MYSQL(1) MySQL Database System MYSQL(1)
mysql - the MySQL command-line tool
mysql [options] db_name
mysql is a simple SQL shell (with GNU readline capabilities). It
supports interactive and non-interactive use. When used interactively,
query results are presented in an ASCII-table format. When used
non-interactively (for example, as a filter), the result is presented
in tab-separated format. The output format can be changed using command
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
Then type an SQL statement, end it with `;', \g, or \G and press Enter.
You can execute SQL statements in a script file (batch file) like this:
shell> mysql db_name < script.sql > output.tab
mysql supports the following options:
o --help, -?
Display a help message and exit.
o --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.
The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 8.1,
"The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting".
o --compress, -C
Compress all information sent between the client and the server if
both support compression.
o --database=db_name, -D db_name
The database to use. This is useful primarily in an option file.
o --debug[=debug_options], -# [debug_options]
Write a debugging log. The debug_options string often is
'd:t:o,file_name'. The default is 'd:t:o,/tmp/mysql.trace'.
o --debug-info, -T
Print some debugging information when the program exits.
Use charset_name as the default character set. See Section 8.1, "The
Character Set Used for Data and Sorting".
o --execute=statement, -e statement
Execute the statement and quit. The default output format is like
that produced with --batch. See Section 3.1, "Using Options on the
Command Line", for some examples.
o --force, -f
Continue even if an SQL error occurs.
o --host=host_name, -h host_name
Connect to the MySQL server on the given host.
o --html, -H
Produce HTML output.
o --ignore-space, -i
Ignore spaces after function names. The effect of this is described
in the discussion for IGNORE_SPACE in the section called "THE SERVER
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
o --named-commands, -G
Enable named mysql commands. Long-format commands are allowed, not
just short-format commands. For example, quit and \q both are
recognized. See the section called "\FBMYSQL\FR COMMANDS".
o --no-auto-rehash, -A
No automatic rehashing. This option causes mysql to start faster,
but you must issue the rehash command if you want to use table and
column name completion.
o --no-beep, -b
Do not beep when errors occur.
o --no-named-commands, -g
Disable named commands. Use the \* form only, or use named commands
only at the beginning of a line ending with a semicolon (`;'). As of
MySQL 3.23.22, 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 "\FBMYSQL\FR COMMANDS".
Do not use a pager for displaying query output. the section called
"\FBMYSQL\FR COMMANDS", discusses output paging further.
Do not copy output to a file. the section called "\FBMYSQL\FR
COMMANDS", discusses tee files further.
o --one-database, -o
Ignore statements except those for the default database named on the
command line. This is useful for skipping updates to other databases
in the binary log.
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. It does not work in batch
mode. the section called "\FBMYSQL\FR COMMANDS", discusses output
o --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, you are prompted for
Specifying a password on the command line should be considered
insecure. See Section 6.6, "Keeping Your Password Secure".
o --port=port_num, -P port_num
The TCP/IP port number to use for the connection.
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 "\FBMYSQL\FR COMMANDS".
The connection protocol to use. Added in MySQL 4.1.
o --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.
o --raw, -r
Write column values without escape conversion. Often used with the
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. Added in MySQL 4.1.0.
o --safe-updates, --i-am-a-dummy, -U
Allow 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 "\FBMYSQL\FR TIPS", for more
information about this option.
Do not send passwords to the server in old (pre-4.1.1) format. This
prevents connections except for servers that use the newer password
format. This option was added in MySQL 4.1.1.
Ignore SIGINT signals (typically the result of typing Control-C).
This option was added in MySQL 4.1.6.
o --silent, -s
Silent mode. Produce less output. This option can be given multiple
times to produce less and less output.
o --skip-column-names, -N
Do not write column names in results.
o --skip-line-numbers, -L
Do not write line numbers for errors. Useful when you want to
compare result files that include error messages.
o --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.
o --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.
Append a copy of output to the given file. This option does not work
in batch mode. in the section called "\FBMYSQL\FR COMMANDS",
discusses tee files further.
o --unbuffered, -n
Flush the buffer after each query.
o --user=user_name, -u user_name
The MySQL username to use when connecting to the server.
o --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
o --version, -V
Display version information and exit.
o --vertical, -E
Print query output rows vertically (one line per coluumn value).
Without this option, you can specify vertical output for individual
statements by terminating them with \G.
o --wait, -w
If the connection cannot be established, wait and retry instead of
o --xml, -X
Produce XML output.
You can also set the following variables by using --var_name=value
The number of seconds before connection timeout. (Default value is
The maximum packet length to send to or receive from the server.
(Default value is 16MB.)
The automatic limit for rows in a join when using --safe-updates.
(Default value is 1,000,000.)
The buffer size for TCP/IP and socket communication. (Default value
The automatic limit for SELECT statements when using --safe-updates.
(Default value is 1,000.)
It is also possible to set variables by using
--set-variable=var_name=value or -O var_name=value syntax. In MySQL
4.1, this syntax is deprecated.
On Unix, the mysql client writes a record of executed statements to a
history file. By default, the history file is named .mysql_history and
is created in your home directory. To specify a different file, set the
value of the MYSQL_HISTFILE environment variable.
If you do not want to maintain a history file, first remove
.mysql_history if it exists, and then use either of the following
o Set the MYSQL_HISTFILE variable to /dev/null. To cause this setting
to take effect each time you log in, put the setting in one of your
shell's startup files.
o Create .mysql_history as a symbolic link to /dev/null:
shell> ln -s /dev/null $HOME/.mysql_history
You need do this only once.
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:
? (\?) Synonym for `help'.
clear (\c) Clear command.
connect (\r) Reconnect to the server. Optional arguments are db and host.
delimiter (\d) Set statement delimiter. NOTE: Takes the rest of the line as
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
use (\u) Use another database. Takes database name as argument.
warnings (\W) Show warnings after every statement.
nowarning (\w) Don't show warnings after every statement.
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.
In the delimiter command, you should avoid the use of the backslash
(`\') character because that is the escape character for MySQL.
The edit, nopager, pager, and system commands work only in Unix.
The status command provides some 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
To log queries and their output, use the tee command. All the data
displayed on the screen is appended into a given file. This can be very
useful for debugging purposes also. You can enable this feature on the
command line with the --tee option, or interactively with the tee
command. The tee file can be disabled interactively with the notee
command. Executing tee again re-enables logging. Without a parameter,
the previous file is used. Note that tee flushes query results to the
file after each statement, just before mysql prints its next prompt.
By using the --pager option, 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. 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 this is not as convenient
as pager for browsing output in some situations.
Here are a few tips about the pager command:
o You can use it to write to a file and the results go only to the
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
o 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
o You can specify very complex pager commands for handling query
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 filesystems mounted on
/dr1 and /dr2, yet still display the results onscreen via 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
From MySQL 4.0.2 on, the default mysql> prompt can be reconfigured. The
string for defining the prompt can contain the following special
sequences: OptionDescription\vThe server version\dThe default
database\hThe server host\pThe current TCP/IP port or socket file\uYour
account name\\A literal `\' backslash character\nA
newline character\tA tab character\ A space (a space follows the
backslash)\_A space\RThe current time, in 24-hour military time
(0-23)\rThe current time, standard 12-hour time (1-12)\mMinutes of the
current time\yThe current year, two digits\YThe current year, four
digits\DThe full current date\sSeconds of the current time\wThe current
day of the week in three-letter format (Mon, Tue, ...)\Pam/pm\oThe
current month in numeric format\OThe current month in three-letter
format (Jan, Feb, ...)\cA counter that increments for each statement
you issue\SSemicolon\'Single quote\"Double quote.PP `\' followed by any
other letter just becomes that letter.
If you specify the prompt command with no argument, mysql resets the
prompt to the default of mysql>.
You can set the prompt in several ways:
o 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]> "
o 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]> "
o 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 allowable prompt
options and the set of special escape sequences that are recognized
in option files. (These sequences are listed in Section 3.2, "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
o 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]> prompt
Returning to default PROMPT of mysql>
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
shell> mysql < text_file
If you are already running mysql, you can execute an SQL script file
using the source 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 '' AS ' ';
The statement shown outputs .
For more information about batch mode, see Section 5, "Using mysql in
This section describes some techniques that can help you use mysql more
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 ***************************
date: 2000-03-01 23:29:50
mail_to: "Thimble Smith"
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.
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). This option was introduced
in MySQL 3.23.11. 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 5.3, "SET Syntax".
The SET statement has the following effects:
o You are not allowed 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;
o The server limits all large SELECT results to 1,000 rows unless the
statement includes a LIMIT clause.
o 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
query, it immediately and automatically tries to reconnect once to the
server and send the query 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
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.
isamchk(1), isamlog(1), msql2mysql(1), myisamchk(1), myisamlog(1),
myisampack(1), mysql.server(1), mysql_config(1),
mysql_fix_privilege_tables(1), mysql_zap(1), mysqlaccess(1),
mysqladmin(1), mysqlbinlog(1), mysqlcheck(1), mysqld(1),
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mysqlimport(1), mysqlshow(1), pack_isam(1), perror(1), replace(1),
For more information, please refer to the MySQL Reference Manual, which
may already be installed locally and which is also available online at
MySQL AB (http://www.mysql.com/). This software comes with no
MySQL 4.1 01/27/2006 MYSQL(1)