How to Install MyCLI on Linux (CentOS, Debian, Fedora, and Ubuntu)

MyCLI is a command line interface for MySQL, MariaDB, and Percona with auto-completion and syntax highlighting. The auto-completion will help you write queries faster and with ease. The REPL (Read, Eval, Print, Loop) will pop up a suggestion menu as soon as you start typing. The suggestions are context sensitive based on the position of the cursor. eg: Only tables are suggested after the FROM keyword, only column names are suggested after the WHERE clause.

MyCLI Features

• Auto-completion as you type for SQL keywords as well as tables, views, and columns in the database.
• Syntax highlighting of input while typing.
• Support for multiline queries.
• Allows you to save your favorite queries.
• Prints tabular data in an appealing way.
• Support for SSL connections.
• Smart-completion (enabled by default) will suggest context-sensitive completion.
• Log every query and its results to a file.

How to Install MyCLI for MySQL and MariaDB in Linux

On Debian/Ubuntu distributions, you can easily install the MyCLI package using the apt command.

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install mycli

Fedora has a package available for MyCLI. Install it using dnf command as shown below.

$ sudo dnf install mycli

For other Linux distributions such as RHEL/CentOS, you’ll need Python pip tool to install mycli. Start by installing pip with the commands below:

$ sudo yum install pip

Once pip is installed, you can install mycli as follows:

$ sudo pip install mycli

How to Use MyCLI for MySQL and MariaDB in Linux

Here is a small demo:

To view usage man page, use the command:

# mycli  --help
Usage: mycli [OPTIONS] [DATABASE]

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
  --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                 Version of mycli.
  -D, --database TEXT           Database to use.
  -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 config group with the specified suffix.
  --defaults-file PATH          Only read default options from the given 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.
  --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 query to the database.
  --help                        Show this message and exit.

That’s all! In this guide, we showed how to install and use mycli with simple commands in Linux. Do share your thought concerning this article via the feedback form below.