shell> mysqlimport [options] db_name textfile1 [textfile2 ...]

Display a help message and exit.

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

The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 10.14, “Character Set Configuration”.

This option takes a list of comma-separated column names as its value. The order of the column names indicates how to match data file columns with table columns.

Compress all information sent between the client and the server if both support compression.

Write a debugging log. A typical debug_options string is d:t:o,file_name. The default is d:t:o.

Print some debugging information when the program exits.

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

Use charset_name as the default character set. See Section 10.14, “Character Set Configuration”.

A hint about the client-side authentication plugin to use. See Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

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. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.7, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name.

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

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.7, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

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

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.7, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

Empty the table before importing the text file.

Enable the mysql_clear_password cleartext authentication plugin. (See Section 6.4.1.6, “Client-Side Cleartext Pluggable Authentication”.)

This option was added in MySQL 5.7.10.

These options have the same meaning as the corresponding clauses for LOAD DATA. See Section 13.2.6, “LOAD DATA Syntax”.

Ignore errors. For example, if a table for a text file does not exist, continue processing any remaining files. Without --force, mysqlimport exits if a table does not exist.

Request from the server the public key required for RSA key pair-based password exchange. This option applies to clients that that authenticate with the caching_sha2_password authentication plugin. For that plugin, the server does not send the public key unless requested. This option is ignored for accounts that do not authenticate with that plugin. 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 information about the caching_sha2_password plugin, see Section 6.4.1.5, “Caching SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication”.

The --get-server-public-key option was added in MySQL 5.7.23.

Import data to the MySQL server on the given host. The default host is localhost.

See the description for the --replace option.

Ignore the first N lines of the data file.

This option has the same meaning as the corresponding clause for LOAD DATA. For example, to import Windows files that have lines terminated with carriage return/linefeed pairs, use --lines-terminated-by="\r\n". (You might have to double the backslashes, depending on the escaping conventions of your command interpreter.) See Section 13.2.6, “LOAD DATA Syntax”.

By default, files are read by the server on the server host. With this option, mysqlimport reads input files locally on the client host. Enabling local data loading also requires that the server permits it; see Section 6.1.6, “Security Issues with LOAD DATA LOCAL”

Lock all tables for writing before processing any text files. This ensures that all tables are synchronized on the server.

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 mysql_config_editor(1).

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.7, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

Use LOW_PRIORITY when loading the table. This affects only storage engines that use only table-level locking (such as MyISAM, MEMORY, and MERGE).

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, if it exists, is read in all cases. This permits passwords to be specified in a safer way than on the command line even when --no-defaults is used. (.mylogin.cnf is created by the mysql_config_editor utility. See mysql_config_editor(1).)

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.7, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

The password to use when connecting to the server. If you use the short option form (-p), you cannot have a space between the option and the password. If you omit the password value following the --password or -p option on the command line, mysqlimport prompts for one.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. See Section 6.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”. You can use an option file to avoid giving the password on the command line.

On Windows, connect to the server using a named pipe. This option applies only if the server supports named-pipe connections.

The directory in which to look for plugins. Specify this option if the --default-auth option is used to specify an authentication plugin but mysqlimport does not find it. See Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

The TCP/IP port number to use for the connection.

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 4.2.7, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

The connection protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when the other connection parameters normally would cause a protocol to be used other than the one you want. For details on the permissible values, see Section 4.2.2, “Connecting to the MySQL Server”.

The --replace and --ignore options control handling of input rows that duplicate existing rows on unique key values. If you specify --replace, new rows replace existing rows that have the same unique key value. If you specify --ignore, input rows that duplicate an existing row on a unique key value are skipped. If you do not specify either option, an error occurs when a duplicate key value is found, and the rest of the text file is ignored.

Do not send passwords to the server in old (pre-4.1) format. This prevents connections except for servers that use the newer password format.

As of MySQL 5.7.5, this option is deprecated and will be removed in a future MySQL release. It is always enabled and attempting to disable it (--skip-secure-auth, --secure-auth=0) produces an error. Before MySQL 5.7.5, this option is enabled by default but can be disabled.

The path name to a file containing a client-side copy of the public key required by the server for RSA key pair-based password exchange. The file must be in PEM format. This option applies to clients that authenticate with the sha256_password 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, this option applies only if MySQL was built using OpenSSL.

For information about the sha256_password and caching_sha2_password plugins, see Section 6.4.1.4, “SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication”, and Section 6.4.1.5, “Caching SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication”.

The --server-public-key-path option was added in MySQL 5.7.23.

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.

The server must be started with the --shared-memory option to enable shared-memory connections.

Silent mode. Produce output only when errors occur.

For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the name of the named pipe to use.

Options that begin with --ssl specify whether to connect to the server using SSL and indicate where to find SSL keys and certificates. See Section 6.3.2, “Command Options for Encrypted Connections”.

The protocols the client permits 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 6.3.6, “Encrypted Connection Protocols and Ciphers”.

This option was added in MySQL 5.7.10.

The MySQL user name to use when connecting to the server.

Load files in parallel using N threads.

Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does.

Display version information and exit.

shell> mysql -e 'CREATE TABLE imptest(id INT, n VARCHAR(30))' test
shell> ed
a
100     Max Sydow
101     Count Dracula
.
w imptest.txt
32
q
shell> od -c imptest.txt
0000000   1   0   0  \t   M   a   x       S   y   d   o   w  \n   1   0
0000020   1  \t   C   o   u   n   t       D   r   a   c   u   l   a  \n
0000040
shell> mysqlimport --local test imptest.txt
test.imptest: Records: 2  Deleted: 0  Skipped: 0  Warnings: 0
shell> mysql -e 'SELECT * FROM imptest' test
+------+---------------+
| id   | n             |
+------+---------------+
|  100 | Max Sydow     |
|  101 | Count Dracula |
+------+---------------+