Command-line options

When you type nzsql -h, the system displays the command-line options that you can use. For a list and descriptions of the all the command-line options, see Table 1.

The following describes some useful command-line options:

-A

Unaligned table output mode

Normally output is well-formatted with white space added so that columns align. If you use the -A option, the nzsql command removes extra white space. Use this command when you want to compare results between two systems or when you want to transfer data.

-c

Run a single query and exit

Use this option to run a single query. When you combine it with options -A and -t (print rows only), you can create useful scripts. For example, to find out the number of records in a table, enter:

   #!/bin/bash
EXPORT CNT=‘nzsql -A -t -c "SELECT COUNT (*) FROM $1"‘
echo "The number of records in table $1 is $CNT"

-E

Display queries that internal commands generate

Use this option to see how the SQL is being generated. For example, \l displays the list of databases and when you add -E to the command line, the system shows you the actual SQL used to generate the list.

   nzsql -E
\l
   ********* QUERY *********
SELECT Database, Owner FROM _v_database
*************************
  List of databases
   database   | owner
--------------+-------
 database_one | admin
 database_two | admin
    system    | admin
(3 rows)

-f

Run queries from a file

-F

Set the field separator

The default delimiter between output columns is a pipe (|) symbol. When used with the -A option (unaligned output), you can specify a different delimiter string, such as a space, tab, comma, colon, or others. You can use the -R <string> to change the record separator. The default is newline.

-H

HTML table output mode

You can format the nzsql output to use HTML tags.

-t

Print rows only

Normally the nzsql command includes column headings and a summary row for all SQL queries. Use the -t option to eliminate the column headings and summary row. Use this option with the -A option to produce data in a transportable format.

-x

Expand table output

You can use this option to display the query results vertically instead of in the default table/2D grid.