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Updated: July 2017
 
 

sql (1)

Name

sql - execute a command on a database determined by a dburl

Synopsis

sql [options] dburl [commands]

sql [options] dburl < commandfile

#!/usr/bin/sql --shebang [options] dburl

Description

SQL(1)                             parallel                             SQL(1)



NAME
       sql - execute a command on a database determined by a dburl

SYNOPSIS
       sql [options] dburl [commands]

       sql [options] dburl < commandfile

       #!/usr/bin/sql --shebang [options] dburl

DESCRIPTION
       GNU sql aims to give a simple, unified interface for accessing
       databases through all the different databases' command line clients. So
       far the focus has been on giving a common way to specify login
       information (protocol, username, password, hostname, and port number),
       size (database and table size), and running queries.

       The database is addressed using a DBURL. If commands are left out you
       will get that database's interactive shell.

       GNU sql is often used in combination with GNU parallel.

       dburl    A DBURL has the following syntax: [sql:]vendor://
                [[user][:password]@][host][:port]/[database][?sqlquery]

                See the section DBURL below.

       commands The SQL commands to run. Each argument will have a newline
                appended.

                Example: "SELECT * FROM foo;" "SELECT * FROM bar;"

                If the arguments contain '\n' or '\x0a' this will be replaced
                with a newline:

                Example: "SELECT * FROM foo;\n SELECT * FROM bar;"

                If no commands are given SQL is read from the keyboard or
                STDIN.

                Example: echo 'SELECT * FROM foo;' | sql mysql:///

       --db-size
       --dbsize Size of database. Show the size of the database on disk. For
                Oracle this requires access to read the table dba_data_files -
                the user system has that.

       --help
       -h       Print a summary of the options to GNU sql and exit.

       --html   HTML output. Turn on HTML tabular output.

       --show-processlist
       --proclist
       --listproc
                Show the list of running queries.

       --show-databases
       --showdbs
       --list-databases
       --listdbs
                List the databases (table spaces) in the database.

       --show-tables
       --list-tables
       --table-list
                List the tables in the database.

       --noheaders
       --no-headers
       -n       Remove headers and footers and print only tuples. Bug in
                Oracle: it still prints number of rows found.

       -p pass-through
                The string following -p will be given to the database
                connection program as arguments. Multiple -p's will be joined
                with space. Example: pass '-U' and the user name to the
                program:

                -p "-U scott" can also be written -p -U -p scott.

       -r       Try 3 times. Short version of --retries 3.

       --retries ntimes
                Try ntimes times. If the client program returns with an error,
                retry the command. Default is --retries 1.

       --sep string
       -s string
                Field separator. Use string as separator between columns.

       --skip-first-line
                Do not use the first line of input (used by GNU sql itself
                when called with --shebang).

       --table-size
       --tablesize
                Size of tables. Show the size of the tables in the database.

       --version
       -V       Print the version GNU sql and exit.

       --shebang
       -Y       GNU sql can be called as a shebang (#!) command as the first
                line of a script. Like this:

                  #!/usr/bin/sql -Y mysql:///

                  SELECT * FROM foo;

                For this to work --shebang or -Y must be set as the first
                option.

DBURL
       A DBURL has the following syntax: [sql:]vendor://
       [[user][:password]@][host][:port]/[database][?sqlquery]

       To quote special characters use %-encoding specified in
       http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986#section-2.1 (E.g. a password
       containing '/' would contain '%2F').

       Examples:
        mysql://scott:tiger@my.example.com/mydb
        sql:oracle://scott:tiger@ora.example.com/xe
        postgresql://scott:tiger@pg.example.com/pgdb
        pg:///
        postgresqlssl://scott@pg.example.com:3333/pgdb
        sql:sqlite2:////tmp/db.sqlite?SELECT * FROM foo;
        sqlite3:///../db.sqlite3?SELECT%20*%20FROM%20foo;

       Currently supported vendors: MySQL (mysql), MySQL with SSL (mysqls,
       mysqlssl), Oracle (oracle, ora), PostgreSQL (postgresql, pg, pgsql,
       postgres), PostgreSQL with SSL (postgresqlssl, pgs, pgsqlssl,
       postgresssl, pgssl, postgresqls, pgsqls, postgress), SQLite2 (sqlite,
       sqlite2), SQLite3 (sqlite3).

       Aliases must start with ':' and are read from /etc/sql/aliases and
       ~/.sql/aliases. The user's own ~/.sql/aliases should only be readable
       by the user.

       Example of aliases:

        :myalias1 pg://scott:tiger@pg.example.com/pgdb
        :myalias2 ora://scott:tiger@ora.example.com/xe
        # Short form of mysql://`whoami`:nopassword@localhost:3306/`whoami`
        :myalias3 mysql:///
        # Short form of mysql://`whoami`:nopassword@localhost:33333/mydb
        :myalias4 mysql://:33333/mydb
        # Alias for an alias
        :m      :myalias4
        # the sortest alias possible
        :       sqlite2:////tmp/db.sqlite
        # Including an SQL query
        :query  sqlite:////tmp/db.sqlite?SELECT * FROM foo;

EXAMPLES
   Get an interactive prompt
       The most basic use of GNU sql is to get an interactive prompt:

       sql sql:oracle://scott:tiger@ora.example.com/xe

       If you have setup an alias you can do:

       sql :myora

   Run a query
       To run a query directly from the command line:

       sql :myalias "SELECT * FROM foo;"

       Oracle requires newlines after each statement. This can be done like
       this:

       sql :myora "SELECT * FROM foo;" "SELECT * FROM bar;"

       Or this:

       sql :myora "SELECT * FROM foo;\nSELECT * FROM bar;"

   Copy a PostgreSQL database
       To copy a PostgreSQL database use pg_dump to generate the dump and GNU
       sql to import it:

       pg_dump pg_database | sql pg://scott:tiger@pg.example.com/pgdb

   Empty all tables in a MySQL database
       Using GNU parallel it is easy to empty all tables without dropping
       them:

       sql -n mysql:/// 'show tables' | parallel sql mysql:/// DELETE FROM {};

   Drop all tables in a PostgreSQL database
       To drop all tables in a PostgreSQL database do:

       sql -n pg:/// '\dt' | parallel --colsep '\|' -r sql pg:/// DROP TABLE
       {2};

   Run as a script
       Instead of doing:

       sql mysql:/// < sqlfile

       you can combine the sqlfile with the DBURL to make a UNIX-script.
       Create a script called demosql:

       #!/usr/bin/sql -Y mysql:///

       SELECT * FROM foo;

       Then do:

       chmod +x demosql; ./demosql

   Use --colsep to process multiple columns
       Use GNU parallel's --colsep to separate columns:

       sql -s '\t' :myalias 'SELECT * FROM foo;' | parallel --colsep '\t'
       do_stuff {4} {1}

   Retry if the connection fails
       If the access to the database fails occationally --retries can help
       make sure the query succeeds:

       sql --retries 5 :myalias 'SELECT * FROM really_big_foo;'

   Get info about the running database system
       Show how big the database is:

       sql --db-size :myalias

       List the tables:

       sql --list-tables :myalias

       List the size of the tables:

       sql --table-size :myalias

       List the running processes:

       sql --show-processlist :myalias

REPORTING BUGS
       GNU sql is part of GNU parallel. Report bugs to <bug-parallel@gnu.org>.

AUTHOR
       When using GNU sql for a publication please cite:

       O. Tange (2011): GNU SQL - A Command Line Tool for Accessing Different
       Databases Using DBURLs, ;login: The USENIX Magazine, April 2011:29-32.

       Copyright (C) 2008,2009,2010 Ole Tange http://ole.tange.dk

       Copyright (C) 2010,2011 Ole Tange, http://ole.tange.dk and Free
       Software Foundation, Inc.

LICENSE
       Copyright (C) 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
       Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or at your
       option any later version.

       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
       WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
       General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
       with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

   Documentation license I
       Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
       documentation under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
       Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software
       Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and
       with no Back-Cover Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the
       file fdl.txt.

   Documentation license II
       You are free:

       to Share to copy, distribute and transmit the work

       to Remix to adapt the work

       Under the following conditions:

       Attribution
                You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the
                author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they
                endorse you or your use of the work).

       Share Alike
                If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may
                distribute the resulting work only under the same, similar or
                a compatible license.

       With the understanding that:

       Waiver   Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get
                permission from the copyright holder.

       Public Domain
                Where the work or any of its elements is in the public domain
                under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the
                license.

       Other Rights
                In no way are any of the following rights affected by the
                license:

                o        Your fair dealing or fair use rights, or other
                         applicable copyright exceptions and limitations;

                o        The author's moral rights;

                o        Rights other persons may have either in the work
                         itself or in how the work is used, such as publicity
                         or privacy rights.

       Notice   For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others
                the license terms of this work.

       A copy of the full license is included in the file as cc-by-sa.txt.

DEPENDENCIES
       GNU sql uses Perl. If mysql is installed, MySQL dburls will work. If
       psql is installed, PostgreSQL dburls will work.  If sqlite is
       installed, SQLite2 dburls will work.  If sqlite3 is installed, SQLite3
       dburls will work. If sqlplus is installed, Oracle dburls will work. If
       rlwrap is installed, GNU sql will have a command history for Oracle.

FILES
       ~/.sql/aliases - user's own aliases with DBURLs

       /etc/sql/aliases - common aliases with DBURLs


ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:


       +---------------+------------------+
       |ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE  |
       +---------------+------------------+
       |Availability   | shell/parallel   |
       +---------------+------------------+
       |Stability      | Uncommitted      |
       +---------------+------------------+
SEE ALSO
       mysql(1), psql(1), rlwrap(1), sqlite(1), sqlite3(1), sqlplus(1)



NOTES
       This software was built from source available at
       https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland.  The original community
       source was downloaded from
       http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/parallel/parallel-20121122.tar.bz2

       Further information about this software can be found on the open source
       community website at http://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/.



20121122                          2015-08-19                            SQL(1)