If no database is given, a list of database names is shown.

If no table is given, all matching tables in the database are shown.

If no column is given, all matching columns and column types in the table are shown.

--help, -?

Display a help message and exit.

--bind-address=ip_address

On a computer having multiple network interfaces, use this option to select which interface to use for connecting to the MySQL server.

--character-sets-dir=dir_name

The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 12.15, “Character Set Configuration”.

--compress, -C

Compress all information sent between the client and the server if possible. See Section 6.2.8, “Connection Compression Control”.

This option is deprecated. Expect it to be removed in a future version of MySQL. See Configuring Legacy Connection Compression.

--compression-algorithms=value

The permitted compression algorithms for connections to the server. The available algorithms are the same as for the protocol_compression_algorithms system variable. The default value is uncompressed.

For more information, see Section 6.2.8, “Connection Compression Control”.

--count

Show the number of rows per table. This can be slow for non-MyISAM tables.

--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.

This option is available only if MySQL was built using WITH_DEBUG. MySQL release binaries provided by Oracle are not built using this option.

--debug-check

Print some debugging information when the program exits.

This option is available only if MySQL was built using WITH_DEBUG. MySQL release binaries provided by Oracle are not built using this option.

--debug-info

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

This option is available only if MySQL was built using WITH_DEBUG. MySQL release binaries provided by Oracle are not built using this option.

--default-character-set=charset_name

Use charset_name as the default character set. See Section 12.15, “Character Set Configuration”.

--default-auth=plugin

A hint about which client-side authentication plugin to use. See Section 8.2.17, “Pluggable Authentication”.

--defaults-extra-file=file_name

Read this option file after the global option file but (on Unix) before the user option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. If file_name is not an absolute path name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--defaults-file=file_name

Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. If file_name is not an absolute path name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.

Exception: Even with --defaults-file, client programs read .mylogin.cnf.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--defaults-group-suffix=str

Read not only the usual option groups, but also groups with the usual names and a suffix of str. For example, mysqlshow normally reads the [client] and [mysqlshow] groups. If this option is given as --defaults-group-suffix=_other, mysqlshow also reads the [client_other] and [mysqlshow_other] groups.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--enable-cleartext-plugin

Enable the mysql_clear_password cleartext authentication plugin. (See Section 8.4.1.4, “Client-Side Cleartext Pluggable Authentication”.)

--get-server-public-key

Request from the server the RSA public key that it uses for key pair-based password exchange. This option applies to clients that connect to the server using an account that authenticates with the caching_sha2_password authentication plugin. For connections by such accounts, the server does not send the public key to the client unless requested. The option is ignored for accounts that do not authenticate with that plugin. It is also ignored if RSA-based password exchange is not needed, as is the case when the client connects to the server using a secure connection.

If --server-public-key-path=file_name is given and specifies a valid public key file, it takes precedence over --get-server-public-key.

For information about the caching_sha2_password plugin, see Section 8.4.1.2, “Caching SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication”.

--host=host_name, -h host_name

Connect to the MySQL server on the given host.

--keys, -k

Show table indexes.

--login-path=name

Read options from the named login path in the .mylogin.cnf login path file. A “login path” is an option group containing options that specify which MySQL server to connect to and which account to authenticate as. To create or modify a login path file, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 6.6.7, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--no-login-paths

Skips reading options from the login path file.

See --login-path for related information.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--no-defaults

Do not read any option files. If program startup fails due to reading unknown options from an option file, --no-defaults can be used to prevent them from being read.

The exception is that the .mylogin.cnf file is read in all cases, if it exists. This permits passwords to be specified in a safer way than on the command line even when --no-defaults is used. To create .mylogin.cnf, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 6.6.7, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--password[=password], -p[password]

The password of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The password value is optional. If not given, mysqlshow prompts for one. If given, there must be no space between --password= or -p and the password following it. If no password option is specified, the default is to send no password.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. To avoid giving the password on the command line, use an option file. See Section 8.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”.

To explicitly specify that there is no password and that mysqlshow should not prompt for one, use the --skip-password option.

--password1[=pass_val]

The password for multifactor authentication factor 1 of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The password value is optional. If not given, mysqlshow prompts for one. If given, there must be no space between --password1= and the password following it. If no password option is specified, the default is to send no password.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. To avoid giving the password on the command line, use an option file. See Section 8.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”.

To explicitly specify that there is no password and that mysqlshow should not prompt for one, use the --skip-password1 option.

--password1 and --password are synonymous, as are --skip-password1 and --skip-password.

--password2[=pass_val]

The password for multifactor authentication factor 2 of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The semantics of this option are similar to the semantics for --password1; see the description of that option for details.

--password3[=pass_val]

The password for multifactor authentication factor 3 of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The semantics of this option are similar to the semantics for --password1; see the description of that option for details.

--pipe, -W

On Windows, connect to the server using a named pipe. This option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

--plugin-dir=dir_name

The directory in which to look for plugins. Specify this option if the --default-auth option is used to specify an authentication plugin but mysqlshow does not find it. See Section 8.2.17, “Pluggable Authentication”.

--port=port_num, -P port_num

For TCP/IP connections, the port number to use.

--print-defaults

Print the program name and all options that it gets from option files.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

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

The transport protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when the other connection parameters normally result in use of a protocol other than the one you want. For details on the permissible values, see Section 6.2.7, “Connection Transport Protocols”.

--server-public-key-path=file_name

The path name to a file in PEM format containing a client-side copy of the public key required by the server for RSA key pair-based password exchange. This option applies to clients that authenticate with the sha256_password (deprecated) or caching_sha2_password authentication plugin. This option is ignored for accounts that do not authenticate with one of those plugins. It is also ignored if RSA-based password exchange is not used, as is the case when the client connects to the server using a secure connection.

If --server-public-key-path=file_name is given and specifies a valid public key file, it takes precedence over --get-server-public-key.

For sha256_password (deprecated), this option applies only if MySQL was built using OpenSSL.

For information about the sha256_password and caching_sha2_password plugins, see Section 8.4.1.3, “SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication”, and Section 8.4.1.2, “Caching SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication”.

--shared-memory-base-name=name

On Windows, the shared-memory name to use for connections made using shared memory to a local server. The default value is MYSQL. The shared-memory name is case-sensitive.

This option applies only if the server was started with the shared_memory system variable enabled to support shared-memory connections.

--show-table-type, -t

Show a column indicating the table type, as in SHOW FULL TABLES. The type is BASE TABLE or VIEW.

--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.

On Windows, this option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

--ssl*

Options that begin with --ssl specify whether to connect to the server using encryption and indicate where to find SSL keys and certificates. See Command Options for Encrypted Connections.

--ssl-fips-mode={OFF|ON|STRICT}

Controls whether to enable FIPS mode on the client side. The --ssl-fips-mode option differs from other --ssl-xxx options in that it is not used to establish encrypted connections, but rather to affect which cryptographic operations to permit. See Section 8.8, “FIPS Support”.

These --ssl-fips-mode values are permitted:

This option is deprecated. Expect it to be removed in a future version of MySQL.

--status, -i

Display extra information about each table.

--tls-ciphersuites=ciphersuite_list

The permissible ciphersuites for encrypted connections that use TLSv1.3. The value is a list of one or more colon-separated ciphersuite names. The ciphersuites that can be named for this option depend on the SSL library used to compile MySQL. For details, see Section 8.3.2, “Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers”.

--tls-sni-servername=server_name

When specified, the name is passed to the libmysqlclient C API library using the MYSQL_OPT_TLS_SNI_SERVERNAME option of mysql_options(). The server name is not case-sensitive. To show which server name the client specified for the current session, if any, check the Tls_sni_server_name status variable.

Server Name Indication (SNI) is an extension to the TLS protocol (OpenSSL must be compiled using TLS extensions for this option to function). The MySQL implementation of SNI represents the client-side only.

--tls-version=protocol_list

The permissible TLS protocols for encrypted connections. The value is a list of one or more comma-separated protocol names. The protocols that can be named for this option depend on the SSL library used to compile MySQL. For details, see Section 8.3.2, “Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers”.

--user=user_name, -u user_name

The user name of the MySQL account to use for connecting to the server.

--verbose, -v

Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does. This option can be used multiple times to increase the amount of information.

--version, -V

Display version information and exit.

--zstd-compression-level=level

The compression level to use for connections to the server that use the zstd compression algorithm. The permitted levels are from 1 to 22, with larger values indicating increasing levels of compression. The default zstd compression level is 3. The compression level setting has no effect on connections that do not use zstd compression.

For more information, see Section 6.2.8, “Connection Compression Control”.