shell> mysql db_name

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

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

Display a help message and exit.

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.

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.

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 only in the version of the mysql client that is supplied with MySQL Cluster, beginning with MySQL Cluster NDB 6.3.4. It is not available in standard MySQL 5.1 releases.

The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 9.5, \(lqCharacter Set Configuration\(rq.

Write column names in results.

Display result set metadata. This option was added in MySQL 5.1.14. (Before that, use --debug-info.) The -m short option was added in MySQL 5.1.21.

Whether to preserve comments in statements sent to the server. The default is --skip-comments (discard comments), enable with --comments (preserve comments). This option was added in MySQL 5.1.23.

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

The database to use. This is useful primarily in an option file.

Write a debugging log. A typical debug_options string is 'd:t:o,file_name'. The default is 'd:t:o,/tmp/mysql.trace'.

Print some debugging information when the program exits. This option was added in MySQL 5.1.21.

Before MySQL 5.1.14, this option prints debugging information and memory and CPU usage statistics when the program exits, and also causes display of result set metadata during execution. As of MySQL 5.1.14, use --column-type-info to display result set metadata.

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 9.5, \(lqCharacter Set Configuration\(rq, for more information.

Set the statement delimiter. The default is the semicolon character (\(lq;\(rq).

Disable named commands. Use the \* form only, or use named commands only at the beginning of a line ending with a semicolon (\(lq;\(rq). 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 \(lqMYSQL COMMANDS\(rq.

Execute the statement and quit. The default output format is like that produced with --batch. See Section 4.2.3.1, \(lqUsing Options on the Command Line\(rq, for some examples. With this option, mysql does not use the history file.

Continue even if an SQL error occurs.

Connect to the MySQL server on the given host.

Produce HTML output.

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, \(lqServer SQL Modes\(rq).

Write line numbers for errors. Disable this with --skip-line-numbers.

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.

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 \(lqMYSQL COMMANDS\(rq.

This has the same effect as -skip-auto-rehash. See the description for --auto-rehash.

Do not beep when errors occur.

Deprecated, use --disable-named-commands instead. --no-named-commands is removed in MySQL 5.5.

Deprecated form of --skip-pager. See the --pager option. --no-pager is removed in MySQL 5.5.

Deprecated form of --skip-tee. See the --tee option. --no-tee is removed in MySQL 5.5.

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:

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 \(lqMYSQL COMMANDS\(rq, discusses output paging further.

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 5.3.2.2, \(lqEnd-User Guidelines for Password Security\(rq. You can use an option file to avoid giving the password on the command line.

On Windows, connect to the server using a named pipe. This option applies only if the server supports named-pipe connections.

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 \(lqMYSQL COMMANDS\(rq.

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, \(lqConnecting to the MySQL Server\(rq.

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.

For tabular output, the \(lqboxing\(rq 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)
\

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.

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 \(lqMYSQL TIPS\(rq, 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.

Cause warnings to be shown after each statement if there are any. This option applies to interactive and batch mode.

Ignore SIGINT signals (typically the result of typing Control-C).

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.

Do not write column names in results.

Do not write line numbers for errors. Useful when you want to compare result files that include error messages.

For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the name of the named pipe to use.

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 5.5.6.3, \(lqSSL Command Options\(rq.

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 works only in interactive mode. the section called \(lqMYSQL COMMANDS\(rq, discusses tee files further.

Flush the buffer after each query.

The MySQL user name to use when connecting to the server.

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.)

Display version information and exit.

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.

If the connection cannot be established, wait and retry instead of aborting.

Produce XML output.

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

Beginning with MySQL 5.1.12, the output when --xml is used with mysql matches that of mysqldump --xml. See mysqldump(1) for details.

Beginning with MySQL 5.1.18, 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 \m[blue]Bug#25946\m[]^[1].)

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

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 is 16KB.)

The automatic limit for SELECT statements when using --safe-updates. (Default value is 1,000.)

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'

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 \(lqMYSQL SERVER-SIDE HELP\(rq.

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. This command was added in MySQL 5.1.7.

Clear the current input. Use this if you change your mind about executing the statement that you are entering.

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.

Change the string that mysql interprets as the separator between SQL statements. The default is the semicolon character (\(lq;\(rq).

The delimiter can be specified as an unquoted or quoted argument. Quoting can be done with either single quote (') or douple quote (") characters. To include a quote within a quoted string, either quote the string with the other quote character or escape the quote with a backslash (\(lq\\(rq) character. Backslash should be avoided outside of quoted strings because it is the escape character for MySQL. For an unquoted argument, the delmiter 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.

When the delimiter recognized by mysql is set to something other than the default of \(lq;\(rq, instances of that character are sent to the server without interpretation. However, the server itself still interprets \(lq;\(rq as a statement delimiter and processes statements accordingly. This behavior on the server side comes into play for multiple-statement execution (see Section 21.9.12, \(lqC API Support for Multiple Statement Execution\(rq), and for parsing the body of stored procedures and functions, triggers, and events (see Section 19.1, \(lqDefining Stored Programs\(rq).

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.

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.

Send the current statement to the server to be executed and display the result using vertical format.

Exit mysql.

Send the current statement to the server to be executed.

Disable output paging. See the description for pager.

The nopager command works only in Unix.

Disable output copying to the tee file. See the description for tee.

Enable display of warnings after each statement.

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 the current input statement without executing it.

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>.

Exit mysql.

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.)

Read the named file and executes the statements contained therein. On Windows, you can specify path name separators as / or \\.

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.

Execute the given command using your default command interpreter.

The system command works only in Unix.

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 as the default database.

Enable display of warnings after each statement (if there are any).

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

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.

[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, \(lqUsing Option Files\(rq.) 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> "

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

You need do this only once.

mysql> help search_string

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

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

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

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

shell> mysql db_name

shell> mysql db_name < text_file

shell> mysql < text_file

mysql> source file_name
mysql> \. file_name

SELECT '<info_to_display>' AS ' ';

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)

SET sql_safe_updates=1, sql_select_limit=1000, sql_max_join_size=1000000;

shell> mysql --safe-updates --select_limit=500 --max_join_size=10000

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)