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.
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
On Unix, the mysql client writes a record of executed statements to a history file. See Section 4.5.1.3, “mysql History File”.