SQL::Shell::Manual - user guide for sql shell
sqlsh -d DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV -u scott -p tiger
This is a guide to using sqlsh. sqlsh is an interactive shell run from the command-line for workling with databases. It can also be run in "batch mode" taking a list of commands from stdin (using the -i switch) or you can pass a single command to it on the command-line.
Either set a DSN in the environment as DBI_DSN, supply with the -d option or use the connect command:
unixbox% sqlsh unixbox% sqlsh -d DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV -u scott -p tiger
You can also connect from inside sqlsh:
unixbox% sqlsh > connect DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV scott tiger DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> show $dbh Name +--------+ | Name | +--------+ | IFLDEV | +--------+
and disconnect:
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> disconnect > show $dbh Name Not connected to database.
If you don't supply a password, sqlsh will prompt you:
unixbox% sqlsh -d DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV -u scott Enter password for scott:
You can specify a blank password by passing -p:
unixbox% sqlsh -d DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV -u guest -p
From within sqlsh you can get a list of DBI drivers:
unixbox% sqlsh > show drivers CSV DBM ExampleP Excel File Multiplex Oracle Proxy SQLite Sponge mysql
and a list of possible data sources for a driver:
unixbox% sqlsh > show datasources Oracle dbi:Oracle:GISCPS dbi:Oracle:IFL1 dbi:Oracle:IFLDEV dbi:Oracle:IFLTEST
Common DBI DSNs include:
DBI:Oracle:<SID> DBI:mysql:<DB> DBI:ADO:<DSN> DBI:Excel:file=<xls> DBI:CSV:f_dir=<dir> DBI:SQLite:dbname=<filename>
This lists the tables with a rowcount for each:
DBI:SQLite:dbname=test.db> show tables +----------------------+------+ | table | rows | +----------------------+------+ | "sqlite_master" | 1 | | "sqlite_temp_master" | 0 | | "commands" | 11 | +----------------------+------+
For some database drivers this may include some system tables.
Lists the columns in a table:
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> desc commands +-------------+----------------+------+ | Field | Type | Null | +-------------+----------------+------+ | COMMAND | VARCHAR2(200) | YES | | DESCRIPTION | VARCHAR2(1020) | YES | +-------------+----------------+------+
Lists the columns in a table, for each table in the schema:
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> show schema schema dump COMMANDS: +-------------+----------------+------+ | Field | Type | Null | +-------------+----------------+------+ | COMMAND | VARCHAR2(200) | YES | | DESCRIPTION | VARCHAR2(1020) | YES | +-------------+----------------+------+
DBI:SQLite:dbname=test.db> select * from commands +------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | command | desc | +------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | show drivers | Displays a list of DBI drivers | | show datasources | Displays a list of available data sources for a driver | | connect | Connects to a data source | | disconnect | Disconnects from a data source | | show tables | List the tables in the schema with a rowcount for each table | | show schema | Lists the columns in each table in the schema | | desc | List the columns in a table | | set | Set a parameter | | help | Displays sqlsh help in your $PAGER | | reload | Reloads sqlsh | | exit | Quits sqlsh | +------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
You can control the amount of BLOB data fetched by setting the longreadlen parameter.
longreadlen
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> set longreadlen 4096 LongReadLen set to '4096' DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> show $dbh LongReadLen +-------------+ | LongReadLen | +-------------+ | 4096 | +-------------+ Note that the C<longtruncok> parameter should also be set (it is by default): DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> show $dbh LongTruncOk +-------------+ | LongTruncOk | +-------------+ | 1 | +-------------+
Suppose we have values in our database which contain whitespace characters (e.g. tabs):
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> set enter-whitespace on Whitespace may be entered as \n, \r and \t DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> insert into commands(command,description) values('test', 'one\ttwo') INSERT commands: 1 rows affected
When we query the table we see these as literal values:
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> select * from commands +---------+-------------+ | COMMAND | DESCRIPTION | +---------+-------------+ | test | one two | +---------+-------------+
We can instead chose to display them escaped:
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> set escape show-whitespace DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> select * from commands +---------+-------------+ | COMMAND | DESCRIPTION | +---------+-------------+ | test | one\ttwo | +---------+-------------+
Alternatively we can use uri-escaping:
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> set escape uri-escape on DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> select * from commands +---------+-------------+ | COMMAND | DESCRIPTION | +---------+-------------+ | test | one%09two | +---------+-------------+
To enable multiline mode:
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> set multiline on
You can then build up statements over multiple lines, ending with a semicolon, e.g.:
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> select DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> count(*) DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> from DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> commands DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> ; +----------+ | COUNT(*) | +----------+ | 11 | +----------+
To disable multiline mode, remember you need to end the statement in a semicolon:
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> set multiline off;
The default (box) display mode is similar to that used by the mysql client - it works well for tables of fairly short values. The record display mode is good for viewing single records:
box
record
DBI:SQLite:dbname=test.db> set display-mode record DBI:SQLite:dbname=test.db> select * from commands where command='desc' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- command | desc desc | List the columns in a table --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The spaced display mode (despite sounding like a description of sqlsh's author) provides a minimum clutter view of the data. The tabbed display mode generally looks horrendous but is useful for a quick cut+paste of delimited values. The sql display mode generates insert statements using a $table placeholder for where the data is to be inserted. The xml display mode generates element-only XML which can be parsed into a list of hashes with XML::Simple.
spaced
tabbed
sql
xml
By default transactions are not automatically committed so you must explicitly commit them:
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> insert into commands(command, description) values ('dump','Writes a table or query results to a delimited file') INSERT commands: 1 rows affected DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> commit
and you can roll back mistakes:
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> delete from commands DELETE commands: 11 rows affected DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> rollback DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> select count(*) from commands +----------+ | COUNT(*) | +----------+ | 11 | +----------+
If you prefer to live dangerously you can switch autocommit on:
set autocommit on insert ... update ...
The wipe tables command can be used to remove all the data each of the tables in the database:
wipe tables
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> wipe tables Wipe all data from: COMMANDS Are you sure you want to do this? (type 'yes' if you are) yes Wiped all data in database
It prompts you to confirm before anihilating your database.
dump can either be used to dump an entire table:
dump
dump mytable into export.txt
or the rowset resulting from a query:
dump select type, count(*) from mytable group by type into histogram.txt delimited by :
An example:
DBI:SQLite:dbname=test.db> dump commands into commands.csv delimited by , Dumping commands into commands.csv Dumped 11 rows into commands.csv DBI:SQLite:dbname=test.db> more commands.csv command,desc show drivers,Displays a list of DBI drivers show datasources,Displays a list of available data sources for a driver connect,Connects to a data source disconnect,Disconnects from a data source show tables,List the tables in the schema with a rowcount for each table show schema,Lists the columns in each table in the schema desc,List the columns in a table set,Set a parameter help,Displays sqlsh help in your $PAGER reload,Reloads sqlsh exit,Quits sqlsh
You can also dump all the tables in a database into a directory:
dump all tables into dumpdir/
You can chose to log commands:
log commands logfile.txt
or query results:
log queries dumpfile.txt
or both:
log all history.log
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> set log-mode xml DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> log queries export.xml Logging queries to export.xml DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV>> select * from commands where command like 'show%' +------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | COMMAND | DESCRIPTION | +------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | show drivers | Displays a list of DBI drivers | | show datasources | Displays a list of available data sources for a driver | | show tables | List the tables in the schema with a rowcount for each table | | show schema | Lists the columns in each table in the schema | +------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV>> more export.xml <rowset> <record> <COMMAND>show drivers</COMMAND> <DESCRIPTION>Displays a list of DBI drivers</DESCRIPTION> </record> <record> <COMMAND>show datasources</COMMAND> <DESCRIPTION>Displays a list of available data sources for a driver</DESCRIPTION> </record> <record> <COMMAND>show tables</COMMAND> <DESCRIPTION>List the tables in the schema with a rowcount for each table</DESCRIPTION> </record> <record> <COMMAND>show schema</COMMAND> <DESCRIPTION>Lists the columns in each table in the schema</DESCRIPTION> </record> </rowset> DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV>> no log Stopped logging queries
DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> set log-mode sql DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV> log queries export.sql Logging queries to export.sql DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV>> select * from commands where command like 'show%' +------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | COMMAND | DESCRIPTION | +------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | show drivers | Displays a list of DBI drivers | | show datasources | Displays a list of available data sources for a driver | | show tables | List the tables in the schema with a rowcount for each table | | show schema | Lists the columns in each table in the schema | +------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV>> more export.sql INSERT into $table (COMMAND,DESCRIPTION) VALUES ('show drivers','Displays a list of DBI drivers'); INSERT into $table (COMMAND,DESCRIPTION) VALUES ('show datasources','Displays a list of available data sources for a driver'); INSERT into $table (COMMAND,DESCRIPTION) VALUES ('show tables','List the tables in the schema with a rowcount for each table'); INSERT into $table (COMMAND,DESCRIPTION) VALUES ('show schema','Lists the columns in each table in the schema'); DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV>> no log Stopped logging queries
You can then replace $table with the table name you want the INSERT stataments to be issued against:
unixbox% perl -p -i -e 's/\$table/show_commands/' export.sql
Loading a tab-delimited text file is simple:
load export.txt into mytable
Here's an example:
DBI:SQLite:dbname=test.db> create table commands(command varchar(50), desc varchar(255)) CREATE table commands: 0 rows affected DBI:SQLite:dbname=test.db> load commands.tsv into commands Loaded 11 rows into commands from commands.tsv
As with dump you can change the delimiter character:
load export.csv into mytable delimited by ,
You can also specify character set translations:
load export.txt into mytable from CP1252 to UTF-8
if your database engine cannot do the character set conversions itself. See Locale::Recode for a list of character set names.
You can dump out the history to a file:
save history to history.txt
You can also load in a set of commands into the history:
load history from handy_queries.sql
This can be useful in conjunction with log commands. You can clear the history at any time with:
log commands
clear history
and display it with:
show history
You can execute a sequence of sqlsh commands from a file:
> execute commands.sqlsh
that might have been generated by save history or log commands. You can also pipe commands into sqlsh on STDIN if you call it with the -i switch:
save history
-i
unixbox% sqlsh -d DBI:Oracle:IFLDEV -u scott -p tiger -i < commands.sqlsh
$Revision: 1.6 $ on $Date: 2006/08/02 12:01:15 $ by $Author: johna $
John Alden
To install SQL::Shell, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm SQL::Shell
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install SQL::Shell
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.