Snowflake SnowPro Certification Practice Test

Which command in Snowflake is optimized for bulk data loading?

1. Insert

2. Copy

3. Merge

4. Update

The correct answer is: Copy

The command optimized for bulk data loading in Snowflake is the Copy command. This command is specifically designed to load large volumes of data efficiently and is tailored to handle loading data from external files, such as those stored in Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Microsoft Azure. Using the Copy command enables users to leverage Snowflake’s data loading capabilities, including features such as automatic data type inference, parallel processing, and error handling. These optimizations significantly enhance performance compared to other commands that are generally used for manipulating smaller datasets or making incremental changes. In contrast, the Insert command is primarily meant for adding individual rows of data, making it less efficient for bulk operations. The Merge command is useful for combining data from a source table with a target table based on certain conditions but is not designed specifically for high-volume data loading. Similarly, the Update command is focused on modifying existing records rather than loading new data, and thus, it does not serve the purpose of bulk loading efficiently. Overall, the Copy command stands out as the go-to choice for bulk data loading tasks in Snowflake due to its optimized processing capabilities.