6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the COPY statement further identifies a SET clause, a DROP clause, and a WHERE clause that includes a WHERE clause expression, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a SET clause predicate corresponding to the identified SET clause, wherein the SET clause predicate includes a name element and an expression element; comparing the name element to the set of source column names; in response to the name element matching one of the source column names, replacing the matching source column name in the SELECT clause with the expression element; in response to the name element failing to match one of the source column names: adding the name element to the set of target names included in the INSERT INTO clause; and adding the expression element to the set of source names included in the SELECT clause, wherein placement of the expression element within the SELECT clause matches placement of the name element in the INSERT INTO clause; receiving a DROP clause predicate corresponding to the identified DROP clause, wherein the DROP clause predicate identifies a drop column name; removing one of the source column names from the SELECT clause, wherein the removed source column name matches the drop column name; and removing one of the target column names from the INSERT INTO clause, wherein the removed target column name matches the drop column name; including the WHERE clause in the generated SQL statement.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the COPY statement further identifies a SET clause, a DROP clause, and a WHERE clause that includes a WHERE clause expression, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a SET clause predicate corresponding to the identified SET clause, wherein the SET clause predicate includes a name element and an expression element; comparing the name element to the set of source column names; in response to the name element matching one of the source column names, replacing the matching source column name in the SELECT clause with the expression element; in response to the name element failing to match one of the source column names: adding the name element to the set of target names included in the INSERT INTO clause; and adding the expression element to the set of source names included in the SELECT clause, wherein placement of the expression element within the SELECT clause matches placement of the name element in the INSERT INTO clause; receiving a DROP clause predicate corresponding to the identified DROP clause, wherein the DROP clause predicate identifies a drop column name; removing one of the source column names from the SELECT clause, wherein the removed source column name matches the drop column name; and removing one of the target column names from the INSERT INTO clause, wherein the removed target column name matches the drop column name; including the WHERE clause in the generated SQL statement. 7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the generated SQL statement is executed by a COPY statement processor that is built into a relational database management system (DBMS), and wherein the method further comprises: executing the generated SQL statement by the DBMS, wherein the executing results in a set of data being copied from the source table to the target table.