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MYSQL(1)                                    MySQL Database System                                   MYSQL(1)



NAME
       mysql - the MySQL command-line tool

SYNOPSIS
       mysql [options] db_name

DESCRIPTION
       mysql is a simple SQL shell (with GNU readline capabilities). It supports interactive and
       noninteractive use. When used interactively, query results are presented in an ASCII-table format.
       When used noninteractively (for example, as a filter), the result is presented in tab-separated
       format. The output format can be changed using command options.

       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

       Or:

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

       Then type an SQL statement, end it with ";", \g, or \G and press Enter.

       As of MySQL 5.0.25, typing Control-C causes mysql to attempt to kill the current statement. If this
       cannot be done, or Control-C is typed again before the statement is killed, mysql exits. Previously,
       Control-C caused mysql to exit in all cases.

       You can execute SQL statements in a script file (batch file) like this:

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

MYSQL OPTIONS
       mysql supports the options in the following list. It also reads option files and supports the options
       for processing them described at Section 4.2.3.3.1, "Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File
       Handling".

          --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.

          --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.

          --character-sets-dir=path

           The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 9.2, "The Character Set Used for
           Data and Sorting".

          --column-names

           Write column names in results.

          --comments, -c

           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
           5.0.52.

          --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-info, -T

           Print some debugging information when the program exits.

          --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 9.2, "The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting", 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 the section
           called "MYSQL COMMANDS".

          --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.

          --force, -f

           Continue even if an SQL error occurs.

          --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").

          --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 allowed, 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 "MYSQL COMMANDS".

          --no-auto-rehash, -A

           Deprecated form of -skip-auto-rehash. Use --disable-auto-rehash instead. See the description for
           --auto-rehash.

          --no-beep, -b

           Do not beep when errors occur.

          --no-named-commands, -g

           Deprecated, use --disable-named-commands instead.

          --no-pager

           Deprecated form of --skip-pager. See the --pager option.

          --no-tee

           Do not copy output to a file.  the section called "MYSQL COMMANDS", discusses tee files further.

          --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.

          --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.  the section called "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, you are prompted for one.

           Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. See Section 5.5.6.2,
           "End-User Guidelines for Password Security".

          --pipe, -W

           On Windows, connect to the server via a named pipe. This option applies only for connections to a
           local server, and only if the server supports named-pipe connections.

          --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 the section called "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 allowable 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

           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 "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.

          --show-warnings

           Cause warnings to be shown after each statement if there are any. This option applies to
           interactive and batch mode. This option was added in MySQL 5.0.6.

          --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. The short format, -N is deprecated, use the long format
           instead.

          --skip-line-numbers, -L

           Do not write line numbers for errors. Useful when you want to compare result files that include
           error messages. The short format, -L is deprecated, use the long format instead.

          --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 via SSL and indicate where
           to find SSL keys and certificates. See Section 5.5.7.3, "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.  the
           section called "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.

               Note
               Prior to MySQL 5.0.26, there was no differentiation in the output when using this option
               between columns containing the NULL value and columns containing the string literal 'NULL';
               both were represented as

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

           Beginning with MySQL 5.0.26, the output when --xml is used with mysql matches that of mysqldump
           --xml. See mysqldump(1) for details.

           Beginning with MySQL 5.0.40, 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[1].)

       You can also set the following variables by using --var_name=value. The --set-variable format is
       deprecated.

          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.)

       It is also possible to set variables by using --var_name=value. The --set-variable format is
       deprecated.

       On Unix, the mysql client writes a record of executed statements to a history file. By default, this
       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.

       The .mysql_history should be protected with a restrictive access mode because sensitive information
       might be written to it, such as the text of SQL statements that contain passwords. See
       Section 5.5.6.2, "End-User Guidelines for Password Security".

       If you do not want to maintain a history file, first remove .mysql_history if it exists, and then use
       either of the following techniques:

          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.

MYSQL COMMANDS
       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:

           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'

       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.

       The use of short-form commands within multi-line /* ... */ comments is not supported.

          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 the
           section called "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. This
           command was added in MySQL 5.0.19.

          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 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 ("\")
           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 ";",
           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 20.8.12, "C API Support for Multiple Statement Execution"), and for parsing the body of
           stored procedures and functions and triggers (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. This command was added in MySQL 5.0.6.

          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). This command was added in
           MySQL 5.0.6.

       Here are a few tips about the pager command:

          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
           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
       others.

       The prompt command reconfigures the default mysql> prompt. The string for defining the prompt can
       contain the following special sequences.

       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |Option | Description                          |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\c     | A counter that increments for each   |
       |       | statement you issue                  |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\D     | The full current date                |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\d     | The default database                 |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\h     | The server host                      |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\l     | The current delimiter (new in        |
       |       | 5.0.25)                              |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\m     | Minutes of the current time          |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\n     | A newline character                  |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\O     | The current month in three-letter    |
       |       | format (Jan, Feb, ...)               |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\o     | The current month in numeric format  |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\P     | am/pm                                |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\p     | The current TCP/IP port or socket    |
       |       | file                                 |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\R     | The current time, in 24-hour         |
       |       | military time (0-23)                 |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\r     | The current time, standard 12-hour   |
       |       | time (1-12)                          |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\S     | Semicolon                            |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\s     | Seconds of the current time          |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\t     | A tab character                      |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\U     |                                      |
       |       |        Your full user_name@host_name |
       |       |        account name                  |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\u     | Your user name                       |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\v     | The server version                   |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\w     | The current day of the week in       |
       |       | three-letter format (Mon, Tue, ...)  |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\Y     | The current year, four digits        |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\y     | The current year, two digits         |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\_     | A space                              |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\      | A space (a space follows the         |
       |       | backslash)                           |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\'     | Single quote                         |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\"     | Double quote                         |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\\     | A literal "\" backslash character    |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+
       |\x     |                                      |
       |       |        x, for any "x" not listed     |
       |       |        above                         |
       +-------+--------------------------------------+

       You can set the prompt in several ways:

          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 allowable 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>

MYSQL SERVER-SIDE HELP
           mysql> help search_string

       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. The proper operation of this
       command requires that the help tables in the mysql database be initialized with help topic
       information (see Section 5.1.8, "Server-Side Help").

       If there is no match for the search string, the search fails:

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

       Use help contents to see a list of the help categories:

           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
              Storage Engines
              Stored Routines
              Table Maintenance
              Transactions
              Triggers

       If the search string matches multiple items, mysql shows a list of matching topics:

           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

       Use a topic as the search string to see the help entry for that topic:

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

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 line:

           shell> mysql < text_file

       If you are already running mysql, you can execute an SQL script file using the source command 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 '<info_to_display>' AS ' ';

       The statement shown outputs <info_to_display>.

       You can also invoke mysql with the --verbose option, which causes each statement to be displayed
       before the result that it produces.

       As of MySQL 5.0.54, mysql ignores Unicode byte order mark (BOM) characters at the beginning of input
       files. Previously, it read them and sent them to the server, resulting in a syntax error. Presence of
       a BOM does not cause mysql to change its default character set. To do that, invoke mysql with an
       option such as --default-character-set=utf8.

       For more information about batch mode, see Section 3.5, "Using mysql in Batch Mode".

MYSQL TIPS
       This section describes some techniques that can help you use mysql more effectively.

   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 ***************************
             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)

   Using the --safe-updates Option
       For beginners, a useful startup option is --safe-updates (or --i-am-a-dummy, which has the same
       effect). 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 5.1.4, "Session System Variables".

       The SET statement has the following effects:

          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;

          The server limits all large SELECT results to 1,000 rows unless the statement includes a LIMIT
           clause.

          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 statement, it immediately and
       automatically tries to reconnect once to the server and send the statement 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 between the first and second statements 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.

       For more information about auto-reconnect and its effect on state information when a reconnection
       occurs, see Section 20.8.11, "Controlling Automatic Reconnection Behavior".

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright 2007-2008 MySQL AB, 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.

       This documentation is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it only under the terms of
       the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the
       License.

       This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
       without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
       General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with the program; if not,
       write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301
       USA or see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.


NOTES
        1. Bug#25946
           http://bugs.mysql.com/25946

SEE ALSO
       For more information, please refer to the MySQL Reference Manual, which may already be installed
       locally and which is also available online at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/.

AUTHOR
       Sun Microsystems, Inc. (http://www.mysql.com/).



MySQL 5.0                                        11/09/2009                                         MYSQL(1)

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