Commands

Introduction

Mycli sends most input you enter to the MySQL server as a SQL statement. There is also a set of commands that mycli will accept. To see these, type help or \? at the prompt:

mycli> help
+-------------+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Command     | Shortcut                   | Description                                                |
+-------------+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+
| \G          | \G                         | Display current query results vertically.                  |
| \dt         | \dt[+] [table]             | List or describe tables.                                   |
| \e          | \e                         | Edit command with editor (uses $EDITOR).                   |
| \f          | \f [name [args..]]         | List or execute favorite queries.                          |
| \fd         | \fd [name]                 | Delete a favorite query.                                   |
| \fs         | \fs name query             | Save a favorite query.                                     |
| \l          | \l                         | List databases.                                            |
| \once       | \o [-o] filename           | Append next result to an output file (overwrite using -o). |
| \timing     | \t                         | Toggle timing of commands.                                 |
| connect     | \r                         | Reconnect to the database. Optional database argument.     |
| exit        | \q                         | Exit.                                                      |
| help        | \?                         | Show this help.                                            |
| nopager     | \n                         | Disable pager, print to stdout.                            |
| notee       | notee                      | Stop writing results to an output file.                    |
| pager       | \P [command]               | Set PAGER. Print the query results via PAGER.              |
| prompt      | \R                         | Change prompt format.                                      |
| quit        | \q                         | Quit.                                                      |
| rehash      | \#                         | Refresh auto-completions.                                  |
| source      | \. filename                | Execute commands from file.                                |
| status      | \s                         | Get status information from the server.                    |
| system      | system [command]           | Execute a system shell commmand.                           |
| tableformat | \T                         | Change the table format used to output results.            |
| tee         | tee [-o] filename          | Append all results to an output file (overwrite using -o). |
| use         | \u                         | Change to a new database.                                  |
| watch       | watch [seconds] [-c] query | Executes the query every [seconds] seconds (by default 5). |
+-------------+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+

Most commands have a long and short form. Most of the commands are case sensitive. Commands may be followed by an optional semicolon.

• \G

  Send the current statement to the server and display the results vertically. This is used instead of a semicolon terminator, e.g. select 1\G.

• \dt, \dt[+] [table]

  List the tables in the default database (when used without any parameters). Describe a table (when passed a parameter).

  The optional + verbose indicator can be used to toggle whether or not the CREATE TABLE statement for the table is shown.

  The \dt commands are equivalent to running SHOW TABLES, SHOW COLUMNS FROM [table_name], and SHOW CREATE TABLE [table_name].

• \e

  Edit the current statement with an editor (uses the environment variable $EDITOR). If this is entered without a current query, it will populate the editor with the previous query.

• \f, \f [name] [args..]

  List or execute favorite queries. If the favorite query requires parameters, they can be passed to the query after the name, e.g., \f users_by_name "Teddy Roosevelt". See Favorite Queries for more information.

• \fd [name]

  Delete a favorite query.

• \fs [name] [query]

  Save a favorite query. Favorite queries support shell-style parameter substitution. See Favorite Queries for more information.

• \l

  List the databases on the MySQL server host. This is equivalent to running SHOW DATABASES.

• once, \o [-o] filename

  Output the next query's results to an output file. Defaults to append mode. Use -o to overwrite any existing file content.

• timing, \t

  Toggle whether or not the time it takes to execute a statement is displayed below the results.

• connect, \r

  Reconnect to the server. You can optionally supply a database name that will be set as the default database for your connection.

• quit, exit, \q

  Exit mycli.

• help, \?, ?

  Display a help message listing mycli's commands.

• nopager, \n

  Disable the use of pager software for outputting query results. For more information see the pager section of the documentation.

• notee

  Disables the output to the tee file. For more information, see the tee command.

• pager, \P [command]

  Enable the use of a pager for outputting query results. Optionally, specify a command that will be used as the pager. For more information see the pager section of the documentation.

• prompt, \R [format]

  Change the prompt format. The default is \t \u@\h:\d>. See the prompt page of the documentation for more information.

• rehash, \#

  Refreshes the cached auto-completion data. This is the list of databases, tables, columns that auto-complete when you are typing.

• source, \. [filename]

  Executes the SQL commands from the named file.

• status, \s

  Displays status information about the client machine, server, and connection you are using.

• system, system [command]

  Executes a shell command and outputs the results.

• tableformat, \T [format]

  Change the output format. Run the command without specifying a format to see the possible values.

• tee, tee [-o] filename

  Log all queries/commands and their output to filename. Defaults to append mode. Use -o to overwrite any existing file content. To disable this, see the notee command.

• use [db_name], \u [db_name]

  Use db_name as the default database.

• watch, watch [seconds] [-c] query

  Repeatedly execute a query every N seconds. The default interval is 5 seconds. -c can be used to clear the screen after every iteration.