Contents
- Using mysql
- Option Files
- How to Specify Which Protocol to Use When Connecting to the mysqld Server
- mysql Tips
About the mysql Command-Line Client
mysql (from MariaDB 10.4.6, also called mariadb) is a simple SQL shell (with GNU readlinecapabilities). It supports interactive and non-interactive use. When usedinteractively, query results are presented in an ASCII-table format. When usednon-interactively (for example, as a filter), the result is presented intab-separated format. The output format can be changed using command options.
HeidiSQL, Navicat for MySQL, and DBeaver are probably your best bets out of the 15 options considered. 'Free' is the primary reason people pick HeidiSQL over the competition. This page is powered by a knowledgeable community that helps you make an informed decision. MySQL is an open-source relational database system currently developed by Sun Microsystems. Power, reliability, and high performance are just three of its best features. Download MySQL for Mac for free and Enjoy! Download Mac OS X 10.10 (x86, 64-bit), DMG Archive. Mariadb Client For Mac Free. When it disappears, it will create what appears to be a new disk named mysql-5.5.15-osx10.6-x8664 on your desktop. When the download completes, double-click on the DMG file to mount the disk image. Cool mysql client for mac. Answer (1 of 19): I use MySQL GUI clients mostly for SQL programming, and I often keep SQL in files. My current favorites are: DBVisualizer Not.
If you have problems due to insufficient memory for large result sets, use the--quick
option. This forces mysql to retrieve results fromthe server a row at a time rather than retrieving the entire result set andbuffering it in memory before displaying it. This is done by returning theresult set using the mysql_use_result()
C API function in theclient/server library rather than mysql_store_result()
.
Using mysql is very easy. Invoke it from the prompt of your command interpreteras follows:
Or:
Then type an SQL statement, end it with “;”, g, or G and press Enter.
Typing Control-C causes mysql to attempt to kill thecurrent statement. If this cannot be done, or Control-C is typed again beforethe statement is killed, mysql exits.
You can execute SQL statements in a script file (batch file) like this:
From MariaDB 10.4.6, mariadb
is available as a symlink to mysql
.
From MariaDB 10.5.2, mysql
is the symlink, and mariadb
the binary name.
Using mysql
The command to use mysql
and the general syntax is:
Options
mysql
supports the following options:
Option | Description |
---|---|
-? , --help | Display this help and exit. |
-I , --help | Synonym for -? |
--abort-source-on-error | Abort 'source filename' operations in case of errors. |
--auto-rehash | Enable automatic rehashing. This option is on by default, which enables database, table, and column name completion. Use --disable-auto-rehash , --no-auto-rehash or skip-auto-rehash to disable rehashing. That causes mysql to start faster, but you must issue the rehash command if you want to use name completion. To complete a name, enter the first part and press Tab. If the name is unambiguous, mysql completes it. Otherwise, you can press Tab again to see the possible names that begin with what you have typed so far. Completion does not occur if there is no default database. |
-A , --no-auto-rehash | No automatic rehashing. One has to use 'rehash' to get table and field completion. This gives a quicker start of mysql and disables rehashing on reconnect. |
--auto-vertical-output | Automatically switch to vertical output mode if the result is wider than the terminal width. |
-B , --batch | 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. (Enables --silent .) |
--binary-mode | By default, ASCII '0' is disallowed and 'rn' is translated to 'n'. This switch turns off both features, and also turns off parsing of all client commands except C and DELIMITER, in non-interactive mode (for input piped to mysql or loaded using the 'source' command). This is necessary when processing output from mysqlbinlog that may contain blobs. |
--character-sets-dir=name | Directory for character set files. |
--column-names | Write column names in results. (Defaults to on; use --skip-column-names to disable.) |
--column-type-info | Display column type information. |
-c , --comments | Preserve comments. Send comments to the server. The default is --skip-comments (discard comments), enable with --comments . |
-C , --compress | Compress all information sent between the client and the server if both support compression. |
--connect-expired-password | Notify the server that this client is prepared to handle expired password sandbox mode even if --batch was specified. From MariaDB 10.4.3. |
--connect-timeout=num | Number of seconds before connection timeout. Defaults to zero. |
-D , --database=name | Database to use. |
-# [options] , --debug[=options] | On debugging builds, write a debugging log. A typical debug_options string is d:t:o,file_name . The default is d:t:o,/tmp/mysql.trace . |
--debug-check | Check memory and open file usage at exit. |
-T , --debug-info | Print some debug info at exit. |
--default-auth=plugin | Default authentication client-side plugin to use. |
--default-character-set=name | Set the default character set. A common issue that can occur when the operating system uses utf8 or another multibyte character set is that output from the mysql client is formatted incorrectly, due to the fact that the MariaDB client uses the latin1 character set by default. You can usually fix such issues by using this option to force the client to use the system character set instead. If set to auto the character set is taken from the client environment (LC_CTYPE on Unix). |
--defaults-extra-file=file | Read this file after the global files are read. Must be given as the first option. |
--defaults-file=file | Only read default options from the given file. Must be given as the first option. |
--defaults-group-suffix=suffix | In addition to the given groups, also read groups with this suffix. |
--delimiter=name | Delimiter to be used. The default is the semicolon character (“;”). |
-e , --execute=name | Execute statement and quit. Disables --force and history file. The default output format is like that produced with --batch . |
-f , --force | Continue even if we get an SQL error. Sets --abort-source-on-error to 0. |
-h , --host=name | Connect to host. |
-H , --html | Produce HTML output. |
-U , --i-am-a-dummy | Synonym for option --safe-updates , -U . |
-i , --ignore-spaces | Ignore space after function names. Allows one to have spaces (including tab characters and new line characters) between function name and '('. The drawback is that this causes built in functions to become reserved words. |
--init-command=str | SQL Command to execute when connecting to the MariaDB server. Will automatically be re-executed when reconnecting. |
--line-numbers | Write line numbers for errors. (Defaults to on; use --skip-line-numbers to disable.) |
--local-infile | Enable or disable LOCAL capability for LOAD DATA INFILE. With no value, the option enables LOCAL. The option may be given as--local-infile=0 or --local-infile=1 to explicitly disable or enable LOCAL. Enabling LOCAL has no effect if the server does not also support it. |
--max-allowed-packet=num | The maximum packet length to send to or receive from server. The default is 16MB, the maximum 1GB. |
--max-join-size=num | Automatic limit for rows in a join when using --safe-updates . Default is 1000000. |
-G , --named-commands | Enable named commands. Named commands mean mysql's internal commands (see below) . When enabled, the named commands can be used from any line of the query, otherwise only from the first line, before an enter. Long-format commands are allowed, not just short-format commands. For example, quit and q are both recognized. Disable with --disable-named-commands . This option is disabled by default. |
--net-buffer-length=num | The buffer size for TCP/IP and socket communication. Default is 16KB. |
-b , --no-beep | Turn off beep on error. |
--no-defaults | Don't read default options from any option file. Must be given as the first option. |
-o , --one-database | Ignore statements except those those that occur while the default database is the one named on the command line. This filtering is limited, and based only on USE statements. This is useful for skipping updates to other databases in the binary log. |
--pager[=name] | Pager to use to display results (Unix only). If you don't supply an option, the default pager is taken from your ENV variable PAGER. Valid pagers are less, more, cat [> filename], etc. See interactive help (h) also. This option does not work in batch mode. Disable with --disable-pager . This option is disabled by default. |
-p , --password[=name] | Password to use when connecting to server. If you use the short option form (-p), you cannot have a space between the option and the password. If you omit the password value following the --password or -p option on the command line, mysql prompts for one. Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. You can use an option file to avoid giving the password on the command line. |
--plugin-dir=name | Directory for client-side plugins. |
-P , --port=num | Port number to use for connection or 0 for default to, in order of preference, my.cnf, $MYSQL_TCP_PORT, /etc/services, built-in default (3306). |
--print-defaults | Print the program argument list and exit. Must be given as the first option. |
--progress-reports | Get progress reports for long running commands (such as ALTER TABLE). (Defaults to on; use --skip-progress-reports to disable.) |
--prompt=name | Set the mysql prompt to this value. See prompt command for options. |
--protocol=name | The protocol to use for connection (tcp, socket, pipe, memory). |
-q , --quick | Don't cache result, print it row by row. This may slow down the server if the output is suspended. Doesn't use history file. |
-r , --raw | 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. |
--reconnect | Reconnect if the connection is lost. This option is enabled by default. Disable with --disable-reconnect or skip-reconnect . |
-U , --safe-updates | Allow only those UPDATE and DELETE statements that specify which rows to modify by using key values. If you have set this option in an option file, you can override it by using --safe-updates on the command line. See using the --safe-updates option for more. |
--secure-auth | Refuse client connecting to server if it uses old (pre-MySQL4.1.1) protocol. Defaults to false (unlike MySQL since 5,6, which defaults to true). |
--select-limit=num | Automatic limit for SELECT when using --safe-updates. Default 1000. |
--server-arg=name | Send embedded server this as a parameter. |
--shared-memory-base-name=name | Shared-memory name to use for Windows connections using shared memory to a local server (started with the --shared-memory option). Case-sensitive. |
--show-warnings | Show warnings after every statement. Applies to interactive and batch mode. |
--sigint-ignore | Ignore SIGINT signals (usually CTRL-C). |
-s , --silent | Be more silent. 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. |
-L , --skip-auto-rehash | Disable automatic rehashing. See --auto-rehash . |
-N , --skip-column-names | Don't write column names in results. See --column-names . |
-L , --skip-comments | Discard comments. Set by default, see --comments to enable. |
-L , --skip-line-numbers | Don't write line number for errors. See --line-numbers . |
-L , --skip-progress-reports | Disables getting progress reports for long running commands. See --progress-reports . |
-L , --skip-reconnect | Don't reconnect if the connection is lost. See --reconnect . |
-S , --socket=name | For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the name of the named pipe to use. |
--ssl | Enables TLS. TLS is also enabled even without setting this option when certain other TLS options are set. Starting with MariaDB 10.2, the --ssl option will not enable verifying the server certificate by default. In order to verify the server certificate, the user must specify the --ssl-verify-server-cert option. |
--ssl-ca=name | Defines a path to a PEM file that should contain one or more X509 certificates for trusted Certificate Authorities (CAs) to use for TLS. This option requires that you use the absolute path, not a relative path. See Secure Connections Overview: Certificate Authorities (CAs) for more information. This option implies the --ssl option. |
--ssl-capath=name | Defines a path to a directory that contains one or more PEM files that should each contain one X509 certificate for a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) to use for TLS. This option requires that you use the absolute path, not a relative path. The directory specified by this option needs to be run through the openssl rehash command. See Secure Connections Overview: Certificate Authorities (CAs) for more information. This option is only supported if the client was built with OpenSSL or yaSSL. If the client was built with GnuTLS or Schannel, then this option is not supported. See TLS and Cryptography Libraries Used by MariaDB for more information about which libraries are used on which platforms. This option implies the --ssl option. |
--ssl-cert=name | Defines a path to the X509 certificate file to use for TLS. This option requires that you use the absolute path, not a relative path. This option implies the --ssl option. |
--ssl-cipher=name | List of permitted ciphers or cipher suites to use for TLS. This option implies the --ssl option. |
--ssl-crl=name | Defines a path to a PEM file that should contain one or more revoked X509 certificates to use for TLS. This option requires that you use the absolute path, not a relative path. See Secure Connections Overview: Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs) for more information. This option is only supported if the client was built with OpenSSL or Schannel. If the client was built with yaSSL or GnuTLS, then this option is not supported. See TLS and Cryptography Libraries Used by MariaDB for more information about which libraries are used on which platforms. |
--ssl-crlpath=name | Defines a path to a directory that contains one or more PEM files that should each contain one revoked X509 certificate to use for TLS. This option requires that you use the absolute path, not a relative path. The directory specified by this option needs to be run through the openssl rehash command. See Secure Connections Overview: Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs) for more information. This option is only supported if the client was built with OpenSSL. If the client was built with yaSSL, GnuTLS, or Schannel, then this option is not supported. See TLS and Cryptography Libraries Used by MariaDB for more information about which libraries are used on which platforms. |
--ssl-key=name | Defines a path to a private key file to use for TLS. This option requires that you use the absolute path, not a relative path. This option implies the --ssl option. |
--ssl-verify-server-cert | Enables server certificate verification. This option is disabled by default. |
-t , --table | Display output in table format. This is the default for interactive use, but can be used to produce table output in batch mode. |
--tee=name | Append everything into outfile. See interactive help (h) also. Does not work in batch mode. Disable with --disable-tee . This option is disabled by default. |
--tls-version=name | This option accepts a comma-separated list of TLS protocol versions. A TLS protocol version will only be enabled if it is present in this list. All other TLS protocol versions will not be permitted. See Secure Connections Overview: TLS Protocol Versions for more information. This option was added in MariaDB 10.4.6. |
-n , --unbuffered | Flush buffer after each query. |
-u , --user=name | User for login if not current user. |
-v , --verbose | Write more. (-v -v -v gives the table output format). |
-V , --version | Output version information and exit. |
-E , --vertical | Print the output of a query (rows) vertically. Use the G delimiter to apply to a particular statement if this option is not enabled. |
-w , --wait | If the connection cannot be established, wait and retry instead of aborting. |
-X , --xml | Produce XML output. See the mysqldump --xml option for more. |
Option Files
In addition to reading options from the command-line, mysql
can also read options from option files. If an unknown option is provided to mysql
in an option file, then it is ignored.
The following options relate to how MariaDB command-line tools handles option files. They must be given as the first argument on the command-line:
Option | Description |
---|---|
--print-defaults | Print the program argument list and exit. |
--no-defaults | Don't read default options from any option file. |
--defaults-file=# | Only read default options from the given file #. |
--defaults-extra-file=# | Read this file after the global files are read. |
--defaults-group-suffix=# | In addition to the default option groups, also read option groups with this suffix. |
In MariaDB 10.2 and later, mysql
is linked with MariaDB Connector/C. However, MariaDB Connector/C does not yet handle the parsing of option files for this client. That is still performed by the server option file parsing code. See MDEV-19035 for more information.
Option Groups
mysql
reads options from the following option groups from option files:
Group | Description |
---|---|
[mysql] | Options read by mysql , which includes both MariaDB Server and MySQL Server. |
[mariadb-client] | Options read by mysql . Available starting with MariaDB 10.4.6. |
[client] | Options read by all MariaDB and MySQL client programs, which includes both MariaDB and MySQL clients. For example, mysqldump . |
[client-server] | Options read by all MariaDB client programs and the MariaDB Server. This is useful for options like socket and port, which is common between the server and the clients. |
[client-mariadb] | Options read by all MariaDB client programs. |
How to Specify Which Protocol to Use When Connecting to the mysqld Server
You can force which protocol to be used to connect to the mysqld
server by giving the protocol
option one of the following values: tcp
, socket
, pipe
or memory
.
If protocol
is not specified, before MariaDB 10.6.1, command line connection properties that do not force protocol are ignored.
From MariaDB 10.6.1, a connection property specified via the command line (e.g. --port=3306
) will force its type. The protocol that matches the respective connection property is used, e.g. a TCP/IP connection is created when --port
is specified.
If multiple or no connection properties are specified via the command-line, then the following happens:
Linux/Unix
- If
hostname
is not specified orhostname
islocalhost
, then Unix sockets are used. - In other cases (
hostname
is given and it's notlocalhost
) then a TCP/IP connection through theport
option is used.
Note that localhost
is a special value. Using 127.0.0.1 is not the same thing. The latter will connect to the mysqld server through TCP/IP.
Windows
- If
shared-memory-base-name
is specified andhostname
is not specified orhostname
islocalhost
, then the connection will happen through shared memory. - If
shared-memory-base-name
is not specified andhostname
is not specified orhostname
islocalhost
, then the connection will happen through windows named pipes. - Named pipes will also be used if the
libmysql
/libmariadb
client library detects that the client doesn't support TCP/IP. - In other cases then a TCP/IP connection through the
port
option is used.
How to Test Which Protocol is Used
The status
command shows you information about which protocol is used:
mysql Commands
There are also a number of commands that can be run inside the client. Note that all text commands must be first on line and end with ';'
Command | Description |
---|---|
? , ? | 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. See prompt command for options. |
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. Only works in Unix-like systems. |
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. |
The mysql_history File
On Unix, the mysql client writes a record of executed statements to a historyfile. By default, this file is named .mysql_history
and is created in your homedirectory. To specify a different file, set the value of the MYSQL_HISTFILEenvironment variable.
The .mysql_history file should be protected with a restrictive access mode becausesensitive information might be written to it, such as the text of SQLstatements that contain passwords.
If you do not want to maintain a history file, first remove .mysql_history ifit exists, and then use either of the following techniques:
- Set the MYSQL_HISTFILE variable to /dev/null. To cause this setting to take effect each time you log in, put the setting in one of your shell's startup files.
- Create .mysql_history as a symbolic link to /dev/null:
You need do this only once.
prompt Command
The prompt command reconfigures the default prompt N [d]>
. The string for defining the prompt can contain the following special sequences.
Option | Description |
---|---|
c | A counter that increments for each statement you issue. |
D | The full current date. |
d | The default database. |
h | The server host. |
l | The current delimiter. |
m | Minutes of the current time. |
n | A newline character. |
O | The current month in three-letter format (Jan, Feb, ...). |
o | The current month in numeric format. |
P | am/pm. |
p | The current TCP/IP port or socket file. |
R | The current time, in 24-hour military time (0–23). |
r | The current time, standard 12-hour time (1–12). |
S | Semicolon. |
s | Seconds of the current time. |
t | A tab character. |
U | Your full user_name@host_name account name. |
u | Your user name. |
v | The server version. |
w | The current day of the week in three-letter format (Mon, Tue, ...). |
Y | The current year, four digits. |
y | The current year, two digits. |
_ | A space. |
| A space (a space follows the backslash). |
' | Single quote. |
' | Double quote. |
| A literal “” backslash character. |
x | x, for any “x” not listed above. |
mysql Tips
This section describes some techniques that can help you usemysql
more effectively.
Displaying Query Results Vertically
Some query results are much more readable when displayed vertically, instead ofin the usual horizontal table format. Queries can be displayed vertically byterminating the query with G instead of a semicolon. For example, longer textvalues that include newlines often are much easier to read with verticaloutput:
Using the --safe-updates Option
For beginners, a useful startup option is --safe-updates
(or--i-am-a-dummy
, which has the same effect). It is helpfulfor cases when you might have issued a DELETE FROM tbl_name
statement but forgotten theWHERE
clause. Normally, such a statement deletes all rowsfrom the table. With --safe-updates
, you can delete rowsonly by specifying the key values that identify them. This helps preventaccidents.
When you use the --safe-updates
option, mysql issues thefollowing statement when it connects to the MariaDB server:
The SET statement has the following effects:
- You are not allowed to execute an UPDATE or DELETE statement unless you specify a key constraint in the WHERE clause or provide a LIMIT clause (or both). For example:
- The server limits all large
SELECT
results to 1,000 rows unless the statement includes aLIMIT
clause. - The server aborts multiple-table
SELECT
statements that probably need to examine more than 1,000,000 row combinations.
To specify limits different from 1,000 and 1,000,000, you can override thedefaults by using the --select_limit
and --max_join_size
options:
Disabling mysql Auto-Reconnect
If the mysql client loses its connection to the server while sending astatement, it immediately and automatically tries to reconnect once to theserver and send the statement again. However, even if mysql succeeds inreconnecting, your first connection has ended and all your previous sessionobjects and settings are lost: temporary tables, the autocommit mode, anduser-defined and session variables. Also, any current transaction rolls back.This behavior may be dangerous for you, as in the following example where theserver was shut down and restarted between the first and second statementswithout you knowing it:
The @a user variable has been lost with the connection, and after thereconnection it is undefined. If it is important to have mysql terminate withan error if the connection has been lost, you can start the mysql client withthe --skip-reconnect
option.
See Also
Comments
When it comes to databases, MySQL is a big player and widely used. Today we'll be looking at some MySQL clients we can use on Mac to view these databases.
Free Mysql Database
TL;DR: My personal favorite for Mac is TablePlus. It offers a free variant which is sufficient enough.
1 TablePlus permalink
Best Free Mysql Client Mac
TablePlus is the MySQL client I'm using currently. I'm still on the free plan, which only allows you to have two tabs open at a time, which is enough for me.
PROS
- Clear interface
- Quickly edit multiple rows at once
- RAW query always visible
CONS
- Only two tabs on the free version
- No click-through for linked queries
2 phpMyAdmin permalink
phpMyAdmin is another excellent resource to view your MySQL databases. It's a very good one since most servers will come with phpMyAdmin installed. Making it a good universal interface.
PROS
- Close to your server interface for MySQL
- Easy to install
- Web-based
CONS
- No syntax highlighting
- Import/Export is web-dependent, making them influenced by the server settings
3 DBeaver permalink
DBeaver is a free and open-source database tool. It's built around usability.
This tool is complete and has many cool features. For me, however, it feels a bit too much.
PROS
- Packed with useful tools
- ER diagrams!
- Linked query click-through
CONS
Install Mysql Client
- A bit clunky for my taste
4 Querious permalink
Very Mac like interface and clear to understand how it works and what it does. I really like the tool however, it should have been a free tool.
Free Mysql Client Macos
PROS
- Build for Mac
- Very good interface for MySQL
CONS
- 25$
5 Sequel Pro permalink
Sequel Pro used to be my favorite MySQL client for Mac, however, they seem to have a fair amount of crashes lately. The reason I switched to TablePlus.
The tool itself is one of the best UI's for MySQL I've personally seen.
PROS
- Very clear UI
- Easy to understand and use
CONS
- Crashes often, unfortunately in the latest releases
Thank you for reading, and let's connect! permalink
Thank you for reading my blog. Feel free to subscribe to my email newsletter and connect on Facebook or Twitter