MySQL the command line and pagers

Question

I cant find anything about this from searching here.

I use mysql on the command line at work and I work with fairly large tables so I set the mysql pager allowing a more readable result if I run a query, that returns 1000's of results. I use the command below to set the pager.

\P less -Sin

This suits my needs but has left me wondering if there are any more pager styles that mysql uses on the command line.

Solution 1

The MySQL client just passes its output to whatever command you specify with \P (for "Pager").

-Sin are commandline switches to the program less. From man less:

-i Causes searches to ignore case
-n Suppresses line numbers
-S Causes lines longer than the screen width to be chopped rather than folded.

For more options of the MySQL client, see reference.

Solution 2

mysql> pager less
PAGER set to 'less'

Solution 3

You might want to try pspg: Unix pager designed for work with tables. Designed for PostgreSQL, but MySQL is supported too.

Main target

• possibility to freeze first few rows, first few columns

• possibility to use fancy colors - like mcview or FoxPro

In action:

Solution 4

This post is old, but still very helpful.

You can set the pager to whatever you want, including a script that parses all output before feeding it back to you. The examples there include using an add-on tool that makes EXPLAIN output more readable.

_{Also note that to turn off this functionality and return to normal stdout the command is nopager.}

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Comments

[martynthewolf]

it's not that I don't like it, I'm just interested to see if more pager outputs exist. I just tried more and its very similar to the basic output. Using less seems to display the result set in a much neater fashion

[wranvaud]

also if you just type pager it will go back to standard output.