NAME

       isql, iusql - unixODBC command-line interactive SQL tool

SYNOPSIS

       isql DSN [USER [PASSWORD]] [options]

DESCRIPTION

       isql  is  a command line tool which allows the user to execute SQL in batch or interactively. It has some
       interesting options such as an option to generate output wrapped in an HTML table.

       iusql is the same tool with built-in Unicode support. Some datasources only work with iusql.

ARGUMENTS

       DSN    The Data Source Name, which should be used to make connection to the database.  The data source is
              looked  for  in  the  /etc/odbc.ini  and  $HOME/.odbc.ini  files  in  that  order, with the latter
              overwriting the former.

              A bare name is looked up in the above files. If the DSN name begins with  a  semicolon  then  it's
              treated  as a connection string instead. The connection string may contain a DSN name and/or other
              semicolon-separated parameters.

       USER   Specifies the database user/role under which the connection should be made.

              Overrides any UID specified in the DSN.

       PASSWORD
              Password for the specified USER.

              Overrides any Password specified in the DSN.

OPTIONS

       -b     Run isql in non-interactive batch mode. In this mode,  the  isql  processes  its  standard  input,
              expecting one SQL command per line.

       -dDELIMITER
              Delimits columns with delimiter.

       -xHEX  Delimits  columns  with HEX, which is a hexadecimal code of the delimiting character in the format
              0xNN - i.e. 0x09 for the TAB character.

       -w     Format the result as HTML table.

       -c     Output the names of the columns on the first row. Has any effect only with the -d or -x options.

       -mNUM  Limit the column display width to NUM characters.

       -lLOCALE
              Sets locale to LOCALE.

       -q     Wrap the character fields in double quotes.

       -3     Use the ODBC 3 calls.

       -n     Use the new line processing. (multiple lines of SQL, terminated with command GO).

       -e     Use the SQLExecDirect instead of Prepare.

       -k     Use SQLDriverConnect.

       -v     Turn on the verbose mode, where the errors are fully described. Useful for debugging.

       --version
              Prints the program version and exits.

       -LNUM  Alter the maximum number of characters displayed from a character field to NUM characters. Default
              is 300.

COMMANDS

       This section briefly describes some isql runtime commands.

       help
              List all tables in the database.

       help table
              List all columns in the table.

       help help
              List all help options.

EXAMPLES

       A bare DSN name:

              $ iusql WebDB MyID MyPWD -w -b < My.sql

              Connects  to  the  WebDB as user MyID with password MyPWD, then execute the commands in the My.sql
              file and returns the results wrapped in HTML table.  Each line in My.sql must  contain  exactly  1
              SQL command, except for the last line, which must be blank (unless the -n option is specified).

       A DSN name in a connection string:

              Note the leading semicolon on the connection string:

              $ iusql ";DSN=WebDB" MyID MyPWD -w -b < My.sql

              Options in the DSN may be overridden in the connection string:

              $ iusql ";DSN=WebDB;Driver=PostgreSQL ODBC;UID=MyID;PASSWORD=secret;Debug=1;CommLog=1" -v

       A string DSN:

              A string DSN may be provided in its entirety, with no file DSN reference at all:

              $ iusql ";Driver=PostgreSQL Unicode;UID=MyID;PASSWORD=secret" -v

TROUBLESHOOTING

       Cryptic error messages

              Re-run  iusql or isql with the -v flag to get more detail from errors, and/or enable Trace mode in
              odbcinst.ini.

       Missing driver definition

              Check that the driver name specified by the Driver entry in  the odbc.ini  data-source  definition
              is present in odbcinst.ini and exactly matches the odbcinst [section name].

       Unloadable or incompatible driver

              If  the  driver  is properly specified for the datasource it's possible that the driver may not be
              loadable. Check for mixups between Unicode and ANSI  drivers.  Verify  the  driver  paths  in  the
              odbcinst.ini section name.

       Unicode datasources with ANSI clients

              Some datasources are Unicode-only and only work with iusql. If isql reports
                [IM002][unixODBC][Driver Manager]Data source name not found and no default driver specified
                [ISQL]ERROR: Could not SQLConnect
              but the datasource is listed by
                odbcinst -q -d
              and the driver it uses is listed by
                odbcinst -q -d
              then try iusql.

FILES

       /etc/odbc.ini
              System-wide DSN definitions. See odbc.ini(5) for details.

       $HOME/.odbc.ini
              User-specific DSN definitions. See odbc.ini(5) for details.

SEE ALSO

       unixODBC(7), odbcinst(1), odbc.ini(5)

       "The unixODBC Administrator Manual (HTML)"

AUTHORS

       The  authors  of unixODBC are Peter Harvey <pharvey@codebydesign.com> and Nick Gorham <nick@lurcher.org>.
       For the full list of contributors see the AUTHORS file.

COPYRIGHT

       unixODBC is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License. For details about the license, see  the
       COPYING file.