The osql utility allows you to enter Transact-SQL statements, system procedures, and script files. This utility uses ODBC to communicate with the server.
osql
[-?] |
[-L] |
[
{
{-U login_id [-P password]}
| –E
}
[-S server_name[\instance_name]] [-H wksta_name] [-d db_name]
[-l time_out] [-t time_out] [-h headers]
[-s col_separator] [-w column_width] [-a packet_size]
[-e] [-I] [-D data_source_name]
[-c cmd_end] [-q "query"] [-Q "query"]
[-n] [-m error_level] [-r {0 | 1}]
[-i input_file] [-o output_file] [-p]
[-b] [-u] [-R] [-O]
]
The osql utility is started directly from the operating system with the case-sensitive options listed here. After osql starts, it accepts SQL statements and sends them to SQL Server interactively. The results are formatted and displayed on the screen (stdout). Use QUIT or EXIT to exit from osql.
If you do not specify a user name when you start osql, SQL Server 2000 checks for the environment variables and uses those, for example, osqluser=(user) or osqlserver=(server). If no environment variables are set, the workstation user name is used. If you do not specify a server, the name of the workstation is used.
If neither the -U or -P options are used, SQL Server 2000 attempts to connect using Windows Authentication Mode. Authentication is based on the Microsoft Windows NT® account of the user running osql.
The osql utility uses the ODBC API. The utility uses the SQL Server ODBC driver default settings for the SQL Server 2000 SQL-92 connection options. For more information, see Effects of SQL-92 Options.
For information about where to find or how to run this utility, see Getting Started with Command Prompt Utilities.
In addition to Transact-SQL statements within osql, these commands are also available.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| GO | Executes all statements entered after the last GO. |
| RESET | Clears any statements you have entered. |
| ED | Calls the editor. |
| !! command | Executes an operating-system command. |
| QUIT or EXIT( ) | Exits from osql. |
| CTRL+C | Ends a query without exiting from osql. |
The command terminators GO (by default), RESET, ED, !!, EXIT, QUIT, and CTRL+C, are recognized only if they appear at the beginning of a line, immediately following the osql prompt. Anything entered on the same line after these keywords is disregarded by osql.
GO signals both the end of a batch and the execution of any cached Transact-SQL statements. When you press ENTER at the end of each input line, osql caches the statements on that line. When you press ENTER after typing GO, all of the currently cached statements are sent as a batch to SQL Server.
The current osql utility works as if there is an implied GO at the end of any script executed, therefore all statements in the script execute. Any statements after the last GO are not executed.
End a command by typing a line beginning with a command terminator. You can follow the command terminator with an integer to specify how many times the command should be run. For example, to execute this command 100 times, type:
SELECT x = 1
GO 100
The results are printed once at the end of execution. osql does not accept more than 1,000 characters per line. Large statements should be spread across multiple lines.
The user can call an editor on the current query buffer by typing ED as the first word on a line. The editor is defined in the EDITOR environment variable. The default editor is "edit." You can specify a different editor by setting the EDITOR environment variable. For example, to make the default editor Notepad, enter at the operating-system prompt:
SET EDITOR=notepad
Operating-system commands can also be executed by starting a line with two exclamation points (!!) followed by the command. The command recall facilities of Windows NT can be used to recall and modify osql statements. The existing query buffer can be cleared by typing RESET.
When running stored procedures, osql prints a blank line between each set of results in a batch. In addition, the "0 rows affected" message does not appear when it does not apply to the statement executed.
To use osql interactively, type the osql command (and any of the options) at a command prompt.
You can read in a file containing a query (such as Stores.qry) for execution by osql by typing a command similar to this:
osql /U alma /P /i stores.qry
The file must include a command terminator(s).
You can read in a file containing a query (such as Titles.qry) and direct the results to another file by typing a command similar to this:
osql /U alma /P /i titles.qry /o titles.res
When using osql interactively, you can read an operating-system file into the command buffer with :r file_name. Do not include a command terminator in the file; enter the terminator interactively after you have finished editing.
You can include comments in a Transact-SQL statement submitted to SQL Server by osql. Two types of commenting styles are allowed: -- and /*...*/.
For more information, see Using Comments.
You can use the result of a SELECT statement as the return value from osql. The first column of the first result row is converted to a 4-byte integer (long). MS-DOS passes the low byte to the parent process or operating system error level. Windows NT passes the entire 4-byte integer. The syntax is:
EXIT(query)
For example:
EXIT(SELECT @@ROWCOUNT)
EXIT(SELECT 5)
You can also include the EXIT parameter as part of a batch file. For example:
osql /Q "EXIT(SELECT COUNT(*) FROM '%1')"
The osql utility passes everything between the parentheses ( ) to the server exactly as entered. If a stored system procedure selects a set and returns a value, only the selection is returned. The EXIT( ) statement with nothing between the parentheses executes everything preceding it in the batch and then exits with no return value.
There are four EXIT formats:
Does not execute the batch; quits immediately and returns no value.
Executes the batch, and then quits and returns no value.
Executes the batch, including the query, and then quits after returning the results of the query.
If RAISERROR is used within an osql script and a state of 127 is raised, osql will quit and return the message ID back to the client. For example:
RAISERROR(50001, 10, 127)
This error will cause the osql script to end and the message ID 50001 will be returned to the client.
The return values -1 to -99 are reserved by SQL Server; osql defines these values:
Error encountered prior to selecting return value.
No rows found when selecting return value.
Conversion error occurred when selecting return value.
osql displays the money and smallmoney data types with two decimal places although SQL Server stores the value internally with four decimal places. Consider the example:
SELECT CAST(CAST(10.3496 AS money) AS decimal(6, 4))
This statement produces a result of 10.3496, which indicates that the value is stored with all decimal places intact.