We always hate the things we are unfamilar with
Anyway, I don't know what your "unix tech" was talking
about with regard to text, ODBC drivers but if you have a "csv"
file, you can load it into MySQL assuming your table
data types are compatable, from the mysql prompt (if
I remember correctly)...
You can enter the file to be loaded with the full path, i.e.
LOAD DATA INFILE "/tmp/file.csv" INTO TABLE newtable;
This is how the text file should be formatted if you use mysql defaults (quoting the manual);
"If you don't specify a FIELDS clause, the defaults are the same as if you had written this:
FIELDS TERMINATED BY '\t' ENCLOSED BY '' ESCAPED BY '\\'
If you don't specify a LINES clause, the default is the same as if you had written this:
LINES TERMINATED BY '\n'"
Again, I would recommend becomming familiar with MySQL.
It is NOT based on Sybase. Check out the docs. at...
http://www.mysql.com/documentation/index.html