Ubuntu Manpage: mysql - the MySQL command-line tool

Provided by: mysql-client-core-5.5_5.5.62-0ubuntu0.14.04.1_amd64

NAME

       mysql - the MySQL command-line tool

SYNOPSIS

       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

       Or:

           shell> mysql --user=user_name --password db_name
           Enter password: your_password

       Then type an SQL statement, end it with ;, \g, or \G and press Enter.

       Typing Control+C causes mysql to attempt to kill the current statement. If this cannot be
       done, or Control+C is typed again before the statement is killed, mysql exits.

       You can execute SQL statements in a script file (batch file) like this:

           shell> mysql db_name < script.sql > output.tab

       On Unix, the mysql client logs statements executed interactively to a history file. See
       the section called “MYSQL LOGGING”.

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.) This option was added in MySQL 5.5.3.

• --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-as-hex

When this option is given, mysql displays binary data using hexadecimal notation
(0xvalue). This occurs whether the overall output dislay format is tabular, vertical,
HTML, or XML.

This option was added in MySQL 5.5.57.

• --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 only in the version of the mysql client that is supplied with
NDB Cluster. It is not available in standard MySQL Server 5.5 releases.

• --character-sets-dir=dir_name

The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 10.14, “Character Set
Configuration”.

• --column-names

Write column names in results.

• --column-type-info

Display result set metadata.

• --comments, -c

Whether to strip or preserve comments in statements sent to the server. The default is
--skip-comments (strip comments), enable with --comments (preserve comments).

• --compress, -C

Compress all information sent between the client and the server if both support
compression.

• --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 6.3.6,
“Pluggable Authentication”.

This option was added in MySQL 5.5.7.

• --default-character-set=charset_name

Use charset_name as the default character set for the client and connection.

This option can be useful if the operating system uses one character set and the mysql
client by default uses another. In this case, output may be formatted incorrectly. You
can usually fix such issues by using this option to force the client to use the system
character set instead.

For more information, see Section 10.4, “Connection Character Sets and Collations”,
and Section 10.14, “Character Set Configuration”.

• --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.
Before MySQL 5.5.8, file_name must be the full path name to the file. As of MySQL
5.5.8, the name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a
relative 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. Before MySQL 5.5.8, file_name must be the full path
name to the file. As of MySQL 5.5.8, the name is interpreted relative to the current
directory if given as a relative 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 6.5.1.3,
“Client-Side Cleartext Pluggable Authentication”.) This option was added in MySQL
5.5.27.

• --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.

• --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 5.1.10, “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. For mysql, this capability is
disabled by default. 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 data loading also requires that the server permits it; see
Section 6.1.6, “Security Issues with LOAD DATA LOCAL”

• --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.

• --no-named-commands, -g

Deprecated, use --disable-named-commands instead. --no-named-commands was removed in
MySQL 5.5.3.

• --no-pager

Deprecated form of --skip-pager. See the --pager option. --no-pager was removed in
MySQL 5.5.3.

• --no-tee

Deprecated form of --skip-tee. See the --tee option. --no-tee is removed in MySQL
5.5.3.

• --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:

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);

If the command line is mysql --force --one-database db1, mysql handles the input as
follows:

• 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 6.3.6, “Pluggable Authentication”.

This option was added in MySQL 5.5.7.

• --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.

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.

• --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 6.4.2, “Command Options
for Encrypted 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:

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>

(See Bug #25946.)

You can also set the following variables by using --var_name=value. The --set-variable
format is deprecated and was removed in MySQL 5.5.3.

• 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'

Each command has both a long and short form. The long form is not case-sensitive; the
short form is. The long form can be followed by an optional semicolon terminator, but the
short form should not.

The use of short-form commands within multiple-line /* ... */ comments is not supported.

• 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 23.8.16, “C API Multiple Statement Execution Support”), 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 \\.

Quote characters are taken as part of the file name itself. For best results, the name
should not include space characters.

• 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:

mysql> pager cat > /tmp/log.txt

You can also pass any options for the program that you want to use as your pager:

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:

mysql> pager cat | tee /dr1/tmp/res.txt \
| tee /dr2/tmp/res2.txt | less -n -i -S

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.

br
.br
.br
72
┌───────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┐
│Option │ Description │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ A counter that increments for │
│ │ each statement you issue │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The full current date │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The default database │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The server host │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The current delimiter │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ Minutes of the current time │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ A newline character │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The current month in three- │
│ │ letter format (Jan, Feb, ...) │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The current month in numeric │
│ │ format │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│P │ am/pm │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The current TCP/IP port or │
│ │ socket file │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The current time, in 24-hour │
│ │ military time (0–23) │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The current time, standard │
│ │ 12-hour time (1–12) │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ Semicolon │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ Seconds of the current time │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ A tab character │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│U │ │
│ │ Your full │
│ │ user_name@host_name │
│ │ account name │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ Your user name │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The server version │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The current day of the week in │
│ │ three-letter format (Mon, Tue, │
│ │ ...) │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ The current year, four digits │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│y │ The current year, two digits │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│_ │ A space │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│\ │ A space (a space follows the │
│ │ backslash) │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│´ │ Single quote │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ Double quote │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│T}:T{ A literal backslash │ │
│character │ │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│\fIx │ │
│ │ x, for any “x” not listed │
│ │ above │
└───────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────┘

You can set the prompt in several ways:

• 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:

[mysql]
prompt=(\\u@\\h) [\\d]>\\_

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="\\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.

• mysql logs each nonempty statement line individually.

• If a 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()
-> ;

In this case, mysql logs the “SELECT”, “'Today is'”, “,”, “CURDATE()”, and “;” lines as it
reads them. It also logs the complete statement, after mapping SELECT\n'Today
is'\n,\nCURDATE() to SELECT 'Today is' , CURDATE(), plus a delimiter. Thus, these lines
appear in logged output:

SELECT
'Today is'
,
CURDATE()
;
SELECT 'Today is' , CURDATE();

Controlling the History File.PP The .mysql_history file should be protected with a
restrictive access mode because sensitive information might be written to it, such as the
text of SQL statements that contain passwords. See Section 6.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines
for Password Security”.

If you do not want to maintain a history file, first remove .mysql_history if it exists.
Then use either of the following techniques to prevent it from being created again:

• 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

       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. The proper operation of
       this command requires that the help tables in the mysql database be initialized with help
       topic information (see Section 5.1.13, “Server-Side Help”).

       If there is no match for the search string, the search fails:

           mysql> help me
           Nothing found
           Please try to run 'help contents' for a list of all accessible topics

       Use help contents to see a list of the help categories:

           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

       If the search string matches multiple items, mysql shows a list of matching topics:

           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

       Use a topic as the search string to see the help entry for that topic:

           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 |
           +---------------+-----------+

       The search string can contain the wildcard characters % and _. These have the same meaning
       as for pattern-matching operations performed with the LIKE operator. For example, HELP
       rep% returns a list of topics that begin with rep:

           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

However, it is also possible to put your SQL statements in a file and then tell mysql to
read its input from that file. To do so, create a text file text_file that contains the
statements you wish to execute. Then invoke mysql as shown here:

shell> mysql db_name < text_file

If you place a USE db_name statement as the first statement in the file, it is unnecessary
to specify the database name on the command line:

shell> mysql < text_file

If you are already running mysql, you can execute an SQL script file using the source
command or \. command:

mysql> source file_name
mysql> \. file_name

Sometimes you may want your script to display progress information to the user. For this
you can insert statements like this:

SELECT '<info_to_display>' AS ' ';

The statement shown outputs <info_to_display>.

You can also invoke mysql with the --verbose option, which causes each statement to be
displayed before the result that it produces.

mysql ignores Unicode byte order mark (BOM) characters at the beginning of input files.
Previously, it read them and sent them to the server, resulting in a syntax error.
Presence of a BOM does not cause mysql to change its default character set. To do that,
invoke mysql with an option such as --default-character-set=utf8.

For more information about batch mode, see Section 3.5, “Using mysql in Batch Mode”.

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

To see the current set of key bindings, temporarily put a line that says only bind at the
end of .editrc. mysql will show the bindings when it starts.

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, sql_max_join_size=1000000;

See Section 5.1.7, “Server System Variables”.

The SET statement has the following effects:

• 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)

The @a user variable has been lost with the connection, and after the reconnection it is
undefined. If it is important to have mysql terminate with an error if the connection has
been lost, you can start the mysql client with the --skip-reconnect option.

For more information about auto-reconnect and its effect on state information when a
reconnection occurs, see Section 23.8.20, “C API Automatic Reconnection Control”.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 1997, 2018, 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/.

AUTHOR

       Oracle Corporation (http://dev.mysql.com/).