Convert SQL to BBCode Online

Paste a SQL table below, edit it if you need to, and get BBCode back. The conversion runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded, there is no size limit and there is no signup.

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Nothing here is uploaded. The parsing happens on this page.
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The output will appear here once there is a table to convert.

What SQL is

SQL here means the statements that move a table into a database: INSERT INTO with a VALUES list, and optionally the CREATE TABLE that defines the columns.

Anyone seeding a database, moving a spreadsheet into an application, or writing a migration.

What BBCode is

BBCode uses square-bracket tags. Table support is not universal, but table, tr, th and td are widely implemented.

phpBB, vBulletin and forum software descended from them.

What changes when you convert SQL to BBCode

Column names come from the INSERT column list, or from a CREATE TABLE if one is present. Quoted strings are unquoted, doubled quotes are collapsed, and NULL becomes an empty cell.

Check that your forum has table tags enabled. Many boards ship with them switched off.

What carries over from SQL to BBCode

SQL records 6 things about a table that BBCode has no way to hold.

SQL distinguishes a number from the text of a number; BBCode does not, so every value arrives as text and has to be re-parsed by whatever reads it next.

An empty cell and a missing one are the same thing in BBCode, so a null and an empty string in the SQL both come out blank and can no longer be told apart.

A line break inside a cell ends the row in BBCode, so line breaks are replaced rather than carried through.

BBCode has no separate idea of a header, so the column names become an ordinary first row and nothing in the file marks them as different from the data.

SQL can be read one record at a time. BBCode has to be complete before it means anything, so the whole table is held in memory while it is written and a file that gets cut off part way through is not partly usable - it is unusable.

BBCode is the end of the line for this data. Reading the table back out of it is a separate and much harder problem than writing it, so keep the SQL if you will need the values again.

The identifier 007 comes out of the BBCode as 007. Reading it as a number would have made it 7, and an id that changes value is worse than one that stays text.

The role "Analyst, data" survives with its comma, in one cell rather than split across two. That is the first thing to check in any converted table, and the usual place a BBCode file goes wrong.

The quotes around Jonah "Jo" Pryce are left as a plain quote character in the BBCode.

A worked example

Three rows of staff data, with an identifier that has a leading zero, a value containing a comma, a value containing quotes and one blank cell. Those are the four places formats disagree, so they are the four places to look.

SQL in
INSERT INTO `staff` (`id`, `name`, `role`, `started`, `hours`) VALUES
  ('007', 'Halima Yusuf', 'Analyst, data', '2024-03-15', '38.5'),
  ('012', 'Jonah "Jo" Pryce', 'Engineer', '2025-11-02', NULL),
  ('104', 'Wei Chen', 'Manager', '2023-06-30', '40');
BBCode out
[table]
  [tr][th]id[/th][th]name[/th][th]role[/th][th]started[/th][th]hours[/th][/tr]
  [tr][td]007[/td][td]Halima Yusuf[/td][td]Analyst, data[/td][td]2024-03-15[/td][td]38.5[/td][/tr]
  [tr][td]012[/td][td]Jonah "Jo" Pryce[/td][td]Engineer[/td][td]2025-11-02[/td][td][/td][/tr]
  [tr][td]104[/td][td]Wei Chen[/td][td]Manager[/td][td]2023-06-30[/td][td]40[/td][/tr]
[/table]

Questions

How do I convert SQL to BBCode?

Paste your SQL into the box above or drop the file onto it. Check the table in the grid, then copy or download the BBCode from the output panel. It takes one step and the data never leaves your browser.

Are the generated INSERT statements safe to run?

Quotes in your data are escaped, so the statements are syntactically correct. They are not parameterised, which is fine for a one-off import you are running yourself and not fine as a pattern for application code that takes user input.

Can I convert the BBCode back to SQL afterwards?

Not mechanically. BBCode keeps how the table looks, not what it held, so going back means reading the values off the page again. Keep the SQL if you will need it.

Will my numbers still be numbers?

They will read the same, but BBCode stores them as text. Anything that sorts or sums the result will need to parse them first, and a leading zero or a currency symbol is the usual place that goes wrong.

One of my cells has a line break in it - what happens?

A line break would end the row in BBCode, so it is replaced instead of carried through. The rest of the cell stays where it belongs.

Is there a limit on file size?

No. The work happens on your own machine, so the limit is your machine's memory rather than an upload cap. A file with tens of thousands of rows converts in a second or two.

Is my data uploaded anywhere?

No. The parsing and generating are done by JavaScript running on this page. You can watch the network tab while you convert and see that nothing is sent.

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