mysql(1) - the MySQL command-line tool
mysql [options] db_name

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.
--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.) This option was
 added in MySQL 5.5.3.
--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.
--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 only in the version of the mysql client that is supplied with MySQL Cluster.
 It is not available in standard MySQL Server 5.5 releases.
--character-sets-dir=path

 The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 9.5, “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 5.5.6, “Pluggable Authentication”.

 This option was added in MySQL 5.5.7.
--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 9.5, “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 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. With this option, mysql does
 not use the history file.
--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 5.1.6, “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 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 “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.
--no-named-commands, -g

 Deprecated, use --disable-named-commands instead.  --no-named-commands was removed in MySQL 5.5.3.
--no-pager

 Deprecated form of --skip-pager. See the --pager option.  --no-pager was removed in MySQL 5.5.3.
--no-tee

 Deprecated form of --skip-tee. See the --tee option.  --no-tee is removed in MySQL 5.5.3.
--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:

              The DELETE statement is executed because the default database is db1, even though the statement
               names a table in a different database.

              The DROP TABLE and CREATE TABLE statements are not executed because the default database is not
               db1, even though the statements name a table in db1.

              The INSERT and CREATE TABLE statements are executed because the default database is db1, even
               though the CREATE TABLE statement names a table in a different database.
--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. See Section 5.3.2.2, “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 5.5.6, “Pluggable Authentication”.

 This option was added in MySQL 5.5.7.
--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
 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 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.
--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 5.5.8.3, “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.

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

           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>

           (See Bug #25946.)