DBI::Shell(3)         User Contributed Perl Documentation        DBI::Shell(3)


NAME
       DBI::Shell - Interactive command shell for the DBI

SYNOPSIS
         perl -MDBI::Shell -e shell [<DBI data source> [<user> [<password>]]]

       or

         dbish [<DBI data source> [<user> [<password>]]]
         dbish --debug [<DBI data source> [<user> [<password>]]]
         dbish --batch [<DBI data source> [<user> [<password>]]] < batch file

DESCRIPTION
       The DBI::Shell module (and dbish command, if installed) provide a
       simple but effective command line interface for the Perl DBI module.

TO DO
       Proper docs - but not yet, too much is changing.

       "source file" command to read command file.  Allow to nest via stack of
       command file handles.  Add command log facility to create batch files.

       Commands:

       Use Data::ShowTable if available.

       Define DBI::Shell plug-in semantics.    Implement import/export as
       plug-in module

       Clarify meaning of batch mode

       Completion hooks

       Set/Get DBI handle attributes

       Portability

       Emulate popular command shell modes (Oracle, Ingres etc)?

ARGUMENTS
       debug
           dbish --debug  enable debug messages

       batch
           dbish --batch < batch_file

COMMANDS
       Many commands - few documented, yet!

       help
             help

       chistory
             chistory          (display history of all commands entered)
             chistory | YourPager (display history with paging)

       clear
             clear             (Clears the current command buffer)

       commit
             commit            (commit changes to the database)

       connect
             connect           (pick from available drivers and sources)
             connect dbi:Oracle (pick source from based on driver)
             connect dbi:YourDriver:YourSource i.e. dbi:Oracle:mysid

           Use this option to change userid or password.

       count
                   count table1 [...]

           Run a select count(*) from table on each table listed with this
           command.

       current
             current            (Display current statement in the buffer)

       do
             do                 (execute the current (non-select) statement)

                   dbish> create table foo ( mykey integer )
                   dbish> /do

                   dbish> truncate table OldTable /do (Oracle truncate)

       drivers
             drivers            (Display available DBI drivers)

       edit
             edit               (Edit current statement in an external editor)

           Editor is defined using the environment variable $VISUAL or $EDITOR
           or default is vi.  Use option editor=new editor to change in the
           current session.

           To read a file from the operating system invoke the editor (edit)
           and read the file into the editor buffer.

       exit
             exit              (Exits the shell)

       get
                   get                     Retrieve a previous command to the current buffer.

                   get 1                   Retrieve the 1 command executed into the current
                                                   buffer.

                   get -1         Retrieve the second to last command executed into
                                                   the current buffer.

       go
             go                (Execute the current statement)

           Run (execute) the statement in the current buffer.  This is the
           default action if the statement ends with /

                   dbish> select * from user_views/

                   dbish> select table_name from user_tables
                   dbish> where table_name like 'DSP%'
                   dbish> /

                   dbish> select table_name from all_tables/ | more

       history
             history            (Display combined command and result history)
             history | more

       load
             load file name    (read contains of file into the current buffer)

           The contains of the file is loaded as the current buffer.

       option
             option [option1[=value]] [option2 ...]
             option            (Displays the current options)
             option   MyOption (Displays the value, if exists, of MyOption)
             option   MyOption=4 (defines and/or sets value for MyOption)

       perl
             perl               (Evaluate the current statement as perl code)

       quit
             quit               (quit shell.  Same as exit)

       redo
             redo               (Re-execute the previously executed statement)

       rhistory
             rhistory           (Display result history)

       rollback
             rollback           (rollback changes to the database)

           For this to be useful, turn the autocommit off. option autocommit=0

       run
             run file name      (load and execute a file.)

           This commands load the file (may include full path) and executes.
           The file is loaded (replaces) the current buffer.  Only 1 statement
           per file is allowed (at this time).

       save
             save file name    (write contains of current buffer to file.)

           The contains of the current buffer is written to file.  Currently,
           this command will overwrite a file if it exists.

       spool
             spool file name  (Starts sending all output to file name)
             spool on         (Starts sending all output to on.lst)
             spool off        (Stops sending output)
             spool            (Displays the status of spooling)

           When spooling, everything seen in the command window is written to
           a file (except some of the prompts).

       table_info
             table_info         (display all tables that exist in current database)
             table_info | more  (for paging)

       trace
             trace              (set DBI trace level for current database)

           Adjust the trace level for DBI 0 - 4.  0 off.  4 lots of
           information.  Useful for determining what is really happening in
           DBI.  See DBI.

       type_info
             type_info          (display data types supported by current server)

CONFIGURATION
       The configuration file (~/.dbish_config by default, overridden by
       $DBISH_CONFIG) is eval'd as perl code and should return a hash ref
       containing the configuration items. Notable keys include

       options
           The value is another hashref containing the options and their
           values.  Type "/option" at the prompt to get a list of acceptable
           options.

       plug-ins
           Plugins to load. This is a rather complex data structure which is
           recursively walked to determine which plugins should be loaded. At
           the top level, there are the phases "pre-init", "post-init",
           "pre-connect", and "post-connect". At lower levels plugins can be
           selected by the name of the database driver, and individual options
           can be set. Finally, at some point an arrayref containing the
           package names of the plugins to load must be found.

       Since the config file can contain arbitrary perl code, it can do
       anything which can be done in perl. One rather useful hack is to call
       binmode to set the encoding for standard input and output.

   Example
           binmode STDIN,  ":utf8";
           binmode STDOUT, ":utf8";

           {
               options => {
                   format => 'partbox',
               },
               'plug-ins' => {
                   'pre-init' => [
                       'DBI::Shell::Timing',
                       'DBI::Shell::Spool',
                   ],
               },
           };

       This config file first sets the :utf8 layer for input and output to
       match the terminal (if you don't use UTF-8, you could use :encoding()
       here), and then returns the hashref with the configuration items: The
       format is set 'partbox', and the the two plugins 'DBI::Shell::Timing'
       and 'DBI::Shell::Spool' are loaded.

ENVIRONMENT
       DBISH_TMP
           Where to write temporary files.

       DBISH_CONFIG
           Which configuration file used.  Unset to not read any additional
           configurations.

AUTHORS and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
       The DBI::Shell has a long lineage.

       It started life around 1994-1997 as the pmsql script written by Andreas
       Konig. Jochen Wiedmann picked it up and ran with it (adding much along
       the way) as dbimon, bundled with his DBD::mSQL driver modules. In 1998,
       around the time I wanted to bundle a shell with the DBI, Adam Marks was
       working on a dbish modeled after the Sybase sqsh utility.

       Wanting to start from a cleaner slate than the feature-full but complex
       dbimon, I worked with Adam to create a fairly open modular and very
       configurable DBI::Shell module. Along the way Tom Lowery chipped in
       ideas and patches. As we go further along more useful code and concepts
       from Jochen's dbimon is bound to find it's way back in.

COPYRIGHT
       The DBI::Shell module is Copyright (c) 1998 Tim Bunce. England.  All
       rights reserved. Portions are Copyright by Jochen Wiedmann, Adam Marks,
       Tom Lowery, Kent Fredric, Rafael Kitover and Mike Pomraning. It is
       currently maintained by Dave Lambley.

       You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public
       License or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README file.

perl v5.42.0                      2025-12-14                     DBI::Shell(3)