Wiretalk SQL Command Line

Most database vendors provide their own SQL command line tools, but they vary significantly in features and usage. To simplify working with multiple databases, Wirekite provides Wiretalk - a unified SQL command line tool that works consistently across all supported databases. Wiretalk uses the same DSN/URL connection files as other Wirekite tools. If you can connect to a database using Wiretalk, the same connection file will work with other Wirekite components.

Supported Databases

Wiretalk supports all Wirekite source and target databases:

Database	Type Flag
PostgreSQL	`postgres` or `postgresql`
MySQL	`mysql`
MariaDB	`mariadb`
SQL Server	`sqlserver`
Oracle	`oracle`
Snowflake	`snowflake`
Firebolt	`firebolt`
Google BigQuery	`bigquery`
Google Cloud Spanner	`spanner`
Databricks	`databricks`
SingleStore	`singlestore`

Command Line Usage

wiretalk -d <dbtype> -c <connection-file>

Or with a direct connection string:

wiretalk -d <dbtype> -dsn "<connection-string>"

Required Flags

Flag	Description
`-d`	Database type (required) - see supported databases above
`-c`	Path to file containing the connection string
`-dsn`	Connection string provided directly (alternative to `-c`)

Note: Either -c or -dsn must be provided.

Optional Flags

Flag	Description
`-quiet`	Suppress prompts, print only row numbers and column names
`-silent`	Print only query results (no metadata)
`-csv`	Output results in CSV format with headers
`-json`	Output per-statement JSON results (for programmatic integration)
`-credfile <path>`	Path to a GCP service account JSON file. Required for Spanner and BigQuery connections
`-ignore-errors`	Continue executing remaining SQL statements even if one fails. Without this flag, execution stops on the first error

Interactive Mode

When run interactively (connected to a terminal), Wiretalk provides a prompt-based interface with command history.

Example Session

$ wiretalk -d firebolt -c fi_url.txt
firebolt instance connect successful
=> create table example (a int, b int);
ok
=> insert into example values (1,1),(2,2),(3,3);
ok
=> select * from example;
1: a: 1
1: b: 1
2: a: 2
2: b: 2
3: a: 3
3: b: 3
=> \d csv
display type set to csv
=> select * from example;
'a','b'
'1','1'
'2','2'
'3','3'
=> <ctrl>-D
bye

Escape Commands

Wiretalk provides several escape commands for controlling output and behavior:

Command	Description
`\h`	Display help information
`\i <filename>`	Load and execute SQL statements from a file
`\o [filename]`	Redirect output to a file; `\o` alone disables file output
`\d csv\|list`	Change display format (default: `list`)
`\p <num>`	Set number of rows per page; `0` disables paging
`\r true\|false`	Show or hide row numbers
`\t`	Toggle elapsed time display
`\D`	Print current display settings
`\c <enc> <sep> <row> <hdr>`	Configure CSV format parameters

CSV Format Configuration

The \c command configures CSV output format with four parameters:

\c <value-enclose> <column-separator> <row-terminator> <show-header>

Available separator tokens:

QUOTE - single quote (')
DOUBLEQUOTE - double quote (")
COMMA - comma (,)
SPACE - space character
TAB - tab character
PIPE - pipe (|)
NONE - no character
NEWLINE - newline (\n)
CRLF - carriage return + newline (\r\n)
Any other literal character

Example:

=> \c DOUBLEQUOTE COMMA NEWLINE true

Non-Interactive Mode

Wiretalk can execute SQL from files or stdin in non-interactive mode:

# From a file
wiretalk -d postgres -c pg_conn.txt < schema.sql

# Piped input
cat queries.sql | wiretalk -d mysql -c mysql_conn.txt -quiet

JSON Output Mode

For programmatic integration, use -json to get structured output:

echo "CREATE TABLE test (id INT); INSERT INTO test VALUES (1);" | wiretalk -d postgres -c pg_conn.txt -json

Output:

{"index":1,"sql":"CREATE TABLE test (id INT)","status":"OK","lineNum":1}
{"index":2,"sql":"INSERT INTO test VALUES (1)","status":"OK","lineNum":1}

Each statement produces a JSON object with:

index - statement number (1-based)
sql - the executed SQL
status - OK or FAILED
error - error message (only if status is FAILED)
lineNum - line number in input

Database-Specific Features

Oracle PL/SQL Blocks

Oracle PL/SQL blocks (starting with BEGIN or DECLARE) are terminated by a / on its own line:

BEGIN
  DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Hello World');
END;
/

Google Cloud Spanner Batch DDL

Spanner requires DDL statements to be batched together. Wiretalk supports this with special commands:

START BATCH DDL;
CREATE TABLE users (id INT64, name STRING(100)) PRIMARY KEY (id);
CREATE TABLE orders (id INT64, user_id INT64) PRIMARY KEY (id);
RUN BATCH;

Notes

Command history is saved to ~/.linerhistory
Multi-line SQL statements are supported - statements are executed when a semicolon is encountered
For PostgreSQL, sslmode=disable is automatically added if not specified
SQL Server PRINT output from stored procedures is captured and displayed

Introduction

Datatype Matrices

Source Guides

Data Movers

Target Guides

Queues

Running Wirekite

Tools

API/CLI

Wiretalk SQL Command Line

Supported Databases

Command Line Usage

Required Flags

Optional Flags

Interactive Mode

Example Session

Escape Commands

CSV Format Configuration

Non-Interactive Mode

JSON Output Mode

Database-Specific Features

Oracle PL/SQL Blocks

Google Cloud Spanner Batch DDL

Notes

​Supported Databases

​Command Line Usage

​Required Flags

​Optional Flags

​Interactive Mode

​Example Session

​Escape Commands

​CSV Format Configuration

​Non-Interactive Mode

​JSON Output Mode

​Database-Specific Features

​Oracle PL/SQL Blocks

​Google Cloud Spanner Batch DDL

​Notes

Supported Databases

Command Line Usage

Required Flags

Optional Flags

Interactive Mode

Example Session

Escape Commands

CSV Format Configuration

Non-Interactive Mode

JSON Output Mode

Database-Specific Features

Oracle PL/SQL Blocks

Google Cloud Spanner Batch DDL

Notes