---
name: "drizzleimport"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "drizzle-client"
version: "1:7.1.36-stable-1"
release: "Debian 7 (Wheezy)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/drizzleimport"
---

# drizzleimport(1)

a data import program

## NAME

mysqlimport - a data import program

## SYNOPSIS

**mysqlimport \[***options***\]** *db\_name* *textfile1* **...**

## DESCRIPTION

The **mysqlimport** client provides a command-line interface to the LOAD DATA INFILE SQL statement. Most options to **mysqlimport** correspond directly to clauses of LOAD DATA INFILE syntax. See Section 12.2.6, “LOAD DATA INFILE Syntax”.

Invoke **mysqlimport** like this:

```
shell> mysqlimport [options] db_name textfile1 [textfile2 ...]
```

For each text file named on the command line, **mysqlimport** strips any extension from the file name and uses the result to determine the name of the table into which to import the file's contents. For example, files named *patient.txt*, *patient.text*, and *patient* all would be imported into a table named patient.

**mysqlimport** supports the options in the following list. It also reads option files and supports the options for processing them described at Section 4.2.3.2.1, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

- •

  **--help**, **-?**

  Display a help message and exit.

- •

  **--character-sets-dir=***path*

  The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 9.2, “The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting”.

- •

  **--columns=***column\_list*, **-c** *column\_list*

  This option takes a comma-separated list of column names as its value. The order of the column names indicates how to match data file columns with table columns.

- •

  **--compress**, **-C**

  Compress all information sent between the client and the server if both support compression.

- •

  **--debug\[=***debug\_options***\]**, **-# \[***debug\_options***\]**

  Write a debugging log. A typical *debug\_options* string is ´d:t:o,*file\_name*'. The default is ´d:t:o'.

- •

  **--debug-check**

  Print some debugging information when the program exits.

- •

  **--debug-info**

  Print debugging information and memory and CPU usage statistics when the program exits.

- •

  **--default-character-set=***charset\_name*

  Use *charset\_name* as the default character set. See Section 9.2, “The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting”.

- •

  **--delete**, **-D**

  Empty the table before importing the text file.

- •

  **--fields-terminated-by=...**, **--fields-enclosed-by=...**, **--fields-optionally-enclosed-by=...**, **--fields-escaped-by=...**

  These options have the same meaning as the corresponding clauses for LOAD DATA INFILE. See Section 12.2.6, “LOAD DATA INFILE Syntax”.

- •

  **--force**, **-f**

  Ignore errors. For example, if a table for a text file does not exist, continue processing any remaining files. Without **--force**, **mysqlimport** exits if a table does not exist.

- •

  **--host=***host\_name*, **-h** *host\_name*

  Import data to the MySQL server on the given host. The default host is localhost.

- •

  **--ignore**, **-i**

  See the description for the **--replace** option.

- •

  **--ignore-lines=***N*

  Ignore the first *N* lines of the data file.

- •

  **--lines-terminated-by=...**

  This option has the same meaning as the corresponding clause for LOAD DATA INFILE. For example, to import Windows files that have lines terminated with carriage return/linefeed pairs, use **--lines-terminated-by="\\r\\n"**. (You might have to double the backslashes, depending on the escaping conventions of your command interpreter.) See Section 12.2.6, “LOAD DATA INFILE Syntax”.

- •

  **--local**, **-L**

  Read input files locally from the client host.

- •

  **--lock-tables**, **-l**

  Lock *all* tables for writing before processing any text files. This ensures that all tables are synchronized on the server.

- •

  **--low-priority**

  Use LOW\_PRIORITY when loading the table. This affects only storage engines that use only table-level locking (MyISAM, MEMORY, MERGE).

- •

  **--password\[=***password***\]**, **-p\[***password***\]**

  The password to use when connecting to the server. If you use the short option form (**-p**), you *cannot* have a space between the option and the password. If you omit the *password* value following the **--password** or **-p** option on the command line, you are prompted for one.

  Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. See Section 5.5.6.2, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”.

- •

  **--pipe**, **-W**

  On Windows, connect to the server via a named pipe. This option applies only for connections to a local server, and only if the server supports named-pipe connections.

- •

  **--port=***port\_num*, **-P** *port\_num*

  The TCP/IP port number to use for the connection.

- •

  **--protocol={TCP\|SOCKET\|PIPE\|MEMORY}**

  The connection protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when the other connection parameters normally would cause a protocol to be used other than the one you want. For details on the allowable values, see Section 4.2.2, “Connecting to the MySQL Server”.

- •

  **--replace**, **-r**

  The **--replace** and **--ignore** options control handling of input rows that duplicate existing rows on unique key values. If you specify **--replace**, new rows replace existing rows that have the same unique key value. If you specify **--ignore**, input rows that duplicate an existing row on a unique key value are skipped. If you do not specify either option, an error occurs when a duplicate key value is found, and the rest of the text file is ignored.

- •

  **--silent**, **-s**

  Silent mode. Produce output only when errors occur.

- •

  **--socket=***path*, **-S** *path*

  For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the name of the named pipe to use.

- •

  **--ssl\***

  Options that begin with **--ssl** specify whether to connect to the server via SSL and indicate where to find SSL keys and certificates. See Section 5.5.7.3, “SSL Command Options”.

- •

  **--user=***user\_name*, **-u** *user\_name*

  The MySQL user name to use when connecting to the server.

- •

  **--use-threads=***N*

  Load files in parallel using *N* threads.

- •

  **--verbose**, **-v**

  Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does.

- •

  **--version**, **-V**

  Display version information and exit.

Here is a sample session that demonstrates use of **mysqlimport**:

```
shell> mysql -e 'CREATE TABLE imptest(id INT, n VARCHAR(30))' test
shell> ed
a
100     Max Sydow
101     Count Dracula
w imptest.txt
32
q
shell> od -c imptest.txt
0000000   1   0   0  \t   M   a   x       S   y   d   o   w  \n   1   0
0000020   1  \t   C   o   u   n   t       D   r   a   c   u   l   a  \n
0000040
shell> mysqlimport --local test imptest.txt
test.imptest: Records: 2  Deleted: 0  Skipped: 0  Warnings: 0
shell> mysql -e 'SELECT * FROM imptest' test
+------+---------------+
| id   | n             |
+------+---------------+
|  100 | Max Sydow     |
|  101 | Count Dracula |
+------+---------------+
```

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2007-2008 MySQL AB, 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.

This documentation is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it only under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.

This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with the program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA or see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

## SEE ALSO

For more information, please refer to the MySQL Reference Manual, which may already be installed locally and which is also available online at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/.

## AUTHOR

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (http://www.mysql.com/).