Alternatively, MySQL Shell offers access to the X DevAPI. For details, see MySQL Shell 8.0[1].

mysql db_name

mysql --user=user_name --password db_name

Enter password: your_password

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 or its \# shortcut 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.

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.)

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.

When this option is given, mysql displays binary data using hexadecimal notation (0xvalue). This occurs whether the overall output display format is tabular, vertical, HTML, or XML.

--binary-as-hex when enabled affects display of all binary strings, including those returned by functions such as CHAR() and UNHEX(). The following example demonstrates this using the ASCII code for A (65 decimal, 41 hexadecimal):

mysql> SELECT CHAR(0x41), UNHEX('41');
+------------+-------------+
| CHAR(0x41) | UNHEX('41') |
+------------+-------------+
| A          | A           |
+------------+-------------+

mysql> SELECT CHAR(0x41), UNHEX('41');
+------------------------+--------------------------+
| CHAR(0x41)             | UNHEX('41')              |
+------------------------+--------------------------+
| 0x41                   | 0x41                     |
+------------------------+--------------------------+

To write a binary string expression so that it displays as a character string regardless of whether --binary-as-hex is enabled, use these techniques:

mysql> SELECT CHAR(0x41 USING utf8mb4);
+--------------------------+
| CHAR(0x41 USING utf8mb4) |
+--------------------------+
| A                        |
+--------------------------+

mysql> SELECT CONVERT(UNHEX('41') USING utf8mb4);
+------------------------------------+
| CONVERT(UNHEX('41') USING utf8mb4) |
+------------------------------------+
| A                                  |
+------------------------------------+

As of MySQL 8.0.19, when mysql operates in interactive mode, this option is enabled by default. In addition, output from the status (or \s) command includes this line when the option is enabled implicitly or explicitly:

Binary data as: Hexadecimal

To disable hexadecimal notation, use --skip-binary-as-hex

This option helps when processing mysqlbinlog output that may contain BLOB values. By default, mysql translates \r\n in statement strings to \n and interprets \0 as the statement terminator. --binary-mode disables both features. It also disables all mysql commands except charset and delimiter in noninteractive mode (for input piped to mysql or loaded using the source command).

On a computer having multiple network interfaces, use this option to select which interface to use for connecting to the MySQL server.

The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 10.15, “Character Set Configuration”.

Write column names in results.

Display result set metadata. This information corresponds to the contents of C API MYSQL_FIELD data structures. See C API Basic Data Structures[2].

Whether to strip or preserve comments in statements sent to the server. The default is --skip-comments (strip comments), enable with --comments (preserve comments).

Compress all information sent between the client and the server if possible. See Section 4.2.8, “Connection Compression Control”.

As of MySQL 8.0.18, this option is deprecated. Expect it to be removed in a future version of MySQL. See the section called “Configuring Legacy Connection Compression”.

The permitted compression algorithms for connections to the server. The available algorithms are the same as for the protocol_compression_algorithms system variable. The default value is uncompressed.

For more information, see Section 4.2.8, “Connection Compression Control”.

This option was added in MySQL 8.0.18.

Indicate to the server that the client can handle sandbox mode if the account used to connect has an expired password. This can be useful for noninteractive invocations of mysql because normally the server disconnects noninteractive clients that attempt to connect using an account with an expired password. (See Section 6.2.16, “Server Handling of Expired Passwords”.)

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

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.

This option is available only if MySQL was built using WITH_DEBUG. MySQL release binaries provided by Oracle are not built using this option.

Print some debugging information when the program exits.

This option is available only if MySQL was built using WITH_DEBUG. MySQL release binaries provided by Oracle are not built using this option.

Print debugging information and memory and CPU usage statistics when the program exits.

This option is available only if MySQL was built using WITH_DEBUG. MySQL release binaries provided by Oracle are not built using this option.

A hint about which client-side authentication plugin to use. See Section 6.2.17, “Pluggable Authentication”.

Use charset_name as the default character set for the client and connection.

This option can be useful if the operating system uses one character set and the mysql client by default uses another. In this case, output may be formatted incorrectly. You can usually fix such issues by using this option to force the client to use the system character set instead.

For more information, see Section 10.4, “Connection Character Sets and Collations”, and Section 10.15, “Character Set Configuration”.

Read this option file after the global option file but (on Unix) before the user option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. If file_name is not an absolute path name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. If file_name is not an absolute path name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.

Exception: Even with --defaults-file, client programs read .mylogin.cnf.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

Read not only the usual option groups, but also groups with the usual names and a suffix of str. For example, mysql normally reads the [client] and [mysql] groups. If this option is given as --defaults-group-suffix=_other, mysql also reads the [client_other] and [mysql_other] groups.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

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

Specifies the name of a DNS SRV record that determines the candidate hosts to use for establishing a connection to a MySQL server. For information about DNS SRV support in MySQL, see Section 4.2.6, “Connecting to the Server Using DNS SRV Records”.

Suppose that DNS is configured with this SRV information for the example.com domain:

Name                     TTL   Class   Priority Weight Port Target
_mysql._tcp.example.com. 86400 IN SRV  0        5      3306 host1.example.com
_mysql._tcp.example.com. 86400 IN SRV  0        10     3306 host2.example.com
_mysql._tcp.example.com. 86400 IN SRV  10       5      3306 host3.example.com
_mysql._tcp.example.com. 86400 IN SRV  20       5      3306 host4.example.com

To use that DNS SRV record, invoke mysql like this:

mysql --dns-srv-name=_mysql._tcp.example.com

mysql then attempts a connection to each server in the group until a successful connection is established. A failure to connect occurs only if a connection cannot be established to any of the servers. The priority and weight values in the DNS SRV record determine the order in which servers should be tried.

When invoked with --dns-srv-name, mysql attempts to establish TCP connections only.

The --dns-srv-name option takes precedence over the --host option if both are given. --dns-srv-name causes connection establishment to use the mysql_real_connect_dns_srv() C API function rather than mysql_real_connect(). However, if the connect command is subsequently used at runtime and specifies a host name argument, that host name takes precedence over any --dns-srv-name option given at mysql startup to specify a DNS SRV record.

This option was added in MySQL 8.0.22.

Enable the mysql_clear_password cleartext authentication plugin. (See Section 6.4.1.4, “Client-Side Cleartext Pluggable Authentication”.)

Execute the statement and quit. The default output format is like that produced with --batch. See Section 4.2.2.1, “Using Options on the Command Line”, for some examples. With this option, mysql does not use the history file.

For example, an account that requires registration for a 3rd authentication factor invokes the mysql client as follows:

mysql --user=user_name --fido-register-factor=3

An account that requires registration for a 2nd and 3rd authentication factor invokes the mysql client as follows:

mysql --user=user_name --fido-register-factor=2,3

If registration is successful, a connection is established. If there is an authentication factor with a pending registration, a connection is placed into pending registration mode when attempting to connect to the server. In this case, disconnect and reconnect with the correct --fido-register-factor value to complete the registration.

Registration is a two step process comprising initiate registration and finish registration steps. The initiate registration step executes this statement:

ALTER USER user factor INITIATE REGISTRATION

The statement returns a result set containing a 32 byte challenge, the user name, and the relying party ID (see authentication_fido_rp_id).

The finish registration step executes this statement:

ALTER USER user factor FINISH REGISTRATION SET CHALLENGE_RESPONSE AS 'auth_string'

The statement completes the registration and sends the following information to the server as part of the auth_string: authenticator data, an optional attestation certificate in X.509 format, and a signature.

The initiate and registration steps must be performed in a single connection, as the challenge received by the client during the initiate step is saved to the client connection handler. Registration would fail if the registration step was performed by a different connection. The --fido-register-factor option executes both the initiate and registration steps, which avoids the failure scenario described above and prevents having to execute the ALTER USER initiate and registration statements manually.

The --fido-register-factor option is only available for the mysql client and MySQL Shell. Other MySQL client programs do not support it.

For related information, see the section called “Using FIDO Authentication”.

Continue even if an SQL error occurs.

Request from the server the public key required for RSA key pair-based password exchange. This option applies to clients that authenticate with the caching_sha2_password authentication plugin. For that plugin, the server does not send the public key unless requested. This option is ignored for accounts that do not authenticate with that plugin. It is also ignored if RSA-based password exchange is not used, as is the case when the client connects to the server using a secure connection.

If --server-public-key-path=file_name is given and specifies a valid public key file, it takes precedence over --get-server-public-key.

For information about the caching_sha2_password plugin, see Section 6.4.1.2, “Caching SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication”.

A list of one or more colon-separated patterns specifying statements to ignore for logging purposes. These patterns are added to the default pattern list ("*IDENTIFIED*:*PASSWORD*"). The value specified for this option affects logging of statements written to the history file, and to syslog if the --syslog option is given. For more information, see the section called “MYSQL CLIENT LOGGING”.

Connect to the MySQL server on the given host.

The --dns-srv-name option takes precedence over the --host option if both are given. --dns-srv-name causes connection establishment to use the mysql_real_connect_dns_srv() C API function rather than mysql_real_connect(). However, if the connect command is subsequently used at runtime and specifies a host name argument, that host name takes precedence over any --dns-srv-name option given at mysql startup to specify a DNS SRV record.

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 5.1.11, “Server SQL Modes”).

SQL statement to execute after connecting to the server. If auto-reconnect is enabled, the statement is executed again after reconnection occurs.

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

This option affects the client-side LOCAL capability for LOAD DATA operations. It specifies the directory in which files named in LOAD DATA LOCAL statements must be located. The effect of --load-data-local-dir depends on whether LOCAL data loading is enabled or disabled:

When --load-data-local-dir applies, the option value designates the directory in which local data files must be located. Comparison of the directory path name and the path name of files to be loaded is case-sensitive regardless of the case sensitivity of the underlying file system. If the option value is the empty string, it names no directory, with the result that no files are permitted for local data loading.

For example, to explicitly disable local data loading except for files located in the /my/local/data directory, invoke mysql like this:

mysql --local-infile=0 --load-data-local-dir=/my/local/data

When both --local-infile and --load-data-local-dir are given, the order in which they are given does not matter.

Successful use of LOCAL load operations within mysql also requires that the server permits local loading; see Section 6.1.6, “Security Considerations for LOAD DATA LOCAL”

The --load-data-local-dir option was added in MySQL 8.0.21.

By default, LOCAL capability for LOAD DATA is determined by the default compiled into the MySQL client library. To enable or disable LOCAL data loading explicitly, use the --local-infile option. When given with no value, the option enables LOCAL data loading. When given as --local-infile=0 or --local-infile=1, the option disables or enables LOCAL data loading.

If LOCAL capability is disabled, the --load-data-local-dir option can be used to permit restricted local loading of files located in a designated directory.

Successful use of LOCAL load operations within mysql also requires that the server permits local loading; see Section 6.1.6, “Security Considerations for LOAD DATA LOCAL”

Read options from the named login path in the .mylogin.cnf login path file. A “login path” is an option group containing options that specify which MySQL server to connect to and which account to authenticate as. To create or modify a login path file, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See mysql_config_editor(1).

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

The maximum size of the buffer for client/server communication. The default is 16MB, the maximum is 1GB.

The automatic limit for rows in a join when using --safe-updates. (Default value is 1,000,000.)

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 CLIENT COMMANDS”.

The buffer size for TCP/IP and socket communication. (Default value is 16KB.)

The network namespace to use for TCP/IP connections. If omitted, the connection uses the default (global) namespace. For information about network namespaces, see Section 5.1.14, “Network Namespace Support”.

This option was added in MySQL 8.0.22. It is available only on platforms that implement network namespace support.

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

Do not beep when errors occur.

Do not read any option files. If program startup fails due to reading unknown options from an option file, --no-defaults can be used to prevent them from being read.

The exception is that the .mylogin.cnf file is read in all cases, if it exists. This permits passwords to be specified in a safer way than on the command line even when --no-defaults is used. To create .mylogin.cnf, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See mysql_config_editor(1).

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

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 “MYSQL CLIENT COMMANDS”, discusses output paging further.

The password of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The password value is optional. If not given, mysql prompts for one. If given, there must be no space between --password= or -p and the password following it. If no password option is specified, the default is to send no password.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. To avoid giving the password on the command line, use an option file. See Section 6.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”.

To explicitly specify that there is no password and that mysql should not prompt for one, use the --skip-password option.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. To avoid giving the password on the command line, use an option file. See Section 6.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”.

To explicitly specify that there is no password and that mysql should not prompt for one, use the --skip-password1 option.

--password1 and --password are synonymous, as are --skip-password1 and --skip-password.

On Windows, connect to the server using a named pipe. This option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

On Windows, the authentication_kerberos_client authentication plugin supports this plugin option. It provides two possible values that the client user can set at runtime: SSPI and GSSAPI.

The default value for the client-side plugin option uses Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI), which is capable of acquiring credentials from the Windows in-memory cache. Alternatively, the client user can select a mode that supports Generic Security Service Application Program Interface (GSSAPI) through the MIT Kerberos library on Windows. GSSAPI is capable of acquiring cached credentials previously generated by using the kinit command.

For more information, see Commands for Windows Clients in GSSAPI Mode.

The directory in which to look for plugins. Specify this option if the --default-auth option is used to specify an authentication plugin but mysql does not find it. See Section 6.2.17, “Pluggable Authentication”.

For TCP/IP connections, the port number to use.

Print the program name and all options that it gets from option files.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

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 CLIENT COMMANDS”.

The transport protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when the other connection parameters normally result in use of a protocol other than the one you want. For details on the permissible values, see Section 4.2.7, “Connection Transport Protocols”.

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 “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)
\

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.

If this option is enabled, UPDATE and DELETE statements that do not use a key in the WHERE clause or a LIMIT clause produce an error. In addition, restrictions are placed on SELECT statements that produce (or are estimated to produce) very large result sets. If you have set this option in an option file, you can use --skip-safe-updates on the command line to override it. For more information about this option, see Using Safe-Updates Mode (--safe-updates).

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

The path name to a file in PEM format containing a client-side copy of the public key required by the server for RSA key pair-based password exchange. This option applies to clients that authenticate with the sha256_password or caching_sha2_password authentication plugin. This option is ignored for accounts that do not authenticate with one of those plugins. It is also ignored if RSA-based password exchange is not used, as is the case when the client connects to the server using a secure connection.

If --server-public-key-path=file_name is given and specifies a valid public key file, it takes precedence over --get-server-public-key.

For sha256_password, this option applies only if MySQL was built using OpenSSL.

For information about the sha256_password and caching_sha2_password plugins, see Section 6.4.1.3, “SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication”, and Section 6.4.1.2, “Caching SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication”.

On Windows, the shared-memory name to use for connections made using shared memory to a local server. The default value is MYSQL. The shared-memory name is case-sensitive.

This option applies only if the server was started with the shared_memory system variable enabled to support shared-memory connections.

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).

Without this option, typing Control+C interrupts the current statement if there is one, or cancels any partial input line otherwise.

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.

On Windows, this option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

Controls whether to enable FIPS mode on the client side. The --ssl-fips-mode option differs from other --ssl-xxx options in that it is not used to establish encrypted connections, but rather to affect which cryptographic operations to permit. See Section 6.8, “FIPS Support”.

These --ssl-fips-mode values are permitted:

This option causes mysql to send interactive statements to the system logging facility. On Unix, this is syslog; on Windows, it is the Windows Event Log. The destination where logged messages appear is system dependent. On Linux, the destination is often the /var/log/messages file.

Here is a sample of output generated on Linux by using --syslog. This output is formatted for readability; each logged message actually takes a single line.

Mar  7 12:39:25 myhost MysqlClient[20824]:


  SYSTEM_USER:'oscar', MYSQL_USER:'my_oscar', CONNECTION_ID:23,


  DB_SERVER:'127.0.0.1', DB:'--', QUERY:'USE test;'
Mar  7 12:39:28 myhost MysqlClient[20824]:


  SYSTEM_USER:'oscar', MYSQL_USER:'my_oscar', CONNECTION_ID:23,


  DB_SERVER:'127.0.0.1', DB:'test', QUERY:'SHOW TABLES;'

For more information, see the section called “MYSQL CLIENT LOGGING”.

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 “MYSQL CLIENT COMMANDS”, discusses tee files further.

The permissible ciphersuites for encrypted connections that use TLSv1.3. The value is a list of one or more colon-separated ciphersuite names. The ciphersuites that can be named for this option depend on the SSL library used to compile MySQL. For details, see Section 6.3.2, “Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers”.

This option was added in MySQL 8.0.16.

The permissible TLS protocols for encrypted connections. The value is a list of one or more comma-separated protocol names. The protocols that can be named for this option depend on the SSL library used to compile MySQL. For details, see Section 6.3.2, “Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers”.

Flush the buffer after each query.

The user name of the MySQL account to use for 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>

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:

$> 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>

The compression level to use for connections to the server that use the zstd compression algorithm. The permitted levels are from 1 to 22, with larger values indicating increasing levels of compression. The default zstd compression level is 3. The compression level setting has no effect on connections that do not use zstd compression.

For more information, see Section 4.2.8, “Connection Compression Control”.

This option was added in MySQL 8.0.18.

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 the current input statement.
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.
resetconnection(\x) Clean session context.
query_attributes Sets string parameters (name1 value1 name2 value2 ...)
for the next query to pick up.
ssl_session_data_print Serializes the current SSL session data to stdout 
or file.
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 “MYSQL CLIENT SERVER-SIDE HELP”.

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.

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.

If the connect command specifies a host name argument, that host takes precedence over any --dns-srv-name option given at mysql startup to specify a DNS SRV record.

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

The delimiter string can be specified as an unquoted or quoted argument on the delimiter command line. Quoting can be done with either single quote ('), double quote ("), or backtick (`) characters. To include a quote within a quoted string, either quote the string with a different 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 delimiter 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.

mysql interprets instances of the delimiter string as a statement delimiter anywhere it occurs, except within quoted strings. Be careful about defining a delimiter that might occur within other words. For example, if you define the delimiter as X, it is not possible to use the word INDEX in statements. mysql interprets this as INDE followed by the delimiter X.

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 Multiple Statement Execution Support[3]), and for parsing the body of stored procedures and functions, triggers, and events (see Section 25.1, “Defining Stored Programs”).

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.

Disable 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>.

Define query attributes that apply to the next query sent to the server. For discussion of the purpose and use of query attributes, see Section 9.6, “Query Attributes”.

The query_attributes command follows these rules:

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.)

Reset the connection to clear the session state. This includes clearing any current query attributes defined using the query_attributes command.

Resetting a connection has effects similar to mysql_change_user() or an auto-reconnect except that the connection is not closed and reopened, and re-authentication is not done. See mysql_change_user()[4], and Automatic Reconnection Control[5].

This example shows how resetconnection clears a value maintained in the session state:

mysql> SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID(3);
+-------------------+
| LAST_INSERT_ID(3) |
+-------------------+
|                 3 |
+-------------------+
mysql> SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID();
+------------------+
| LAST_INSERT_ID() |
+------------------+
|                3 |
+------------------+
mysql> resetconnection;
mysql> SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID();
+------------------+
| LAST_INSERT_ID() |
+------------------+
|                0 |
+------------------+

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

Quote characters are taken as part of the file name itself. For best results, the name should not include space characters.

Fetches, serializes, and optionally stores the session data of a successful connection. The optional file name and arguments may be given to specify the file to store serialized session data. If omitted, the session data is printed to stdout.

If the MySQL session is configured for reuse, session data from the file is deserialized and supplied to the connect command to reconnect. When the session is reused successfully, the status command contains a row showing SSL session reused: true while the client remains reconnected to the server.

Provide status information about the connection and the server you are using. If you are running with --safe-updates enabled, status also prints the values for the mysql variables that affect your queries.

Execute the given command using your default command interpreter.

Prior to MySQL 8.0.19, the system command works only in Unix. As of 8.0.19, it also works on Windows.

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 4.2.2.2, “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> "

mysql> SELECT


    -> 'Today is'


    -> ,


    -> CURDATE()


    -> ;

SELECT
'Today is'
,
CURDATE()
;
SELECT 'Today is' , CURDATE();

mysql --histignore="*UPDATE*:*DELETE*"

The operating system user name (login name) or -- if the user is unknown.

The MySQL user name (specified with the --user option) or -- if the user is unknown.

The client connection identifier. This is the same as the CONNECTION_ID() function value within the session.

The server host or -- if the host is unknown.

The default database or -- if no database has been selected.

The text of the logged statement.

Mar  7 12:39:25 myhost MysqlClient[20824]:


  SYSTEM_USER:'oscar', MYSQL_USER:'my_oscar', CONNECTION_ID:23,


  DB_SERVER:'127.0.0.1', DB:'--', QUERY:'USE test;'
Mar  7 12:39:28 myhost MysqlClient[20824]:


  SYSTEM_USER:'oscar', MYSQL_USER:'my_oscar', CONNECTION_ID:23,


  DB_SERVER:'127.0.0.1', DB:'test', QUERY:'SHOW TABLES;'

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 | Encrypted |
+---------------+-----------+-----------+
| binlog.000015 |    724935 | Yes       |
| binlog.000016 |    733481 | Yes       |
+---------------+-----------+-----------+

mysql> HELP rep%
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:


   REPAIR TABLE


   REPEAT FUNCTION


   REPEAT LOOP


   REPLACE


   REPLACE FUNCTION

mysql db_name

mysql db_name < text_file

mysql < text_file

mysql> source file_name
mysql> \. file_name

SELECT '<info_to_display>' AS ' ';

bind "^W" ed-delete-prev-word
bind "^U" vi-kill-line-prev

[mysql]
default-character-set=utf8mb4   # or utf8mb3

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: Jones


    reply: jones@example.com


  mail_to: "John Smith" <smith@example.com>


      sbj: UTF-8


      txt: >>>>> "John" == John Smith writes:
John> Hi.  I think this is a good idea.  Is anyone familiar
John> with UTF-8 or Unicode? Otherwise, I'll put this on my
John> TODO list and see what happens.
Yes, please do that.
Regards,
Jones


     file: inbox-jani-1


     hash: 190402944
1 row in set (0.09 sec)

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

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)

The mysql client parser does not take the ANSI_QUOTES SQL mode into account. It treats strings delimited by ", ', and ` characters the same, regardless of whether ANSI_QUOTES is enabled.

If it is desirable for mysql not to interpret short-form commands within comments, a partial workaround is to use the --binary-mode option, which causes all mysql commands to be disabled except \C and \d in noninteractive mode (for input piped to mysql or loaded using the source command).