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NAME

       mdb-sql - SQL interface to MDB Tools

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

       mdb-sql is a utility program distributed with MDB Tools.

       mdb-sql  allows  querying of an MDB database using a limited SQL subset
       language.

OPTIONS

       -H     Supress header row.

       -F     Supress footer row.

       -p     Turn off pretty printing. By default results are printed  in  an
              ascii  table  format  which  looks  nice but is not conducive to
              manipulating the output with  unix  tools.  This  option  prints
              output plainly in a tab separated format.

       -d     Specify  an  alternative  column  delimiter.  If no delimiter is
              specified, columns will be  delimited  by  a  tab  character  if
              pretty  printing  (-p)  is  turned  off.  If  pretty printing is
              enabled this option is meaningless.

       -i     Specify  an  input  file.  This  option  allows  an  input  file
              containing the SQL to be passed to mdb-sql.  See Notes.

       -o     Specify an output file. This option allows the name of an output
              file to be used instead of stdout.

COMMANDS

       mdb-sql in interactive mode takes some special commands.

       connect to <database>
              If no database was specified on the command line this command is
              necessary  before  any  querys  are  issued.  It also allows the
              switching of databases once in the tool.

       disconnect
              Will disconnect from the current database.

       go     Each batch is sent to the parser using the ’go’ command.

       reset A batch can be cleared using the ’reset’ command.

       list tables
              The list tables command will display a list of available  tables
              in  this  database,  similar  to  the  mdb-tables utility on the
              command line.

       describe table <table>
              Will display the column information for the specified table.

       quit   Will exit the tool.

SQL LANGUAGE

       The currently implemented SQL subset is quite  small,  supporting  only
       single  table  queries,  no  aggregates,  and limited support for WHERE
       clauses. Here is a brief synopsis of the supported language.

       select:
              SELECT [* | <column list>] FROM <table> WHERE <where clause>

       column list:
              <column> [, <column list>]

       where clause:
              <column> <operator> <literal> [AND <where clause>]

       operator:
              =, =>, =<, <>, like, <, >

       literal:
              integers, floating point numbers, or string  literal  in  single
              quotes

NOTES

       When  passing a file (-i) or piping output to mdb-sql the final ’go’ is
       optional. This allow constructs like

       echo "Select * from Table1" | mdb-sql mydb.mdb

       to work correctly.

       The -i command can be passed the string ’stdin’ to test  entering  text
       as if using a pipe.

HISTORY

       mdb-sql first appeared in MDB Tools 0.3

AUTHORS

       The mdb-sql utility was written by Brian Bruns

BUGS

       The  supported  SQL  syntax  is  a very limited subset and deficient in
       several ways.