Run DB-Access in interactive mode without menus

If you do not want to use the menus and do not have a prepared SQL file, use your keyboard or standard input device to enter SQL statements from the command line.

When you start DB-Access without a menu argument and with a hyphen as the final argument, DB-Access processes commands from the standard input device (on UNIX™) or the keyboard (on Windows™). DB-Access reads what you type until you indicate that the input is completed. Then DB-Access processes your input and writes the results to the standard output device (on UNIX™), or the command window (on Windows™).

DB-Access reads and runs SQL statements from the terminal keyboard interactively. While DB-Access runs interactively, the greater than (>) prompt marks the line where you type your next SQL statement.

When you type a semicolon (;) to end a single SQL statement, DB-Access processes that statement. When you press CTRL-D to end the interactive session, DB-Access stops running. The following example shows user input and results in an interactive session:

dbaccess - -
>database stores_demo;

Database selected.

>select count(*) from systables;

(count(*))

     21

1 row(s) retrieved.

>^D

dbaccess - -
>database stores_demo;

Database selected.

>select count(*) from systables;

(count(*))

     21

1 row(s) retrieved.

>^D

Batch command input (UNIX™)

You can use an inline shell script to supply one or more SQL statements. For example, you can use the UNIX™ C, Bourne, or Korn shell with inline standard input files:

dbaccess mystores- <<EOT!
select avg(customer_num) from customer
where fname matches '[A-G]*';
EOT!

You can use a pipe to supply SQL statements, as in this UNIX™ example:

echo 'select count(*) from systables' | dbaccess mystores

DB-Access interprets any line that begins with an exclamation mark (!) as a shell command. You can mix shell escape lines with SQL statements and put them in SQL statements, as follows:

dbaccess mystores -
>select
!echo hello
>hello
count(*) from systables;
>
(count(*))

     21

1 row(s) retrieved.
>

View and rerun DB-Access commands

You can view and rerun DB-Access commands that you ran from the command line during the current session.

To view the previous commands, run the dbaccess -history command. In the following example, the command history shows three previous commands:

dbaccess -history - -
1> create database sales_demo;

Database created.

2> create table customer (
2>        customer_code integer,
2>        customer_name char(31),
2>        company_name char(20));

Table created.

3> insert into customer values (102, "Carole Sadler", "Sports Spot");

1 row(s) inserted.

4> history;

1   create database sales_demo
2   create table customer (
           customer_code integer,
           customer_name char(31),
           company_name char(20))
3   insert into customer values (102, "Carole Sadler", "Sports Spot")

You can rerun the third command by running the run 3 command:


4> run 3;

1 row(s) inserted.