1untitled(January 31, 2006)                          untitled(January 31, 2006)
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NAME

6       mdb-sql - SQL interface to MDB Tools
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SYNOPSIS

9       mdb-sql [-HFp] [-d <delimiter>] [-i <file>] [-o <file>] [<database>]
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DESCRIPTION

12       mdb-sql is a utility program distributed with MDB Tools.
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14       mdb-sql  allows  querying of an MDB database using a limited SQL subset
15       language.
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OPTIONS

18       -H     Supress header row.
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20       -F     Supress footer row.
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22       -p     Turn off pretty printing. By default results are printed  in  an
23              ascii  table  format  which  looks  nice but is not conducive to
24              manipulating the output with unix tools. This option prints out‐
25              put plainly in a tab separated format.
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27       -d     Specify  an  alternative  column  delimiter.  If no delimiter is
28              specified, columns will be  delimited  by  a  tab  character  if
29              pretty  printing  (-p)  is  turned  off.  If  pretty printing is
30              enabled this option is meaningless.
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32       -i     Specify an input file. This option allows an input file contain‐
33              ing the SQL to be passed to mdb-sql.  See Notes.
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35       -o     Specify an output file. This option allows the name of an output
36              file to be used instead of stdout.
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COMMANDS

39       mdb-sql in interactive mode takes some special commands.
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41       connect to <database>
42              If no database was specified on the command line this command is
43              necessary  before  any  querys  are  issued.  It also allows the
44              switching of databases once in the tool.
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46       disconnect
47              Will disconnect from the current database.
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49       go     Each batch is sent to the parser using the 'go' command.
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51       reset A batch can be cleared using the 'reset' command.
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53       list tables
54              The list tables command will display a list of available  tables
55              in  this database, similar to the mdb-tables utility on the com‐
56              mand line.
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58       describe table <table>
59              Will display the column information for the specified table.
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61       quit   Will exit the tool.
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SQL LANGUAGE

64       The currently implemented SQL subset is quite  small,  supporting  only
65       single  table  queries,  no  aggregates,  and limited support for WHERE
66       clauses. Here is a brief synopsis of the supported language.
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68       select:
69              SELECT [* | <column list>] FROM <table> WHERE <where clause>
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71       column list:
72              <column> [, <column list>]
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74       where clause:
75              <column> <operator> <literal> [AND <where clause>]
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77       operator:
78              =, =>, =<, <>, like, <, >
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80       literal:
81              integers, floating point numbers, or string  literal  in  single
82              quotes
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NOTES

85       When  passing a file (-i) or piping output to mdb-sql the final 'go' is
86       optional. This allow constructs like
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88       echo "Select * from Table1" | mdb-sql mydb.mdb
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90       to work correctly.
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92       The -i command can be passed the string 'stdin' to test  entering  text
93       as if using a pipe.
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HISTORY

96       mdb-sql first appeared in MDB Tools 0.3
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AUTHORS

99       The mdb-sql utility was written by Brian Bruns
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BUGS

102       The supported SQL syntax is a very limited subset and deficient in sev‐
103       eral ways.
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