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MYSQL(1) | MySQL Database System | MYSQL(1) |
NAME¶
mysql - the MySQL command-line toolSYNOPSIS¶
mysql [options]
db_name
DESCRIPTION¶
mysql is a simple SQL shell with input line editing capabilities. It supports interactive and noninteractive use. When used interactively, query results are presented in an ASCII-table format. When used noninteractively (for example, as a filter), the result is presented in tab-separated format. The output format can be changed using command options. If you have problems due to insufficient memory for large result sets, use the --quick option. This forces mysql to retrieve results from the server a row at a time rather than retrieving the entire result set and buffering it in memory before displaying it. This is done by returning the result set using the mysql_use_result() C API function in the client/server library rather than mysql_store_result(). Using mysql is very easy. Invoke it from the prompt of your command interpreter as follows:shell> mysql db_name
shell> mysql --user=user_name --password=your_password db_name
shell> mysql db_name < script.sql > output.tab
MYSQL OPTIONS¶
mysql supports the following options, which can be specified on the command line or in the [mysql] and [client] groups of an option file. For information about option files used by MySQL programs, see Section 4.2.6, “Using Option Files”.•--help, -?
Display a help message and exit.
•--auto-rehash
Enable automatic rehashing. This option is on by default, which enables
database, table, and column name completion. Use --disable-auto-rehash
to disable rehashing. That causes mysql to start faster, but you must
issue the rehash command or its \# shortcut if you want to use name
completion.
To complete a name, enter the first part and press Tab. If the name is
unambiguous, mysql completes it. Otherwise, you can press Tab again to
see the possible names that begin with what you have typed so far. Completion
does not occur if there is no default database.
Note
This feature requires a MySQL client that is compiled with the readline
library. Typically, the readline library is not available on Windows.
•--auto-vertical-output
Cause result sets to be displayed vertically if they are too wide for the
current window, and using normal tabular format otherwise. (This applies to
statements terminated by ; or \G.)
•--batch, -B
Print results using tab as the column separator, with each row on a new line.
With this option, mysql does not use the history file.
Batch mode results in nontabular output format and escaping of special
characters. Escaping may be disabled by using raw mode; see the description
for the --raw option.
•--binary-mode
This option helps when processing mysqlbinlog output that may contain
BLOB values. By default, mysql translates \r\n in statement strings to
\n and interprets \0 as the statement terminator. --binary-mode
disables both features. It also disables all mysql commands except
charset and delimiter in non-interactive mode (for input piped to mysql
or loaded using the source command).
This option was added in MySQL 5.6.3.
•--bind-address=ip_address
On a computer having multiple network interfaces, use this option to select
which interface to use for connecting to the MySQL server.
This option is supported beginning with MySQL 5.6.1.
•--character-sets-dir=dir_name
The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 10.5,
“Character Set Configuration”.
•--column-names
Write column names in results.
•--column-type-info
Display result set metadata.
•--comments, -c
Whether to preserve comments in statements sent to the server. The default is
--skip-comments (discard comments), enable with --comments (preserve
comments).
•--compress, -C
Compress all information sent between the client and the server if both support
compression.
•--connect-expired-password
Indicate to the server that the client can handle sandbox mode if the account
used to connect has an expired password. This can be useful for noninteractive
invocations of mysql because normally the server disconnects
noninteractive clients that attempt to connect using an account with an
expired password. (See Section 6.3.6, “Password Expiration and
Sandbox Mode”.) This option was added in MySQL 5.6.12.
•--database=db_name, -D
db_name
The database to use. This is useful primarily in an option file.
•--debug[=debug_options],
-# [debug_options]
Write a debugging log. A typical debug_options string is d:t:o,
file_name. The default is d:t:o,/tmp/mysql.trace.
This option is available only if MySQL was built using WITH_DEBUG. MySQL
release binaries provided by Oracle are not built using this
option.
•--debug-check
Print some debugging information when the program exits.
•--debug-info, -T
Print debugging information and memory and CPU usage statistics when the program
exits.
•--default-auth=plugin
A hint about the client-side authentication plugin to use. See
Section 6.3.7, “Pluggable Authentication”.
•--default-character-set=charset_name
Use charset_name as the default character set for the client and
connection.
A common issue that can occur when the operating system uses utf8 or another
multibyte character set is that output from the mysql client is
formatted incorrectly, due to the fact that the MySQL client uses the latin1
character set by default. You can usually fix such issues by using this option
to force the client to use the system character set instead.
See Section 10.5, “Character Set Configuration”, for more
information.
•--defaults-extra-file=file_name
Read this option file after the global option file but (on Unix) before the user
option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error
occurs. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if
given as a relative path name rather than a full path name.
•--defaults-file=file_name
Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise
inaccessible, an error occurs. file_name is interpreted relative to the
current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path
name.
•--defaults-group-suffix=str
Read not only the usual option groups, but also groups with the usual names and
a suffix of str. For example, mysql normally reads the [client]
and [mysql] groups. If the --defaults-group-suffix=_other option is
given, mysql also reads the [client_other] and [mysql_other]
groups.
•--delimiter=str
Set the statement delimiter. The default is the semicolon character
(“;”).
•--disable-named-commands
Disable named commands. Use the \* form only, or use named commands only at the
beginning of a line ending with a semicolon (“;”). mysql
starts with this option enabled by default. However, even with this
option, long-format commands still work from the first line. See the section
called “MYSQL COMMANDS”.
•--enable-cleartext-plugin
Enable the mysql_clear_password cleartext authentication plugin. (See
Section 6.4.1.7, “The Cleartext Client-Side Authentication
Plugin”.) This option was added in MySQL 5.6.7.
•--execute=statement, -e
statement
Execute the statement and quit. The default output format is like that produced
with --batch. See Section 4.2.4, “Using Options on the
Command Line”, for some examples. With this option, mysql does
not use the history file.
•--force, -f
Continue even if an SQL error occurs.
•--histignore
A colon-separated list of one or more patterns specifying statements to ignore
for logging purposes. These patterns are added to the default pattern list
("*IDENTIFIED*:*PASSWORD*"). The value specified for this option
affects logging of statements written to the history file. For more
information, see the section called “MYSQL LOGGING”. This option
was added in MySQL 5.6.8.
•--host=host_name, -h
host_name
Connect to the MySQL server on the given host.
•--html, -H
Produce HTML output.
•--ignore-spaces, -i
Ignore spaces after function names. The effect of this is described in the
discussion for the IGNORE_SPACE SQL mode (see Section 5.1.7,
“Server SQL Modes”).
•--init-command=str
SQL statement to execute after connecting to the server. If auto-reconnect is
enabled, the statement is executed again after reconnection occurs.
•--line-numbers
Write line numbers for errors. Disable this with
--skip-line-numbers.
•--local-infile[={0|1}]
Enable or disable LOCAL capability for LOAD DATA INFILE. With no value, the
option enables LOCAL. The option may be given as --local-infile=0 or
--local-infile=1 to explicitly disable or enable LOCAL. Enabling LOCAL
has no effect if the server does not also support it.
•--login-path=name
Read options from the named login path in the .mylogin.cnf login path file. A
“login path” is an option group containing options that specify
which MySQL server to connect to and which account to authenticate as. To
create or modify a login path file, use the mysql_config_editor
utility. See mysql_config_editor(1). This option was added in MySQL
5.6.6.
•--named-commands, -G
Enable named mysql commands. Long-format commands are permitted, not just
short-format commands. For example, quit and \q both are recognized. Use
--skip-named-commands to disable named commands. See the section called
“MYSQL COMMANDS”.
•--no-auto-rehash, -A
This has the same effect as --skip-auto-rehash. See the description for
--auto-rehash.
•--no-beep, -b
Do not beep when errors occur.
•--no-defaults
Do not read any option files. If program startup fails due to reading unknown
options from an option file, --no-defaults can be used to prevent them
from being read.
The exception is that the .mylogin.cnf file, if it exists, is read in all cases.
This permits passwords to be specified in a safer way than on the command line
even when --no-defaults is used. (.mylogin.cnf is created by the
mysql_config_editor utility. See mysql_config_editor(1).)
•--one-database, -o
Ignore statements except those that occur while the default database is the one
named on the command line. This option is rudimentary and should be used with
care. Statement filtering is based only on USE statements.
Initially, mysql executes statements in the input because specifying a
database db_name on the command line is equivalent to inserting USE
db_name at the beginning of the input. Then, for each USE statement
encountered, mysql accepts or rejects following statements depending on
whether the database named is the one on the command line. The content of the
statements is immaterial.
Suppose that mysql is invoked to process this set of statements:
If the command line is mysql --force --one-database db1, mysql
handles the input as follows:
DELETE FROM db2.t2; USE db2; DROP TABLE db1.t1; CREATE TABLE db1.t1 (i INT); USE db1; INSERT INTO t1 (i) VALUES(1); CREATE TABLE db2.t1 (j INT);
•The DELETE statement is executed because the
default database is db1, even though the statement names a table in a
different database.
•The DROP TABLE and CREATE TABLE statements are
not executed because the default database is not db1, even though the
statements name a table in db1.
•The INSERT and CREATE TABLE statements are
executed because the default database is db1, even though the CREATE TABLE
statement names a table in a different database.
•--pager[=command]
Use the given command for paging query output. If the command is omitted, the
default pager is the value of your PAGER environment variable. Valid pagers
are less, more, cat [> filename], and so forth. This
option works only on Unix and only in interactive mode. To disable paging, use
--skip-pager. the section called “MYSQL COMMANDS”,
discusses output paging further.
•--password[=password],
-p[password]
The password to use when connecting to the server. If you use the short option
form ( -p), you cannot have a space between the option and the
password. If you omit the password value following the
--password or -p option on the command line, mysql
prompts for one.
Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. See
Section 6.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password
Security”. You can use an option file to avoid giving the password on
the command line.
•--pipe, -W
On Windows, connect to the server using a named pipe. This option applies only
if the server supports named-pipe connections.
•--plugin-dir=dir_name
The directory in which to look for plugins. Specify this option if the
--default-auth option is used to specify an authentication plugin but
mysql does not find it. See Section 6.3.7, “Pluggable
Authentication”.
•--port=port_num, -P
port_num
The TCP/IP port number to use for the connection.
•--print-defaults
Print the program name and all options that it gets from option files.
•--prompt=format_str
Set the prompt to the specified format. The default is mysql>. The special
sequences that the prompt can contain are described in the section called
“MYSQL COMMANDS”.
•--protocol={TCP|SOCKET|PIPE|MEMORY}
The connection protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when
the other connection parameters normally would cause a protocol to be used
other than the one you want. For details on the permissible values, see
Section 4.2.2, “Connecting to the MySQL Server”.
•--quick, -q
Do not cache each query result, print each row as it is received. This may slow
down the server if the output is suspended. With this option, mysql
does not use the history file.
•--raw, -r
For tabular output, the “boxing” around columns enables one column
value to be distinguished from another. For nontabular output (such as is
produced in batch mode or when the --batch or --silent option is
given), special characters are escaped in the output so they can be identified
easily. Newline, tab, NUL, and backslash are written as \n, \t, \0, and \\.
The --raw option disables this character escaping.
The following example demonstrates tabular versus nontabular output and the use
of raw mode to disable escaping:
% mysql mysql> SELECT CHAR(92); +----------+ | CHAR(92) | +----------+ | \ | +----------+ % mysql -s mysql> SELECT CHAR(92); CHAR(92) \\ % mysql -s -r mysql> SELECT CHAR(92); CHAR(92) \
•--reconnect
If the connection to the server is lost, automatically try to reconnect. A
single reconnect attempt is made each time the connection is lost. To suppress
reconnection behavior, use --skip-reconnect.
•--safe-updates, --i-am-a-dummy,
-U
Permit only those UPDATE and DELETE statements that specify which rows to modify
by using key values. If you have set this option in an option file, you can
override it by using --safe-updates on the command line. See the
section called “MYSQL TIPS”, for more information about this
option.
•--secure-auth
Do not send passwords to the server in old (pre-4.1) format. This prevents
connections except for servers that use the newer password format. As of MySQL
5.6.7, this option is enabled by default; use --skip-secure-auth to
disable it.
Note
Passwords that use the pre-4.1 hashing method are less secure than passwords
that use the native password hashing method and should be avoided. Pre-4.1
passwords are deprecated and support for them will be removed in a future
MySQL release. For account upgrade instructions, see Section 6.4.1.3,
“Migrating Away from Pre-4.1 Password Hashing and the
mysql_old_password Plugin”.
•--server-public-key-path=file_name
The path name to a file containing the server RSA public key. The file must be
in PEM format. The public key is used for RSA encryption of the client
password for connections to the server made using accounts that authenticate
with the sha256_password plugin. This option is ignored for client accounts
that do not authenticate with that plugin. It is also ignored if password
encryption is not needed, as is the case when the client connects to the
server using an SSL connection.
The server sends the public key to the client as needed, so it is not necessary
to use this option for RSA password encryption to occur. It is more efficient
to do so because then the server need not send the key.
For additional discussion regarding use of the sha256_password plugin, including
how to get the RSA public key, see Section 6.4.1.4, “The SHA-256
Authentication Plugin”.
This option is available only if MySQL was built using OpenSSL. It was added in
MySQL 5.6.6 under the name --server-public-key and renamed in 5.6.7 to
--server-public-key-path.
•--shared-memory-base-name=name
On Windows, the shared-memory name to use, for connections made using shared
memory to a local server. The default value is MYSQL. The shared-memory name
is case sensitive.
The server must be started with the --shared-memory option to enable
shared-memory connections.
•--show-warnings
Cause warnings to be shown after each statement if there are any. This option
applies to interactive and batch mode.
•--sigint-ignore
Ignore SIGINT signals (typically the result of typing Control+C).
•--silent, -s
Silent mode. Produce less output. This option can be given multiple times to
produce less and less output.
This option results in nontabular output format and escaping of special
characters. Escaping may be disabled by using raw mode; see the description
for the --raw option.
•--skip-column-names, -N
Do not write column names in results.
•--skip-line-numbers, -L
Do not write line numbers for errors. Useful when you want to compare result
files that include error messages.
•--socket=path, -S
path
For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the
name of the named pipe to use.
•--ssl*
Options that begin with --ssl specify whether to connect to the server
using SSL and indicate where to find SSL keys and certificates. See
Section 6.3.9.5, “Command Options for Secure
Connections”.
•--table, -t
Display output in table format. This is the default for interactive use, but can
be used to produce table output in batch mode.
•--tee=file_name
Append a copy of output to the given file. This option works only in interactive
mode. the section called “MYSQL COMMANDS”, discusses tee files
further.
•--unbuffered, -n
Flush the buffer after each query.
•--user=user_name, -u
user_name
The MySQL user name to use when connecting to the server.
•--verbose, -v
Verbose mode. Produce more output about what the program does. This option can
be given multiple times to produce more and more output. (For example, -v
-v -v produces table output format even in batch mode.)
•--version, -V
Display version information and exit.
•--vertical, -E
Print query output rows vertically (one line per column value). Without this
option, you can specify vertical output for individual statements by
terminating them with \G.
•--wait, -w
If the connection cannot be established, wait and retry instead of
aborting.
•--xml, -X
Produce XML output.
The output when --xml is used with mysql matches that of
mysqldump --xml. See mysqldump(1) for details.
The XML output also uses an XML namespace, as shown here:
(See Bug #25946.)
You can also set the following variables by using
--var_name =value.
<field name=" column_name">NULL</field>
shell> mysql --xml -uroot -e "SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'version%'" <?xml version="1.0"?> <resultset statement="SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'version%'" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <row> <field name="Variable_name">version</field> <field name="Value">5.0.40-debug</field> </row> <row> <field name="Variable_name">version_comment</field> <field name="Value">Source distribution</field> </row> <row> <field name="Variable_name">version_compile_machine</field> <field name="Value">i686</field> </row> <row> <field name="Variable_name">version_compile_os</field> <field name="Value">suse-linux-gnu</field> </row> </resultset>
•connect_timeout
The number of seconds before connection timeout. (Default value is 0.)
•max_allowed_packet
The maximum size of the buffer for client/server communication. The default is
16MB, the maximum is 1GB.
•max_join_size
The automatic limit for rows in a join when using --safe-updates.
(Default value is 1,000,000.)
•net_buffer_length
The buffer size for TCP/IP and socket communication. (Default value is
16KB.)
•select_limit
The automatic limit for SELECT statements when using --safe-updates.
(Default value is 1,000.)
MYSQL COMMANDS¶
mysql sends each SQL statement that you issue to the server to be executed. There is also a set of commands that mysql itself interprets. For a list of these commands, type help or \h at the mysql> prompt:mysql> help List of all MySQL commands: Note that all text commands must be first on line and end with ';' ? (\?) Synonym for `help'. clear (\c) Clear command. connect (\r) Reconnect to the server. Optional arguments are db and host. delimiter (\d) Set statement delimiter. edit (\e) Edit command with $EDITOR. ego (\G) Send command to mysql server, display result vertically. exit (\q) Exit mysql. Same as quit. go (\g) Send command to mysql server. help (\h) Display this help. nopager (\n) Disable pager, print to stdout. notee (\t) Don't write into outfile. pager (\P) Set PAGER [to_pager]. Print the query results via PAGER. print (\p) Print current command. prompt (\R) Change your mysql prompt. quit (\q) Quit mysql. rehash (\#) Rebuild completion hash. source (\.) Execute an SQL script file. Takes a file name as an argument. status (\s) Get status information from the server. system (\!) Execute a system shell command. tee (\T) Set outfile [to_outfile]. Append everything into given outfile. use (\u) Use another database. Takes database name as argument. charset (\C) Switch to another charset. Might be needed for processing binlog with multi-byte charsets. warnings (\W) Show warnings after every statement. nowarning (\w) Don't show warnings after every statement. For server side help, type 'help contents'
•help [arg], \h [ arg], \? [
arg], ? [ arg]
Display a help message listing the available mysql commands.
If you provide an argument to the help command, mysql uses it as a search
string to access server-side help from the contents of the MySQL Reference
Manual. For more information, see the section called “MYSQL SERVER-SIDE
HELP”.
•charset charset_name, \C
charset_name
Change the default character set and issue a SET NAMES statement. This enables
the character set to remain synchronized on the client and server if
mysql is run with auto-reconnect enabled (which is not recommended),
because the specified character set is used for reconnects.
•clear, \c
Clear the current input. Use this if you change your mind about executing the
statement that you are entering.
•connect [db_name host_name]], \r [
db_name host_name]]
Reconnect to the server. The optional database name and host name arguments may
be given to specify the default database or the host where the server is
running. If omitted, the current values are used.
•delimiter str, \d str
Change the string that mysql interprets as the separator between SQL
statements. The default is the semicolon character (“;”).
The delimiter string can be specified as an unquoted or quoted argument on the
delimiter command line. Quoting can be done with either single quote ('),
double quote ("), or backtick (`) characters. To include a quote within a
quoted string, either quote the string with a different quote character or
escape the quote with a backslash (“\”) character. Backslash
should be avoided outside of quoted strings because it is the escape character
for MySQL. For an unquoted argument, the delimiter is read up to the first
space or end of line. For a quoted argument, the delimiter is read up to the
matching quote on the line.
mysql interprets instances of the delimiter string as a statement
delimiter anywhere it occurs, except within quoted strings. Be careful about
defining a delimiter that might occur within other words. For example, if you
define the delimiter as X, you will be unable to use the word INDEX in
statements. mysql interprets this as INDE followed by the delimiter X.
When the delimiter recognized by mysql is set to something other than the
default of “;”, instances of that character are sent to the
server without interpretation. However, the server itself still interprets
“;” as a statement delimiter and processes statements
accordingly. This behavior on the server side comes into play for
multiple-statement execution (see Section 23.8.17, “C API
Support for Multiple Statement Execution”), and for parsing the body of
stored procedures and functions, triggers, and events (see
Section 20.1, “Defining Stored Programs”).
•edit, \e
Edit the current input statement. mysql checks the values of the EDITOR
and VISUAL environment variables to determine which editor to use. The default
editor is vi if neither variable is set.
The edit command works only in Unix.
•ego, \G
Send the current statement to the server to be executed and display the result
using vertical format.
•exit, \q
Exit mysql.
•go, \g
Send the current statement to the server to be executed.
•nopager, \n
Disable output paging. See the description for pager.
The nopager command works only in Unix.
•notee, \t
Disable output copying to the tee file. See the description for tee.
•nowarning, \w
Disable display of warnings after each statement.
•pager [command], \P [ command]
Enable output paging. By using the --pager option when you invoke
mysql, it is possible to browse or search query results in interactive
mode with Unix programs such as less, more, or any other similar
program. If you specify no value for the option, mysql checks the value
of the PAGER environment variable and sets the pager to that. Pager
functionality works only in interactive mode.
Output paging can be enabled interactively with the pager command and disabled
with nopager. The command takes an optional argument; if given, the paging
program is set to that. With no argument, the pager is set to the pager that
was set on the command line, or stdout if no pager was specified.
Output paging works only in Unix because it uses the popen() function, which
does not exist on Windows. For Windows, the tee option can be used instead to
save query output, although it is not as convenient as pager for browsing
output in some situations.
•print, \p
Print the current input statement without executing it.
•prompt [str], \R [ str]
Reconfigure the mysql prompt to the given string. The special character
sequences that can be used in the prompt are described later in this section.
If you specify the prompt command with no argument, mysql resets the
prompt to the default of mysql>.
•quit, \q
Exit mysql.
•rehash, \#
Rebuild the completion hash that enables database, table, and column name
completion while you are entering statements. (See the description for the
--auto-rehash option.)
•source file_name, \. file_name
Read the named file and executes the statements contained therein. On Windows,
you can specify path name separators as / or \\.
•status, \s
Provide status information about the connection and the server you are using. If
you are running in --safe-updates mode, status also prints the values
for the mysql variables that affect your queries.
•system command, \! command
Execute the given command using your default command interpreter.
The system command works only in Unix.
•tee [file_name], \T [ file_name]
By using the --tee option when you invoke mysql, you can log
statements and their output. All the data displayed on the screen is appended
into a given file. This can be very useful for debugging purposes also.
mysql flushes results to the file after each statement, just before it
prints its next prompt. Tee functionality works only in interactive mode.
You can enable this feature interactively with the tee command. Without a
parameter, the previous file is used. The tee file can be disabled with the
notee command. Executing tee again re-enables logging.
•use db_name, \u db_name
Use db_name as the default database.
•warnings, \W
Enable display of warnings after each statement (if there are any).
Here are a few tips about the pager command:
•You can use it to write to a file and the results
go only to the file:
You can also pass any options for the program that you want to use as your
pager:
mysql> pager cat > /tmp/log.txt
mysql> pager less -n -i -S
•In the preceding example, note the -S
option. You may find it very useful for browsing wide query results. Sometimes
a very wide result set is difficult to read on the screen. The -S
option to less can make the result set much more readable because you
can scroll it horizontally using the left-arrow and right-arrow keys. You can
also use -S interactively within less to switch the
horizontal-browse mode on and off. For more information, read the less
manual page:
shell> man less
•The -F and -X options may be used
with less to cause it to exit if output fits on one screen, which is
convenient when no scrolling is necessary:
mysql> pager less -n -i -S -F -X
•You can specify very complex pager commands for
handling query output:
In this example, the command would send query results to two files in two
different directories on two different file systems mounted on /dr1 and /dr2,
yet still display the results onscreen using less.
You can also combine the tee and pager functions. Have a tee file enabled and
pager set to less, and you are able to browse the results using the
less program and still have everything appended into a file the same
time. The difference between the Unix tee used with the pager command and the
mysql built-in tee command is that the built-in tee works even if you
do not have the Unix tee available. The built-in tee also logs
everything that is printed on the screen, whereas the Unix tee used
with pager does not log quite that much. Additionally, tee file logging can be
turned on and off interactively from within mysql. This is useful when
you want to log some queries to a file, but not others.
The prompt command reconfigures the default mysql> prompt. The string for
defining the prompt can contain the following special sequences.
mysql> pager cat | tee /dr1/tmp/res.txt \ | tee /dr2/tmp/res2.txt | less -n -i -S
Option | Description |
\c | A counter that increments for each statement you issue |
\D | The full current date |
\d | The default database |
\h | The server host |
\l | The current delimiter |
\m | Minutes of the current time |
\n | A newline character |
\O | The current month in three-letter format (Jan, Feb, ...) |
\o | The current month in numeric format |
\P | am/pm |
\p | The current TCP/IP port or socket file |
\R | The current time, in 24-hour military time (0–23) |
\r | The current time, standard 12-hour time (1–12) |
\S | Semicolon |
\s | Seconds of the current time |
\t | A tab character |
\U | Your full user_name@host_name account name |
\u | Your user name |
\v | The server version |
\w | The current day of the week in three-letter format (Mon, Tue, ...) |
\Y | The current year, four digits |
\y | The current year, two digits |
\_ | A space |
\ | A space (a space follows the backslash) |
\' | Single quote |
\" | Double quote |
\\ | A literal “\” backslash character |
\x | x, for any “x” not listed above |
•Use an environment variable. You can set
the MYSQL_PS1 environment variable to a prompt string. For example:
shell> export MYSQL_PS1="(\u@\h) [\d]> "
•Use a command-line option. You can set the
--prompt option on the command line to mysql. For example:
shell> mysql --prompt="(\u@\h) [\d]> " (user@host) [database]>
•Use an option file. You can set the prompt
option in the [mysql] group of any MySQL option file, such as /etc/my.cnf or
the .my.cnf file in your home directory. For example:
In this example, note that the backslashes are doubled. If you set the prompt
using the prompt option in an option file, it is advisable to double the
backslashes when using the special prompt options. There is some overlap in
the set of permissible prompt options and the set of special escape sequences
that are recognized in option files. (The rules for escape sequences in option
files are listed in Section 4.2.6, “Using Option Files”.)
The overlap may cause you problems if you use single backslashes. For example,
\s is interpreted as a space rather than as the current seconds value. The
following example shows how to define a prompt within an option file to
include the current time in HH:MM:SS> format:
[mysql] prompt=(\\u@\\h) [\\d]>\\_
[mysql] prompt="\\r:\\m:\\s> "
•Set the prompt interactively. You can
change your prompt interactively by using the prompt (or \R) command. For
example:
mysql> prompt (\u@\h) [\d]>\_ PROMPT set to '(\u@\h) [\d]>\_' ( user@host) [database]> ( user@host) [database]> prompt Returning to default PROMPT of mysql> mysql>
MYSQL LOGGING¶
On Unix, the mysql client logs statements executed interactively to a history file. By default, this file is named .mysql_history in your home directory. To specify a different file, set the value of the MYSQL_HISTFILE environment variable. How Logging Occurs.PP Statement logging occurs as follows:•Statements are logged only when executed
interactively. Statements are noninteractive, for example, when read from a
file or a pipe. It is also possible to suppress statement logging by using the
--batch or --execute option.
•Statements are ignored and not logged if they
match any pattern in the “ignore” list. This list is described
later.
•mysql logs each nonignored, nonempty
statement line individually.
•If a nonignored statement spans multiple lines
(not including the terminating delimiter), mysql concatenates the lines
to form the complete statement, maps newlines to spaces, and logs the result,
plus a delimiter.
Consequently, an input statement that spans multiple lines can be logged twice.
Consider this input:
mysql> SELECT -> 'Today is' -> , -> CURDATE() -> ;
SELECT 'Today is' , CURDATE() ; SELECT 'Today is' , CURDATE();
•? matches any single character.
•* matches any sequence of zero or more
characters.
To specify additional patterns, use the --histignore option or set the
MYSQL_HISTIGNORE environment variable. (If both are specified, the option
value takes precedence.) The value should be a colon-separated list of one or
more patterns, which are appended to the default pattern list.
Patterns specified on the command line might need to be quoted or escaped to
prevent your command interpreter from treating them specially. For example, to
suppress logging for UPDATE and DELETE statements in addition to statements
that refer to passwords, invoke mysql like this:
shell> mysql --histignore="*UPDATE*:*DELETE*"
•Set the MYSQL_HISTFILE environment variable to
/dev/null. To cause this setting to take effect each time you log in, put it
in one of your shell's startup files.
•Create .mysql_history as a symbolic link to
/dev/null; this need be done only once:
shell> ln -s /dev/null $HOME/.mysql_history
MYSQL SERVER-SIDE HELP¶
mysql> help search_string
mysql> help me Nothing found Please try to run 'help contents' for a list of all accessible topics
mysql> help contents You asked for help about help category: "Contents" For more information, type 'help <item>', where <item> is one of the following categories: Account Management Administration Data Definition Data Manipulation Data Types Functions Functions and Modifiers for Use with GROUP BY Geographic Features Language Structure Plugins Storage Engines Stored Routines Table Maintenance Transactions Triggers
mysql> help logs Many help items for your request exist. To make a more specific request, please type 'help <item>', where <item> is one of the following topics: SHOW SHOW BINARY LOGS SHOW ENGINE SHOW LOGS
mysql> help show binary logs Name: 'SHOW BINARY LOGS' Description: Syntax: SHOW BINARY LOGS SHOW MASTER LOGS Lists the binary log files on the server. This statement is used as part of the procedure described in [purge-binary-logs], that shows how to determine which logs can be purged. mysql> SHOW BINARY LOGS; +---------------+-----------+ | Log_name | File_size | +---------------+-----------+ | binlog.000015 | 724935 | | binlog.000016 | 733481 | +---------------+-----------+
mysql> HELP rep% Many help items for your request exist. To make a more specific request, please type 'help <item>', where <item> is one of the following topics: REPAIR TABLE REPEAT FUNCTION REPEAT LOOP REPLACE REPLACE FUNCTION
EXECUTING SQL STATEMENTS FROM A TEXT FILE¶
The mysql client typically is used interactively, like this:shell> mysql db_name
shell> mysql db_name < text_file
shell> mysql < text_file
mysql> source file_name mysql> \. file_name
SELECT '<info_to_display>' AS ' ';
MYSQL TIPS¶
This section describes some techniques that can help you use mysql more effectively.Input-Line Editing¶
mysql supports input-line editing, which enables you to modify the current input line in place or recall previous input lines. For example, the left-arrow and right-arrow keys move horizontally within the current input line, and the up-arrow and down-arrow keys move up and down through the set of previously entered lines. Backspace deletes the character before the cursor and typing new characters enters them at the cursor position. To enter the line, press Enter. On Windows, the editing key sequences are the same as supported for command editing in console windows. On Unix, the key sequences depend on the input library used to build mysql (for example, the libedit or readline library). Documentation for the libedit and readline libraries is available online. To change the set of key sequences permitted by a given input library, define key bindings in the library startup file. This is a file in your home directory: .editrc for libedit and .inputrc for readline. For example, in libedit, Control+W deletes everything before the current cursor position and Control+U deletes the entire line. In readline, Control+W deletes the word before the cursor and Control+U deletes everything before the current cursor position. If mysql was built using libedit, a user who prefers the readline behavior for these two keys can put the following lines in the .editrc file (creating the file if necessary):bind "^W" ed-delete-prev-word bind "^U" vi-kill-line-prev
Unicode Support on Windows¶
Windows provides APIs based on UTF-16LE for reading from and writing to the console. As of MySQL 5.6.2, the mysql client for Windows is able to use these APIs. As of 5.6.3, the Windows installer creates an item in the MySQL menu named MySQL command line client - Unicode. This item invokes the mysql client with properties set to communicate through the console to the MySQL server using Unicode. To take advantage of this support manually, run mysql within a console that uses a compatible Unicode font and set the default character set to a Unicode character set that is supported for communication with the server: 1.Open a console window.
2.Go to the console window properties, select the font
tab, and choose Lucida Console or some other compatible Unicode font. This is
necessary because console windows start by default using a DOS raster font
that is inadequate for Unicode.
3.Execute mysql.exe with the
--default-character-set=utf8 (or utf8mb4) option. This option is
necessary because utf16le is not supported as a connection character
set.
With those changes, mysql will use the Windows APIs to communicate with
the console using UTF-16LE, and communicate with the server using UTF-8. (The
menu item mentioned previously sets the font and character set as just
described.)
To avoid those steps each time you run mysql, you can create a shortcut
that invokes mysql.exe. The shortcut should set the console font to
Lucida Console or some other compatible Unicode font, and pass the
--default-character-set=utf8 (or utf8mb4) option to mysql.exe.
Alternatively, create a shortcut that only sets the console font, and set the
character set in the [mysql] group of your my.ini file:
[mysql] default-character-set=utf8
Displaying Query Results Vertically¶
Some query results are much more readable when displayed vertically, instead of in the usual horizontal table format. Queries can be displayed vertically by terminating the query with \G instead of a semicolon. For example, longer text values that include newlines often are much easier to read with vertical output:mysql> SELECT * FROM mails WHERE LENGTH(txt) < 300 LIMIT 300,1\G *************************** 1. row *************************** msg_nro: 3068 date: 2000-03-01 23:29:50 time_zone: +0200 mail_from: Monty reply: monty@no.spam.com mail_to: "Thimble Smith" <tim@no.spam.com> sbj: UTF-8 txt: >>>>> "Thimble" == Thimble Smith writes: Thimble> Hi. I think this is a good idea. Is anyone familiar Thimble> with UTF-8 or Unicode? Otherwise, I'll put this on my Thimble> TODO list and see what happens. Yes, please do that. Regards, Monty file: inbox-jani-1 hash: 190402944 1 row in set (0.09 sec)
Using the --safe-updates Option¶
For beginners, a useful startup option is --safe-updates (or --i-am-a-dummy, which has the same effect). It is helpful for cases when you might have issued a DELETE FROM tbl_name statement but forgotten the WHERE clause. Normally, such a statement deletes all rows from the table. With --safe-updates, you can delete rows only by specifying the key values that identify them. This helps prevent accidents. When you use the --safe-updates option, mysql issues the following statement when it connects to the MySQL server:SET sql_safe_updates=1, sql_select_limit=1000, max_join_size=1000000;
•You are not permitted to execute an UPDATE or
DELETE statement unless you specify a key constraint in the WHERE clause or
provide a LIMIT clause (or both). For example:
UPDATE tbl_name SET not_key_column=val WHERE key_column=val; UPDATE tbl_name SET not_key_column=val LIMIT 1;
•The server limits all large SELECT results to
1,000 rows unless the statement includes a LIMIT clause.
•The server aborts multiple-table SELECT
statements that probably need to examine more than 1,000,000 row
combinations.
To specify limits different from 1,000 and 1,000,000, you can override the
defaults by using the --select_limit and --max_join_size
options:
shell> mysql --safe-updates --select_limit=500 --max_join_size=10000
Disabling mysql Auto-Reconnect¶
If the mysql client loses its connection to the server while sending a statement, it immediately and automatically tries to reconnect once to the server and send the statement again. However, even if mysql succeeds in reconnecting, your first connection has ended and all your previous session objects and settings are lost: temporary tables, the autocommit mode, and user-defined and session variables. Also, any current transaction rolls back. This behavior may be dangerous for you, as in the following example where the server was shut down and restarted between the first and second statements without you knowing it:mysql> SET @a=1; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.05 sec) mysql> INSERT INTO t VALUES(@a); ERROR 2006: MySQL server has gone away No connection. Trying to reconnect... Connection id: 1 Current database: test Query OK, 1 row affected (1.30 sec) mysql> SELECT * FROM t; +------+ | a | +------+ | NULL | +------+ 1 row in set (0.05 sec)
COPYRIGHT¶
Copyright © 1997, 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This documentation is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it only under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License. This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with the program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA or see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.SEE ALSO¶
For more information, please refer to the MySQL Reference Manual, which may already be installed locally and which is also available online at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/.AUTHOR¶
Oracle Corporation (http://dev.mysql.com/).03/02/2016 | MySQL 5.6 |