How to Run MySQL and MariaDB Queries in the Linux Terminal

Updated: 22 October 2026 · Applies to: MariaDB 11.8 on Debian 13 and the MySQL 8.4 client, tested; the same options work on Ubuntu, AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux

To run a MySQL or MariaDB query straight from the Linux terminal, without opening the interactive shell, pass it to the client with -e (execute):

mysql -u root -p -e "SHOW DATABASES;"

The client asks for the password, prints the result and exits. On MariaDB servers the client is called mariadb; on Debian 13 mysql is a link to it, so both names work:

mariadb -e "SELECT VERSION();"

Output:

VERSION()
11.8.6-MariaDB-0+deb13u1 from Debian

Logging in: with or without a password

• On Debian and Ubuntu, the database root account is tied to the Linux root user (unix_socket on MariaDB, auth_socket on MySQL 8.4). Run the client as root or with sudo and leave out -u and -p.
• Every other account needs -u USER -p. The -p on its own makes the client ask for the password. Without it you get ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'deploy'@'localhost' (using password: NO).
• To open the interactive mysql> shell instead, leave out -e. Connecting to a remote server is covered in How to Connect to a MySQL Database from the Command Line (Local and Remote).

As root on Debian 13:

sudo mariadb -e "SHOW DATABASES;"

As a normal database user, naming the database to use:

mysql -u deploy -p shopdb -e "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM orders;"

Choose the output format

In a terminal, results come as a table. When you pipe or redirect them, the client switches to plain tab-separated columns, which suits other tools. The examples use a small orders table in a database called shopdb:

mysql shopdb -e "SELECT customer, total FROM orders;"

Output in a terminal:

+----------+--------+
| customer | total  |
+----------+--------+
| alice    |  49.90 |
| bob      |  15.00 |
| carol    | 120.50 |
+----------+--------+

The options that change this:

• -t (--table): always print a table, also into a file or pipe.
• -B (--batch): always print tab-separated columns.
• -N (--skip-column-names): leave out the header line.
• -E (--vertical): one line per column, handy for wide rows. Ending the query with \G instead of ; does the same.
• -s (--silent): quieter output; with one value it prints just the value.

Data only, no header, ready for a script:

mysql -N -B shopdb -e "SELECT customer, total FROM orders;"

Output (tab-separated):

alice	49.90
bob	15.00
carol	120.50

One record shown vertically:

mysql shopdb -e "SELECT * FROM orders WHERE id = 1\G"

Output:

*************************** 1. row ***************************
      id: 1
customer: alice
   total: 49.90
 created: 2026-10-01

Use query results in shell scripts

Store a single value in a variable:

COUNT=$(mysql -N -B shopdb -e "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM orders;")
echo "Orders: $COUNT"

Output:

Orders: 3

Loop over rows (the columns are separated by a tab):

mysql -N -B shopdb -e "SELECT customer, total FROM orders;" | while IFS=$'\t' read -r name total; do
  echo "$name spent $total"
done

Output:

alice spent 49.90
bob spent 15.00
carol spent 120.50

A quick comma-separated export, fine for simple data without commas or tabs inside the values:

mysql -N -B shopdb -e "SELECT * FROM orders;" | tr '\t' ',' > orders.csv

Save the output to a file

Redirect it, or use tee to see it on screen and save it at the same time:

mysql shopdb -e "SELECT * FROM orders;" | tee orders.txt

Add -t if you want the file to keep the table layout.

Run several statements or a .sql file

Separate statements with ; inside one -e string, or use a here document so you can write SQL over several lines without escaping quotes:

mysql shopdb <<'SQL'
UPDATE orders SET total = 55.00 WHERE customer = 'alice';
SELECT customer, total FROM orders WHERE customer = 'alice';
SQL

Output:

customer	total
alice	55.00

For longer queries, save them in a file, for example report.sql:

SELECT customer, total
FROM orders
WHERE total > 20
ORDER BY total DESC;

Then feed the file to the client:

mysql shopdb < report.sql

By default the client stops at the first error in a file. --force makes it carry on with the next statement. It has no effect with -e, which always stops at the first error.

mysql --force shopdb < report.sql

For whole database dumps, see Import and Export a MySQL or MariaDB Database (Command Line).

Keep the password off the command line

-pPASSWORD (no space after -p) works, but the password ends up in your shell history, and the MySQL manual calls a password on the command line insecure. The MySQL 8.4 client warns about it every time: mysql: [Warning] Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure. For scripts, put the login in an option file that only you can read:

[client]
user=deploy
password=YOUR_PASSWORD

Save it as ~/.my.cnf (read automatically) or in another file, and lock it down:

chmod 600 ~/.my.cnf

For a file in another place, name it with --defaults-extra-file. It must be the first option: the MySQL 8.4 client refused it later in the line with unknown variable 'defaults-extra-file=...'.

mysql --defaults-extra-file=/root/deploy.cnf -N shopdb -e "SELECT CURRENT_USER();"

Output:

deploy@localhost

Common errors

• ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local server through socket '/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (MySQL says "local MySQL server"): the database server is not running on this machine. Start it with systemctl, or add -h and the server's address if the database is elsewhere. ERROR 2003 is the same problem over the network.
• ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied: wrong user or password, or the user has no rights on that database. See How to grant user access to a database in MySQL command line?
• ERROR 1064 (42000) near a table name: the name is a reserved word, such as order. Put it in backticks, and wrap the whole query in single quotes so the shell leaves the backticks alone.

The reserved-word fix as a command:

mysql shopdb -e 'SELECT * FROM `order`;'

On any error the client exits with status 1, so a script can stop with set -e or check $?.

Official documentation: MariaDB command-line client and mysql client options.