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.