4.5.1.1 mysql Client Options

mysql supports the following options, which can be specified on the command line or in the [mysql] and [client] groups of an option file. For information about option files used by MySQL programs, see Section 4.2.2.2, “Using Option Files”.

Table 4.12 mysql Client Options

Option Name Description Introduced Deprecated
--auto-rehash Enable automatic rehashing
--auto-vertical-output Enable automatic vertical result set display
--batch Do not use history file
--binary-as-hex Display binary values in hexadecimal notation 5.7.19
--binary-mode Disable \r\n - to - \n translation and treatment of \0 as end-of-query
--bind-address Use specified network interface to connect to MySQL Server
--character-sets-dir Directory where character sets are installed
--column-names Write column names in results
--column-type-info Display result set metadata
--comments Whether to retain or strip comments in statements sent to the server
--compress Compress all information sent between client and server
--connect-expired-password Indicate to server that client can handle expired-password sandbox mode
--connect-timeout Number of seconds before connection timeout
--database The database to use
--debug Write debugging log; supported only if MySQL was built with debugging support
--debug-check Print debugging information when program exits
--debug-info Print debugging information, memory, and CPU statistics when program exits
--default-auth Authentication plugin to use
--default-character-set Specify default character set
--defaults-extra-file Read named option file in addition to usual option files
--defaults-file Read only named option file
--defaults-group-suffix Option group suffix value
--delimiter Set the statement delimiter
--enable-cleartext-plugin Enable cleartext authentication plugin
--execute Execute the statement and quit
--force Continue even if an SQL error occurs
--get-server-public-key Request RSA public key from server 5.7.23
--help Display help message and exit
--histignore Patterns specifying which statements to ignore for logging
--host Host on which MySQL server is located
--html Produce HTML output
--ignore-spaces Ignore spaces after function names
--init-command SQL statement to execute after connecting
--line-numbers Write line numbers for errors
--local-infile Enable or disable for LOCAL capability for LOAD DATA
--login-path Read login path options from .mylogin.cnf
--max-allowed-packet Maximum packet length to send to or receive from server
--max-join-size The automatic limit for rows in a join when using --safe-updates
--named-commands Enable named mysql commands
--net-buffer-length Buffer size for TCP/IP and socket communication
--no-auto-rehash Disable automatic rehashing
--no-beep Do not beep when errors occur
--no-defaults Read no option files
--one-database Ignore statements except those for the default database named on the command line
--pager Use the given command for paging query output
--password Password to use when connecting to server
--pipe Connect to server using named pipe (Windows only)
--plugin-dir Directory where plugins are installed
--port TCP/IP port number for connection
--print-defaults Print default options
--prompt Set the prompt to the specified format
--protocol Transport protocol to use
--quick Do not cache each query result
--raw Write column values without escape conversion
--reconnect If the connection to the server is lost, automatically try to reconnect
--safe-updates, --i-am-a-dummy Allow only UPDATE and DELETE statements that specify key values
--secure-auth Do not send passwords to server in old (pre-4.1) format Yes
--select-limit The automatic limit for SELECT statements when using --safe-updates
--server-public-key-path Path name to file containing RSA public key
--shared-memory-base-name Shared-memory name for shared-memory connections (Windows only)
--show-warnings Show warnings after each statement if there are any
--sigint-ignore Ignore SIGINT signals (typically the result of typing Control+C)
--silent Silent mode
--skip-auto-rehash Disable automatic rehashing
--skip-column-names Do not write column names in results
--skip-line-numbers Skip line numbers for errors
--skip-named-commands Disable named mysql commands
--skip-pager Disable paging
--skip-reconnect Disable reconnecting
--socket Unix socket file or Windows named pipe to use
--ssl Enable connection encryption
--ssl-ca File that contains list of trusted SSL Certificate Authorities
--ssl-capath Directory that contains trusted SSL Certificate Authority certificate files
--ssl-cert File that contains X.509 certificate
--ssl-cipher Permissible ciphers for connection encryption
--ssl-crl File that contains certificate revocation lists
--ssl-crlpath Directory that contains certificate revocation-list files
--ssl-key File that contains X.509 key
--ssl-mode Desired security state of connection to server 5.7.11
--ssl-verify-server-cert Verify host name against server certificate Common Name identity
--syslog Log interactive statements to syslog
--table Display output in tabular format
--tee Append a copy of output to named file
--tls-version Permissible TLS protocols for encrypted connections 5.7.10
--unbuffered Flush the buffer after each query
--user MySQL user name to use when connecting to server
--verbose Verbose mode
--version Display version information and exit
--vertical Print query output rows vertically (one line per column value)
--wait If the connection cannot be established, wait and retry instead of aborting
--xml Produce XML output

  • --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 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.

    Note

    This feature requires a MySQL client that is compiled with the readline library. Typically, the readline library is not available on Windows.

  • --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.)

  • --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-as-hex

    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 demonistrates this using the ASCII code for A (65 decimal, 41 hexadecimal):

    • --binary-as-hex disabled:

      mysql> SELECT CHAR(0x41), UNHEX('41');
      +------------+-------------+
      | CHAR(0x41) | UNHEX('41') |
      +------------+-------------+
      | A          | A           |
      +------------+-------------+
    • --binary-as-hex disabled:

      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:

    • The CHAR() function has a USING charset clause:

      mysql> SELECT CHAR(0x41 USING utf8mb4);
      +--------------------------+
      | CHAR(0x41 USING utf8mb4) |
      +--------------------------+
      | A                        |
      +--------------------------+
    • More generally, use CONVERT() to convert an expression to a given character set:

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

    This option was added in MySQL 5.7.19.

  • --binary-mode

    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).

  • --bind-address=ip_address

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

  • --character-sets-dir=dir_name

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

  • --column-names

    Write column names in results.

  • --column-type-info

    Display result set metadata.

  • --comments, -c

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

    Note

    In MySQL 5.7, the mysql client always passes optimizer hints to the server, regardless of whether this option is given. To ensure that optimizer hints are not stripped if you are using an older version of the mysql client with a version of the server that understands optimizer hints, invoke mysql with the --comments option.

    Comment stripping is deprecated as of MySQL 5.7.20. This feature and the options to control it will be removed in a future MySQL release.

  • --compress, -C

    Compress all information sent between the client and the server if possible. See Section 4.2.6, “Connection Compression Control”.

  • --connect-expired-password

    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 6.2.12, “Server Handling of Expired Passwords”.)

  • --connect-timeout=value

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

  • --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.

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

  • --debug-check

    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.

  • --debug-info, -T

    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.

  • --default-auth=plugin

    A hint about which client-side authentication plugin to use. See Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

  • --default-character-set=charset_name

    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”.

  • --defaults-extra-file=file_name

    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. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name.

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

  • --defaults-file=file_name

    Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name.

    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”.

  • --defaults-group-suffix=str

    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 the --defaults-group-suffix=_other option is given, 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”.

  • --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 Section 4.5.1.2, “mysql Client Commands”.

  • --enable-cleartext-plugin

    Enable the mysql_clear_password cleartext authentication plugin. (See Section 6.4.1.6, “Client-Side Cleartext Pluggable Authentication”.)

  • --execute=statement, -e statement

    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.

  • --force, -f

    Continue even if an SQL error occurs.

  • --get-server-public-key

    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 6.4.1.4, “Caching SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication”.

    The --get-server-public-key option was added in MySQL 5.7.23.

  • --histignore

    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 Section 4.5.1.3, “mysql Client Logging”.

  • --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 5.1.10, “Server SQL Modes”).

  • --init-command=str

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

  • --line-numbers

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

  • --local-infile[={0|1}]

    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.

    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”

  • --login-path=name

    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 Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.

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

  • --max-allowed-packet=value

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

  • --max-join-size=value

    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 permitted, not just short-format commands. For example, quit and \q both are recognized. Use --skip-named-commands to disable named commands. See Section 4.5.1.2, “mysql Client Commands”.

  • --net-buffer-length=value

    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 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, if it exists, is read in all cases. This permits passwords to be specified in a safer way than on the command line even when --no-defaults is used. (.mylogin.cnf is created by the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.)

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

  • --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. Section 4.5.1.2, “mysql Client Commands”, discusses output paging further.

  • --password[=password], -p[password]

    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.

  • --pipe, -W

    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.

  • --plugin-dir=dir_name

    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 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

  • --port=port_num, -P port_num

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

  • --print-defaults

    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”.

  • --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 Section 4.5.1.2, “mysql Client Commands”.

  • --protocol={TCP|SOCKET|PIPE|MEMORY}

    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 4.2.5, “Connection Transport Protocols”.

  • --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

    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).

  • --secure-auth

    Do not send passwords to the server in old (pre-4.1) format. This prevents connections except for servers that use the newer password format.

    As of MySQL 5.7.5, this option is deprecated and will be removed in a future MySQL release. It is always enabled and attempting to disable it (--skip-secure-auth, --secure-auth=0) produces an error. Before MySQL 5.7.5, this option is enabled by default but can be disabled.

    Note

    Passwords that use the pre-4.1 hashing method are less secure than passwords that use the native password hashing method and should be avoided. Pre-4.1 passwords are deprecated and support for them was removed in MySQL 5.7.5. For account upgrade instructions, see Section 6.4.1.3, “Migrating Away from Pre-4.1 Password Hashing and the mysql_old_password Plugin”.

  • --select-limit=value

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

  • --server-public-key-path=file_name

    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.

    This option is available only if MySQL was built using OpenSSL.

    For information about the sha256_password and caching_sha2_password plugins, see Section 6.4.1.5, “SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication”, and Section 6.4.1.4, “Caching SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication”.

  • --shared-memory-base-name=name

    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.

  • --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).

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

  • --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.

    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.

  • --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 Command Options for Encrypted Connections.

  • --syslog, -j

    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 Section 4.5.1.3, “mysql Client Logging”.

  • --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. Section 4.5.1.2, “mysql Client Commands”, discusses tee files further.

  • --tls-version=protocol_list

    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”.

    This option was added in MySQL 5.7.10.

  • --unbuffered, -n

    Flush the buffer after each query.

  • --user=user_name, -u user_name

    The user name of the MySQL account to use for 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 Section 4.5.4, “mysqldump — A Database Backup Program”, 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>