Table of Contents for

MySQL in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

This option generates a hash of table and column names to complete the names for users when typing in monitor mode; users invoke autocompletion by pressing the Tab key after having entered the first few letters of the name.

This option causes the client to display data selected with fields separated by tabs and rows by carriage returns. The client won’t prompt the user, won’t display error messages to the stdout, and won’t save to the history file.

This option specifies the local directory containing character sets for the client to use.

This option instructs the client to return the names of columns in a results set. This is more relevant when executing SQL statements from the command line.

This option instructs the client to return the metadata for columns in a results set. This option is available as of version 5.1.14 of MySQL; the short form is available as of version 5.1.21.

This option instructs the client to compress data passed between it and the server if supported.

This option sets the default database for the client to use. This is equivalent to executing the USE statement.

This option instructs the client to record debugging information to the log file specified. The set of flags used by default is d:t:o,logname. See Table 16-1 at the end of the list of options for mysqldump in the next chapter for an explanation of these flags and others that may be used.

This option causes the client to display debugging information when finished. This option is available as of version 5.1.21 of MySQL.

This option adds debugging, CPU usage, and memory usage information to the log when the utility ends.

This option specifies the local directory that contains the default character sets for the client to use. Enter SHOW CHARACTER SET; on the server for a list of character sets available.

The client looks for options in the options file under the group headings of [mysql] and [client]. Use this option to specify option groups that the client is to use, based on their suffixes. For instance, the value given might be just _special so that groups such as [mysql_special] and [client_special] will be included.

This option use this option to specify the delimiter used to terminate each SQL statement when entered into the client. By default, the client expects a semicolon.

This option executes the SQL statement contained in single or double quotes, then terminates the client.

This option makes the client continue executing or processing a statement even if there are SQL errors.

This option displays basic help information.

This option specifies the hostname or IP address of the MySQL server. The default is localhost, which connects to a server on the same system as the client.

This option instructs the client to return results in an HTML format when executing an SQL statement at the command line or from a file containing SQL statements.

This option instructs the client to ignore spaces after function names (e.g., CUR_DATE()) when executing SQL statements at the command line or from a text file containing SQL statements.

When the client is accepting SQL statements from an input file, this option instructs the client to display the line number of an SQL statement that has returned an error. This is the default option; use --skip-line-numbers to disable this option.

The SQL statement LOAD DATA INFILE imports data into a database from a file. That file could be located on the server or on the computer in which the client is running (i.e., locally). To indicate that a file is local, you would add the LOCAL flag to that statement. This option sets that flag: a value of 1 enables the LOCAL, whereas a value of 0 indicates that the file is on the server. If the server is set so it imports data only from files on the server, this option will have no effect.

This option permits named commands on the client. See the next section for this client program for a description of commands. Enter help or \h from the mysql client to get a list of them. This option is enabled by default. To disable it, use the --skip-named-commands option.

Automatic rehashing is normally used to let the user complete table and column names when typing in monitor mode by pressing the Tab key after having entered the first few letters of the name. This option disables autocompletion and thereby decreases the startup time of the client. This option is deprecated as of version 4 of MySQL.

This option instructs client not to emit a warning sound for errors.

This option disables named commands on the client, except when at the start of a line (i.e., named commands cannot appear in the middle of an SQL statement). This option is enabled by default. See the description of the --named-commands option and the following section for more information.

This option instructs the client not to write results to a file.

This option instructs the client to execute SQL statements only for the default database (set by the --database option) and to ignore SQL statements for other databases.

With this option, on a Unix type of system, you can pipe the results of an SQL statement executed from the command line to a pager utility (e.g., more) that will allow you to view the results one page at a time and possibly scroll up and down through the results. If this option is given without specifying a particular pager utility, the value of the environment variable PAGER will be used. This option is enabled by default. Use the --skip-pager option to disable it.

This option provide the password to give to the MySQL server. No spaces are allowed between the -p and the password. If this option is entered without a password, the user will be prompted for one.

This option specifies the socket port to use for connecting to the server. The default is 3306. If you run multiple daemons for testing or other purposes, you can use different ports for each by setting this option.

This option sets the prompt for monitor mode to the given string. By default, it’s set to mysql>.

This option specifies the protocol to use when connecting to the server. The choices are TCP, SOCKET, PIPE, and MEMORY.

This option causes the client to retrieve and display data one row at a time instead of buffering the entire results set before displaying data. With this option, the history file isn’t used and it may slow the server if the output is suspended.

For data that may contain characters that would normally be converted in batch mode to an escape-sequence equivalent (e.g., newline to \n), this option may be used to have the client print out the characters without converting them.

This option instructs the client to attempt to reconnect to the server if the connection is lost. The client tries only once, though. This is enabled by default. To disable it, use --skip-reconnect. To make the client wait until the server is available, use --wait.

This option helps prevent inadvertent deletion of multiple and possibly all rows in a table. It requires that when the DELETE or UPDATE statements are used, a WHERE clause be given with a key column and value. If this option is included in the options file, using it at the command line when starting the client will disable it.

This option prevents authentication of users with passwords created prior to version 4.1 of MySQL or connecting to servers that permit the old format.

This option sets a server variable. Enter mysql --help for the current values for a particular server’s variables.

This option instructs the client not to suppress warning messages, but to display them after an SQL statement is executed in which a warning is generated, even if there was no error.

This option suppresses all messages except for error messages. Enter the option multiple times to further reduce the types of messages returned.

This option instructs the client not to return column names in the results.

When the client is accepting SQL statements from an input file, this option instructs the client not to display the line number of an SQL statement that has returned an error. This disables --line-numbers, the default.

This option disables named commands on the client. See the description of the --named-commands option and the following section for more information.

This option disables paged results on Unix types of systems. See the --pager option for more information.

This option instructs the client not to attempt to reconnect to the server if the connection is lost. It disables the default option --reconnect.

This option specifies that an SSL connection should not be used, if SSL is enabled by default.

This option provides the path and name of the server’s socket file on Unix systems, or the named pipe on Windows systems.

This option specifies that an SSL connection should be used. It requires the server to have SSL enabled. If this option is enabled on the utility by default, use --skip-ssl to disable it.

This option specifies the name of the file (i.e., the pem file) containing a list of trusted SSL CAs.

This option specifies the path to the trusted certificates file (i.e., the pem file).

This option specifies the name of the SSL certificate file to use for SSL connections.

This option gives a list of ciphers that may be used for SSL encryption.

This option specifies the SSL key file to use for secure connections.

This option verifies the client’s certificate against the server’s certificate for the client at startup. It is available as of version 5.1.11 of MySQL.

This option displays results from a query in ASCII format, which is the format normally used in monitor mode. The alternative is the --xml option.

This option instructs the client to write results to the given file. You can include an absolute or relative pathname, or a simple filename. This option doesn’t work in batch mode.

This option flushes the memory buffer after each query is performed.

This option instructs the client to access MySQL with a username different from the current system user.

This option displays more information. Use -vv or -vvv to increase verbosity.

This option displays the version of the utility.

This option displays results in a vertical format instead of putting each row of data on a single line. This is similar to using the end of \G of an SQL statement in monitor mode.

If the client cannot connect to the server, this option tells the client to wait and retry repeatedly until it can connect.

This option exports results in an XML format.