isql - line interactive SQL tool
isql DSN [USER [PASSWORD]] [options]
isql(1) UnixODBC manual pages isql(1)
NAME
isql, iusql - unixODBC command-line interactive SQL tool
SYNOPSIS
isql DSN [USER [PASSWORD]] [options]
DESCRIPTION
isql is a command line tool which allows the user to execute SQL in
batch or interactively. It has some interesting options such as an
option to generate output wrapped in an HTML table.
iusql is the same tool with built-in Unicode support. Some datasources
only work with iusql.
ARGUMENTS
DSN The Data Source Name, which should be used to make connection to
the database. The data source is looked for in the
/etc/odbc.ini and $HOME/.odbc.ini files in that order, with the
latter overwriting the former.
A bare name is looked up in the above files. If the DSN name
begins with a semicolon then it's treated as a connection string
instead. The connection string may contain a DSN name and/or
other semicolon-separated parameters.
USER Specifies the database user/role under which the connection
should be made.
Overrides any UID specified in the DSN.
PASSWORD
Password for the specified USER.
Overrides any Password specified in the DSN.
OPTIONS
-b Run isql in non-interactive batch mode. In this mode, the isql
processes its standard input, expecting one SQL command per
line.
-dDELIMITER
Delimits columns with delimiter.
-xHEX Delimits columns with HEX, which is a hexadecimal code of the
delimiting character in the format 0xNN - i.e. 0x09 for the TAB
character.
-w Format the result as HTML table.
-c Output the names of the columns on the first row. Has any effect
only with the -d or -x options.
-mNUM Limit the column display width to NUM characters.
-lLOCALE
Sets locale to LOCALE.
-q Wrap the character fields in double quotes.
-3 Use the ODBC 3 calls.
-n Use the new line processing. (multiple lines of SQL, terminated
with command GO).
-e Use the SQLExecDirect instead of Prepare.
-k Use SQLDriverConnect.
-v Turn on the verbose mode, where the errors are fully described.
Useful for debugging.
--version
Prints the program version and exits.
-LNUM Alter the maximum number of characters displayed from a charac-
ter field to NUM characters. Default is 300.
COMMANDS
This section briefly describes some isql runtime commands.
help
List all tables in the database.
help table
List all columns in the table.
help help
List all help options.
EXAMPLES
A bare DSN name:
$ iusql WebDB MyID MyPWD -w -b < My.sql
Connects to the WebDB as user MyID with password MyPWD, then
execute the commands in the My.sql file and returns the results
wrapped in HTML table. Each line in My.sql must contain exactly
1 SQL command, except for the last line, which must be blank
(unless the -n option is specified).
A DSN name in a connection string:
Note the leading semicolon on the connection string:
$ iusql ";DSN=WebDB" MyID MyPWD -w -b < My.sql
Options in the DSN may be overridden in the connection string:
$ iusql ";DSN=WebDB;Driver=PostgreSQL ODBC;UID=MyID;PASSWORD=secret;Debug=1;CommLog=1" -v
A string DSN:
A string DSN may be provided in its entirety, with no file DSN
reference at all:
$ iusql ";Driver=PostgreSQL Unicode;UID=MyID;PASSWORD=secret" -v
TROUBLESHOOTING
Cryptic error messages
Re-run iusql or isql with the -v flag to get more detail from
errors, and/or enable Trace mode in odbcinst.ini.
Missing driver definition
Check that the driver name specified by the Driver entry in the
odbc.ini data-source definition is present in odbcinst.ini and
exactly matches the odbcinst [section name].
Unloadable or incompatible driver
If the driver is properly specified for the datasource it's pos-
sible that the driver may not be loadable. Check for mixups
between Unicode and ANSI drivers. Verify the driver paths in the
odbcinst.ini section name.
Unicode datasources with ANSI clients
Some datasources are Unicode-only and only work with iusql. If
isql reports
[IM002][unixODBC][Driver Manager]Data source name not found and no default driver specified
[ISQL]ERROR: Could not SQLConnect
but the datasource is listed by
odbcinst -q -d
and the driver it uses is listed by
odbcinst -q -d
then try iusql.
FILES
/etc/odbc.ini
System-wide DSN definitions. See odbc.ini(5) for details.
$HOME/.odbc.ini
User-specific DSN definitions. See odbc.ini(5) for details.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | library/unixodbc |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+------------------+
SEE ALSO
unixODBC(7), odbcinst(1), odbc.ini(5)
The unixODBC Administrator Manual (HTML)
AUTHORS
The authors of unixODBC are Peter Harvey <pharvey@codebydesign.com> and
Nick Gorham <nick@lurcher.org>. For the full list of contributors see
the AUTHORS file.
COPYRIGHT
unixODBC is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License. For
details about the license, see the COPYING file.
NOTES
Source code for open source software components in Oracle Solaris can
be found at https://www.oracle.com/downloads/opensource/solaris-source-
code-downloads.html.
This software was built from source available at
https://github.com/oracle/solaris-userland. The original community
source was downloaded from
http://www.unixodbc.org//unixODBC-2.3.9.tar.gz.
Further information about this software can be found on the open source
community website at http://www.unixodbc.org/.
version 2.3.6 Tue 25 Jun 2013 isql(1)