3.5 Using mysql in Batch Mode

In the previous sections, you used mysql interactively to enter queries and view the results. You can also run mysql in batch mode. To do this, put the commands you want to run in a file, then tell mysql to read its input from the file:

shell> mysql < batch-file

If you are running mysql under Windows and have some special characters in the file that cause problems, you can do this:

C:\> mysql -e "source batch-file"

If you need to specify connection parameters on the command line, the command might look like this:

shell> mysql -h host -u user -p < batch-file
Enter password: ********

When you use mysql this way, you are creating a script file, then executing the script.

If you want the script to continue even if some of the statements in it produce errors, you should use the --force command-line option.

Why use a script? Here are a few reasons:

The default output format is different (more concise) when you run mysql in batch mode than when you use it interactively. For example, the output of SELECT DISTINCT species FROM pet looks like this when mysql is run interactively:

| species |
| bird    |
| cat     |
| dog     |
| hamster |
| snake   |

In batch mode, the output looks like this instead:


If you want to get the interactive output format in batch mode, use mysql -t. To echo to the output the commands that are executed, use mysql -vvv.

You can also use scripts from the mysql prompt by using the source command or \. command:

mysql> source filename;
mysql> \. filename

See Section, “Executing SQL Statements from a Text File”, for more information.