Chapter 4. MySQL Programs

Options are given after the command name.

An option argument begins with one dash or two dashes, depending on whether it is a short form or long form of the option name. Many options have both short and long forms. For example, -? and --help are the short and long forms of the option that instructs a MySQL program to display its help message.

Option names are case sensitive. -v and -V are both legal and have different meanings. (They are the corresponding short forms of the --verbose and --version options.)

Some options take a value following the option name. For example, -h localhost or --host=localhost indicate the MySQL server host to a client program. The option value tells the program the name of the host where the MySQL server is running.

For a long option that takes a value, separate the option name and the value by an “=” sign. For a short option that takes a value, the option value can immediately follow the option letter, or there can be a space between: -hlocalhost and -h localhost are equivalent. An exception to this rule is the option for specifying your MySQL password. This option can be given in long form as --password=pass_val or as --password. In the latter case (with no password value given), the program prompts you for the password. The password option also may be given in short form as -ppass_val or as -p. However, for the short form, if the password value is given, it must follow the option letter with no intervening space. The reason for this is that if a space follows the option letter, the program has no way to tell whether a following argument is supposed to be the password value or some other kind of argument. Consequently, the following two commands have two completely different meanings:

shell> mysql -ptest
shell> mysql -p test

The first command instructs mysql to use a password value of test, but specifies no default database. The second instructs mysql to prompt for the password value and to use test as the default database.

Within option names, dash (“-”) and underscore (“_”) may be used interchangeably. For example, --skip-grant-tables and --skip_grant_tables are equivalent. (However, the leading dashes cannot be given as underscores.)

For options that take a numeric value, the value can be given with a suffix of K, M, or G (either uppercase or lowercase) to indicate a multiplier of 1024, 1024² or 1024³. For example, the following command tells mysqladmin to ping the server 1024 times, sleeping 10 seconds between each ping:

mysql> mysqladmin --count=1K --sleep=10 ping

Let BASEDIR and DATADIR represent the path names of the MySQL base directory and data directory, respectively.

If there is a my.cnf file in DATADIR but not in BASEDIR, mysqld_safe sets MYSQL_HOME to DATADIR.

Otherwise, if MYSQL_HOME is not set and there is no my.cnf file in DATADIR, mysqld_safe sets MYSQL_HOME to BASEDIR.

#comment, ;comment

Comment lines start with “#” or “;”. A “#” comment can start in the middle of a line as well.

[group]

group is the name of the program or group for which you want to set options. After a group line, any option-setting lines apply to the named group until the end of the option file or another group line is given. Option group names are not case sensitive.

opt_name

This is equivalent to --opt_name on the command line.

opt_name=value

This is equivalent to --opt_name=value on the command line. In an option file, you can have spaces around the “=” character, something that is not true on the command line. You can optionally enclose the value within single quotation marks or double quotation marks, which is useful if the value contains a “#” comment character.

If a backslash is followed by a valid escape sequence character, the sequence is converted to the character represented by the sequence. For example, “\s” is converted to a space.

If a backslash is not followed by a valid escape sequence character, it remains unchanged. For example, “\S” is retained as is.

--print-defaults may be used immediately after --defaults-file or --defaults-extra-file.

On Windows, if the --defaults-file and --install options are given, --install option must be first. See Section 2.3.4.8, “Starting MySQL as a Windows Service”.

--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, the program exits with an error. 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, the program exits with an error. 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

If this option is given, the program reads not only its usual option groups, but also groups with the usual names and a suffix of str. For example, the mysql client 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.

--login-path=name

Read options from the named login path in the .myconfig.cnf login file. A “login path” is an option group that permits only a limited set of options: host, user, and password. Think of a login path as a set of values that indicate the server host and the credentials for authenticating with the server. To create the login file, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”. This option was added in MySQL 5.6.6.

--no-defaults

Do not read any option files. If a program does not start because it is reading unknown options from an option file, --no-defaults can be used to prevent the program from reading them.

--print-defaults

Print the program name and all options that it gets from 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 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.

--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, this option can be used to select which interface is employed when connecting to the MySQL server.

This option is supported beginning with MySQL 5.6.1.

--character-sets-dir=path

The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 10.5, “Character Set Configuration”.

--column-names

Write column names in results.

--column-type-info, -m

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.

--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'.

--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

The client-side authentication plugin to use. See Section 6.3.6, “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 multi-byte 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.

--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 Section 4.5.1.2, “mysql Commands”.

--enable-cleartext-plugin

Enable the mysql_clear_password cleartext authentication plugin. (See Section 6.3.6.3, “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 4.2.3.1, “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 not to log to the history file. For more information, see Section 4.5.1.3, “mysql History File”. 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.

--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 Section 4.5.1.2, “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.

--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:

--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. Section 4.5.1.2, “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=path

The directory in which to look for plugins. It may be necessary to 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”.

--port=port_num, -P port_num

The TCP/IP port number to use for the connection.

--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 Section 4.5.1.2, “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 Section 4.5.1.6, “mysql Tips”, for more information about this option.

--secure-auth

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. As of MySQL 5.6.7, this option is enabled by default; use --skip-secure-auth to disable it.

--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 6.3.6.2, “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.

--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 6.3.8.4, “SSL Command Options”.

--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. Section 4.5.1.2, “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.

<field name="column_name">NULL</field>

The output when --xml is used with mysql matches that of mysqldump --xml. See Section 4.5.4, “mysqldump — A Database Backup Program” 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.)

connect_timeout

The number of seconds before connection timeout. (Default value is 0.)

max_allowed_packet

The maximum packet length to send to or receive from the server. (Default value is 16MB.)

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.)

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 Section 4.5.1.4, “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 21.9.13, “C API Support for Multiple Statement Execution”), and for parsing the body of stored procedures and functions, triggers, and events (see Section 18.1, “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

Enable 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).

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.

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 4.2.3.3, “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>

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.

Create .mysql_history as a symbolic link to /dev/null:

shell> ln -s /dev/null $HOME/.mysql_history

You need do this only once.

? matches any single character.

* matches any sequence of zero or more characters