FreeTDS(September 30, 2009)

NAME
fisql - interactive SQL shell

SYNOPSIS
fisql [-e] [-F] [-g] [-p] [-n] [-v] [-X] [-Y]
 [-a display_charset] [-c cmdend] [-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.

-c cmdend
    Command terminator, defaults to go.

-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, -o, and -e options override these, of course.

fisql uses the db-lib 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.