sa_describe_shapefile( shp_filename 
, srid 
[, encoding ] 
)

The sa_describe_shapefile system procedure is used to describe the name and type of columns in an ESRI shapefile. This information can be used to create a table to load data from a shapefile using the LOAD TABLE or INPUT statements. Alternately, this system procedure can be used to read a shapefile by specifying the WITH clause for OPENSTRING...FORMAT SHAPEFILE.

If the -gl database option has been set to all, all users can execute this system procedure. Otherwise, DBA or READFILE authority is required.

• LOAD TABLE statement
• INPUT statement [Interactive SQL]
• Support for ESRI shapefiles

The following example returns a string that can be used to create a table for storing shapefile data:

SELECT 'create table esri_load( record_number int primary key, ' ||
    (SELECT list( name || ' ' || domain_name_with_size, ', ' 
     ORDER BY column_number )
     FROM sa_describe_shapefile( 'c:\\esri\\shapefile.shp', 1000004326 )
     WHERE column_number > 1 ) || ' )';

Once the table has been created, you could load the shapefile data into it using the following statement:

LOAD TABLE esri_load USING FILE 'c:\\esri\\shapefile.shp' FORMAT SHAPEFILE;