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
              character 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
              possible 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.

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.

version 2.3.6                   Tue 25 Jun 2013                        isql(1)