NAME

fisql — interactive SQL shell

SYNOPSIS

fisql [-eFgpnvXY] [-a display_charset] [-A packet_size] [-c cmdend] [-D database] [-E editor] [-h headers] [-H hostname] [-i inputfile] [-I interfaces_file] [-J client_charset] [-l login_timeout] [-m errorlevel] [-o outputfile] [-P password] [-s colseparator] [-S server] [-t timeout] [-U username] [-w width] [-y sybase_dir] [-z language]

DESCRIPTION

fisql is very similar to the ‘isql’ utility programs distributed by Sybase and Microsoft. Like them, fisql uses the command ‘go’ on a line by itself as a separator between batches.

OPTIONS

-a display_charset: The client charset name. Not implemented.
-A packet_size: Set protocol packet size. You should not need to set this parameter.
-c cmdend: Command terminator, defaults to ‘go’.
-D: Database name on the server to use.
-e: Echo SQL input (usually in outputfile)
-E editor: Specify an editor to invoke. Defaults to vi.
-F: FIPS mode ON. Server returns a message (but processes the query anyway) when it encounters a non-standard SQL command.
-g: Display a brief help message
-h headers: Number of rows after which to repeat the column headers. Default is once per resultset.
-H hostname: Hostname of the client machine as it will be told to the server.
-I interfaces_file: Name of the interfaces or freetds.conf file to use.
-i inputfile: Name of script file, containing SQL.
-J client_charset: Not implemented.
-l login_timeout: How long to wait for the server to acknowledge a login attempt.
-m errorlevel: For errors of the severity level specified or higher, print only the message number, state, and error level. Below that level, print nothing.
-n: Suppress line numbers in echoed output.
-o outputfile: Name of output file, holding result data.
-p: Prints performance statistics. Not implemented.
-P password: Database server password.
-s colseparator: The column separator. Default is space. Shell metacharacters require quoting.
-S server: Database server to which to connect.
-t timeout: The query timeout, in seconds. How long to wait for a query to be processed. The default is indefinitely, or as determined by freetds.conf.
-U username: Database server login name.
-v: Display version and copyright.
-w width: How many characters wide to print the output. Defaults to 80.
-X: Use encrypted login. Not implemented in FreeTDS.
-y sybase_dir: Sets the SYBASE environment variable. Not used by FreeTDS.
-Y: Use chained transactions.
-z language: Name of a language for fisql's prompts and messages. Cf. DBSETLNATLANG.

NOTES

fisql is a filter; it reads from standard input, writes to standard output, and writes errors to standard error. The -i, and -e options override these defaults.

fisql uses the DB-Library API provided by FreeTDS. It was first implemented using Sybase's own library and continues to work with it. Before (and after) modifying it, it would be well to test it with Sybase's library to assure compatibility between it and FreeTDS. EXIT STATUS

fisql exits 0 on success, and >0 if the server cannot process the query.

fisql will report any errors returned by the server, but will continue processing. In a production environment, this behavior may be insufficiently stringent. To make it extremely intolerant of errors, change the message and error handlers to call exit(3).

HISTORY

fisql first appeared in FreeTDS 0.65.

AUTHORS

The fisql utility was written by Nicholas S. Castellano ⟨entropy@freetds.org⟩, who contributed it to the FreeTDS project under the terms of the GPL.

BUGS

Requires the GNU readline library.