st row
4. No support for multi-user (at this time).
 

Strengths

1. Its tiny. Smaller even than client libs for SQL servers.
2. Does not require any client libs to be installed.
3. Does not require a full DBMS to be installed.
4. Open file format.
5. Can be usefull for accessing exported data.
6. Use the power of SQL to work with your text data.
7. Use isql in batch mode to work with your text data.
8. Free... even for commercial use.
 

Future

1. Hopefully it will be used as the default data source for PIM apps. Then a user may easily upscale/change data source without changing code.
2. A catalog file will be used to support more table and column information.
3. Table locking to provide support for multi-user.
 

More info...

Setup
Supported Syntax
File Formats