mysql supports the following options, which can be specified on
the command line or in the [mysql], [client], [client-server] or
[client-mariadb] option file groups. mysql also supports the
options for processing option files.
• --help, -?, -I
Display a help message and exit.
• --abort-source-on-error
Abort 'source filename' operations in case of errors.
• --auto-rehash
Enable automatic rehashing. This option is on by default,
which enables database, table, and column name completion.
Use --disable-auto-rehash, --no-auto-rehash, or
--skip-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
Automatically switch to vertical output mode if the result is
wider than the terminal width.
• --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
By default, ASCII '\0' is disallowed and '\r\n' is translated
to '\n'. This switch turns off both features, and also turns
off parsing of all client commands except \C and DELIMITER,
in non-interactive mode (for input piped to mysql or loaded
using the 'source' command). This is necessary when
processing output from mysqlbinlog that may contain blobs.
• --character-sets-dir=path
The directory where character sets are installed.
• --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.
• --connect-timeout=seconds
Set the number of seconds before connection timeout. (Default
value is 0.)
• --database=db_name, -D db_name
The database to use.
• --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
Prints debugging information and memory and CPU usage
statistics when the program exits.
• --default-auth=name
Default authentication client-side plugin to use.
• --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 MariaDB 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.
• --defaults-extra-file=filename
Set filename as the file to read default options from after
the global defaults files has been read. Must be given as
first option.
• --defaults-file=filename
Set filename as the file to read default options from,
override global defaults files. Must be given as first
option.
• --defaults-group-suffix=suffix
In addition to the groups named on the command line, read
groups that have the given suffix.
• --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. Disables --force and history
file. The default output format is like that produced with
--batch.
• --force, -f
Continue even if an SQL error occurs. Sets --abort-source-on-
error to 0.
• --host=host_name, -h host_name
Connect to the MariaDB server on the given host.
• --html, -H
Produce HTML output.
• --ignore-spaces, -i
Ignore spaces after function names. Allows one to have spaces
(including tab characters and new line characters) between
function name and '('. The drawback is that this causes built
in functions to become reserved words.
• --init-command=str
SQL Command to execute when connecting to the MariaDB server.
Will automatically be re-executed when reconnecting.
• --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.
• --max-allowed-packet=num
Set the maximum packet length to send to or receive from the
server. (Default value is 16MB, largest 1GB.)
• --max-join-size=num
Set the automatic limit for rows in a join when using
--safe-updates. (Default value is 1,000,000.)
• --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'. Disabled by default.
•• --net-buffer-length=size
Set the buffer size for TCP/IP and socket communication.
(Default value is 16KB.)
• --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.
• --no-defaults
Do not read default options from any option file. This must
be given as the first argument.
• --one-database, -o
Ignore statements except those those that occur while the
default database is the one named on the command line. This
filtering is limited, and based only on USE statements. 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,
mysql prompts for one.
Specifying a password on the command line should be
considered insecure. You can use an option file to avoid
giving the password on the command line.
• --pipe, -W
On Windows, connect to the server via a named pipe. This
option applies only if the server supports named-pipe
connections.
• --plugin-dir=dir_name
Directory for client-side plugins.
• --port=port_num, -P port_num
The TCP/IP port number to use for the connection or 0 for
default to, in order of preference, my.cnf, $MYSQL_TCP_PORT,
/etc/services, built-in default (3306). Forces
--protocol=tcp when specified on the command line without
other connection properties.
• --print-defaults
Print the program argument list and exit. This must be given
as the first argument.
• --progress-reports
Get progress reports for long running commands (such as ALTER
TABLE). (Defaults to on; use --skip-progress-reports to
disable.)
• --prompt=format_str
Set the prompt to the specified format. 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.
• --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. Enabled by default, to disable use
--skip-reconnect or --disable-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.
• --select-limit=limit
Set automatic limit for SELECT when using --safe-updates.
(Default value is 1,000.)
• --server-arg=name
Send name as a parameter to the embedded server.
• --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-auto-rehash
Disable automatic rehashing. Synonym for
--disable-auto-rehash.
• --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. Forces
--protocol=socket when specified on the command line without
other connection properties; on Windows, forces
--protocol=pipe.
• --ssl
Enable SSL for connection (automatically enabled with other
flags). Disable with --skip-ssl.
• --ssl-ca=name
CA file in PEM format (check OpenSSL docs, implies --ssl).
• --ssl-capath=name
CA directory (check OpenSSL docs, implies --ssl).
• --ssl-cert=name
X509 cert in PEM format (check OpenSSL docs, implies --ssl).
• --ssl-cipher=name
SSL cipher to use (check OpenSSL docs, implies --ssl).
• --ssl-key=name
X509 key in PEM format (check OpenSSL docs, implies --ssl).
• --ssl-crl=name
Certificate revocation list (check OpenSSL docs, implies
--ssl).
• --ssl-crlpath=name
Certificate revocation list path (check OpenSSL docs, implies
--ssl).
• --ssl-verify-server-cert
Verify server's "Common Name" in its cert against hostname
used when connecting. This option is disabled by default.
• --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 MariaDB 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. The output when --xml is used with mysql
matches that of mysqldump --xml. See mysqldump(1) 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>
You can also set the following variables by using
--var_name=value.
• 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.)
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.
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.
