Snowflake COF-C03 Question Answer
What is the FASTEST way to load a specific, staged, discrete set of files using the COPY INTO < table > command?
Use pattern matching using the PATTERN parameter.
Select which files to load by defining the path prefix on an external stage.
Use wildcard characters in the file path definition.
List the file names using the FILES parameter.
The Answer Is:
DExplanation:
The fastest way to load a specific, discrete set of staged files is to explicitly list the file names using the FILES parameter in the COPY INTO < table > command.
Snowflake recommends using the FILES parameter when you already know the exact files that need to be loaded. This avoids the overhead of scanning and matching files using a regular expression pattern.
Why D is correct:
The FILES parameter lets you specify an exact list of staged files to load. Since Snowflake does not need to evaluate a pattern against all available staged files, this is the fastest method for loading a known, specific set of files.
Why the other options are incorrect:
A. PATTERN uses regular expression matching, which can be useful, but it is generally slower than listing specific files with FILES.
B. A path prefix can narrow the file location, but it does not explicitly identify a discrete set of files.
C. Wildcard characters are not the recommended fastest method for loading a known set of staged files in Snowflake.
Official Snowflake documentation reference:
Snowflake COPY INTO < table > documentation states that the FILES parameter is used to specify a list of one or more files to load, and Snowflake recommends using FILES instead of PATTERN for better performance when loading a specific list of files.
