How to install MySQL CLI (mycli) on Linux

MySQL is a powerful and widely used relational database management system. While many users interact with their databases using graphical user interfaces (GUIs), command-line interfaces (CLIs) can offer a more powerful and flexible way to manage MySQL databases. In this article, we will explore mycli, a popular CLI tool for MySQL, and how it can be used to perform a variety of database management tasks on a Linux system.

What is mycli?

mycli is a Python-based command-line interface (CLI) for MySQL that provides enhanced features and usability over the default MySQL CLI tool. mycli offers an intuitive, color-coded interface that provides syntax highlighting, auto-completion, and other usability enhancements that can help users navigate and manage their MySQL databases more efficiently. Some of the features offered by mycli include:

• Syntax highlighting: mycli highlights SQL syntax and keywords, making it easier to read and write SQL statements.
• Auto-completion: mycli can suggest and complete SQL statements based on user input, reducing the likelihood of typos and syntax errors.
• Database introspection: mycli can inspect the database schema and provide useful information about tables, columns, and indexes.
• Improved pager: mycli can display query results in a more user-friendly format, including support for horizontal scrolling and filtering.
• Customizable key bindings: mycli allows users to customize the key bindings and shortcuts for their workflow.

Using mycli To use mycli, you will need to have a MySQL instance running and accessible from your Linux system. Once you have a MySQL instance set up, you can launch mycli by simply typing “mycli” in the terminal. mycli will attempt to connect to the MySQL instance using default settings, but you can specify the connection details as command-line arguments if necessary.

MySQL, MariaDB, and Percona are all supported by mycli, along with the following features:

• Automatically completes commands, and cases sensitively, as soon as we begin typing.
• Prints tabular data in an attractive manner.
  
• SSL connection support.
  
• Highlighting of syntax.
  
• Multi-theme support.
• It is able to handle Unicode input and output.

So let’s start the installation,

Step 1: Set up a VPSie cloud server 

Start by logging into your VPSie account Make a new server, There are several Linux distributions available on vpsie and after creating one use the credentials that we emailed you to connect to your Cloud Server via SSH.

Step 2: Install MySQL CLI – mycli

Mycli packages are available for Debian/Ubuntu and Fedora within their respective system package manager repositories, using the following commands to install them,

Debian/Ubuntu

# sudo apt-get install mycli

Fedora

# sudo dnf install mycli

RedHat & CentOS do not have rpm packages, and we will need to use pip to do so. Installing mycli with pip is possible on Ubuntu, Fedora, or CentOS/RHEL.

RHEL/CentOS

Install Pip on your system by running the following command.

# sudo yum install python-pip

After installing Pip, follow these instructions to install MyCLI.

# sudo pip install mycli

Use the following command to find your MyCLI version.Use the following command to find your MyCLI version,

# mycli --version
Version: 1.20.1

To learn more, roam around. Enter this command,

  # mycli --help

  Usage: mycli [OPTIONS] [DATABASE]

  A MySQL terminal client with auto-completion and syntax highlighting.

Options:
  -h, --host TEXT               Host address of the database.
  -P, --port INTEGER            Port number to use for connection. Honors
                                $MYSQL_TCP_PORT.
  -u, --user TEXT               User name to connect to the database.
  -S, --socket TEXT             The socket file to use for connection.
  -p, --password TEXT           Password to connect to the database.
  --pass TEXT                   Password to connect to the database.
  --ssh-user TEXT               User name to connect to ssh server.
  --ssh-host TEXT               Host name to connect to ssh server.
  --ssh-port INTEGER            Port to connect to ssh server.
  --ssh-password TEXT           Password to connect to ssh server.
  --ssh-key-filename TEXT       Private key filename (identify file) for the
                                ssh connection.
  --ssl-ca PATH                 CA file in PEM format.
  --ssl-capath TEXT             CA directory.
  --ssl-cert PATH               X509 cert in PEM format.
  --ssl-key PATH                X509 key in PEM format.
  --ssl-cipher TEXT             SSL cipher to use.
  --ssl-verify-server-cert      Verify server's "Common Name" in its cert
                                against hostname used when connecting. This
                                option is disabled by default.
  -V, --version                 Output mycli's version.
  -v, --verbose                 Verbose output.
  -D, --database TEXT           Database to use.
  -d, --dsn TEXT                Use DSN configured into the [alias_dsn]
                                section of myclirc file.
  --list-dsn                    list of DSN configured into the [alias_dsn]
                                section of myclirc file.
  -R, --prompt TEXT             Prompt format (Default: "\t \u@\h:\d> ").
  -l, --logfile FILENAME        Log every query and its results to a file.
  --defaults-group-suffix TEXT  Read MySQL config groups with the specified
                                suffix.
  --defaults-file PATH          Only read MySQL options from the given file.
  --myclirc PATH                Location of myclirc file.
  --auto-vertical-output        Automatically switch to vertical output mode
                                if the result is wider than the terminal
                                width.
  -t, --table                   Display batch output in table format.
  --csv                         Display batch output in CSV format.
  --warn / --no-warn            Warn before running a destructive query.
  --local-infile BOOLEAN        Enable/disable LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE.
  --login-path TEXT             Read this path from the login file.
  -e, --execute TEXT            Execute command and quit.
  --help                        Show this message and exit.

Thanks for reading! I hope it was informative for you! 

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