ClickHouse/docs/en/interfaces/cli.md

---
slug: /en/interfaces/cli
sidebar_position: 17
sidebar_label: Command-Line Client
title: Command-Line Client
---
import ConnectionDetails from '@site/docs/en/_snippets/_gather_your_details_native.md';

## clickhouse-client

ClickHouse provides a native command-line client: `clickhouse-client`. The client supports command-line options and configuration files. For more information, see [Configuring](#interfaces_cli_configuration).

[Install](../getting-started/install.md) it from the `clickhouse-client` package and run it with the command `clickhouse-client`.

``` bash
$ clickhouse-client
ClickHouse client version 20.13.1.5273 (official build).
Connecting to localhost:9000 as user default.
Connected to ClickHouse server version 20.13.1 revision 54442.

:)
```

Different client and server versions are compatible with one another, but some features may not be available in older clients. We recommend using the same version of the client as the server app. When you try to use a client of the older version, then the server, `clickhouse-client` displays the message:

```response
ClickHouse client version is older than ClickHouse server.
It may lack support for new features.
```

## Usage {#cli_usage}

The client can be used in interactive and non-interactive (batch) mode. 

### Gather your connection details
<ConnectionDetails />

### Interactive

To connect to your ClickHouse Cloud service, or any ClickHouse server using TLS and passwords, interactively use `--secure`, port 9440, and provide your username and password:

```bash
clickhouse-client --host <HOSTNAME> \
                  --secure \
                  --port 9440 \
                  --user <USERNAME> \
                  --password <PASSWORD>
```

To connect to a self-managed ClickHouse server you will need the details for that server.  Whether or not TLS is used, port numbers, and passwords are all configurable.  Use the above example for ClickHouse Cloud as a starting point.


### Batch

To use batch mode, specify the ‘query’ parameter, or send data to ‘stdin’ (it verifies that ‘stdin’ is not a terminal), or both. Similar to the HTTP interface, when using the ‘query’ parameter and sending data to ‘stdin’, the request is a concatenation of the ‘query’ parameter, a line feed, and the data in ‘stdin’. This is convenient for large INSERT queries.

Examples of using the client to insert data:

#### Inserting a CSV file into a remote ClickHouse service

This example is appropriate for ClickHouse Cloud, or any ClickHouse server using TLS and a password. In this example a sample dataset CSV file, `cell_towers.csv` is inserted into an existing table `cell_towers` in the `default` database:

```bash
clickhouse-client --host HOSTNAME.clickhouse.cloud \
  --secure \
  --port 9440 \
  --user default \
  --password PASSWORD \
  --query "INSERT INTO cell_towers FORMAT CSVWithNames" \
  < cell_towers.csv
```

:::note
To concentrate on the query syntax, the rest of the examples leave off the connection details (`--host`, `--port`, etc.).  Add them in when you try the commands.
:::

#### Three different ways of inserting data

``` bash
echo -ne "1, 'some text', '2016-08-14 00:00:00'\n2, 'some more text', '2016-08-14 00:00:01'" | \
  clickhouse-client --database=test --query="INSERT INTO test FORMAT CSV";
```

```bash
cat <<_EOF | clickhouse-client --database=test --query="INSERT INTO test FORMAT CSV";
3, 'some text', '2016-08-14 00:00:00'
4, 'some more text', '2016-08-14 00:00:01'
_EOF
```

```bash
cat file.csv | clickhouse-client --database=test --query="INSERT INTO test FORMAT CSV";
```

### Notes

In batch mode, the default data format is TabSeparated. You can set the format in the FORMAT clause of the query.

By default, you can only process a single query in batch mode. To make multiple queries from a “script,” use the `--multiquery` parameter. This works for all queries except INSERT. Query results are output consecutively without additional separators. Similarly, to process a large number of queries, you can run ‘clickhouse-client’ for each query. Note that it may take tens of milliseconds to launch the ‘clickhouse-client’ program.

In interactive mode, you get a command line where you can enter queries.

If ‘multiline’ is not specified (the default): To run the query, press Enter. The semicolon is not necessary at the end of the query. To enter a multiline query, enter a backslash `\` before the line feed. After you press Enter, you will be asked to enter the next line of the query.

If multiline is specified: To run a query, end it with a semicolon and press Enter. If the semicolon was omitted at the end of the entered line, you will be asked to enter the next line of the query.

Only a single query is run, so everything after the semicolon is ignored.

You can specify `\G` instead of or after the semicolon. This indicates Vertical format. In this format, each value is printed on a separate line, which is convenient for wide tables. This unusual feature was added for compatibility with the MySQL CLI.

The command line is based on ‘replxx’ (similar to ‘readline’). In other words, it uses the familiar keyboard shortcuts and keeps a history. The history is written to `~/.clickhouse-client-history`.

By default, the format used is PrettyCompact. You can change the format in the FORMAT clause of the query, or by specifying `\G` at the end of the query, using the `--format` or `--vertical` argument in the command line, or using the client configuration file.

To exit the client, press Ctrl+D, or enter one of the following instead of a query: “exit”, “quit”, “logout”, “exit;”, “quit;”, “logout;”, “q”, “Q”, “:q”

When processing a query, the client shows:

1.  Progress, which is updated no more than 10 times per second (by default). For quick queries, the progress might not have time to be displayed.
2.  The formatted query after parsing, for debugging.
3.  The result in the specified format.
4.  The number of lines in the result, the time passed, and the average speed of query processing. All data amounts refer to uncompressed data.

You can cancel a long query by pressing Ctrl+C. However, you will still need to wait for a little for the server to abort the request. It is not possible to cancel a query at certain stages. If you do not wait and press Ctrl+C a second time, the client will exit.

The command-line client allows passing external data (external temporary tables) for querying. For more information, see the section “External data for query processing”.

### Queries with Parameters {#cli-queries-with-parameters}

You can create a query with parameters and pass values to them from client application. This allows to avoid formatting query with specific dynamic values on client side. For example:

``` bash
$ clickhouse-client --param_parName="[1, 2]"  -q "SELECT * FROM table WHERE a = {parName:Array(UInt16)}"
```

It is also possible to set parameters from within an interactive session:
``` bash
$ clickhouse-client -nq "
  SET param_parName='[1, 2]';
  SELECT {parName:Array(UInt16)}"
```

#### Query Syntax {#cli-queries-with-parameters-syntax}

Format a query as usual, then place the values that you want to pass from the app parameters to the query in braces in the following format:

``` sql
{<name>:<data type>}
```

- `name` — Placeholder identifier. In the console client it should be used in app parameters as `--param_<name> = value`.
- `data type` — [Data type](../sql-reference/data-types/index.md) of the app parameter value. For example, a data structure like `(integer, ('string', integer))` can have the `Tuple(UInt8, Tuple(String, UInt8))` data type (you can also use another [integer](../sql-reference/data-types/int-uint.md) types). It's also possible to pass table, database, column names as a parameter, in that case you would need to use `Identifier` as a data type.

#### Example {#example}

``` bash
$ clickhouse-client --param_tuple_in_tuple="(10, ('dt', 10))" -q "SELECT * FROM table WHERE val = {tuple_in_tuple:Tuple(UInt8, Tuple(String, UInt8))}"
$ clickhouse-client --param_tbl="numbers" --param_db="system" --param_col="number" --query "SELECT {col:Identifier} FROM {db:Identifier}.{tbl:Identifier} LIMIT 10"
```

## Connection string {#connection_string}

The connection string for clickhouse-client is presented in URI format:

```text
clickhouse://[user_info@][hosts_and_ports][/dbname][?query_parameters]
```

where user_info is: ```user[:password]```
and hosts_and_ports is a list of values: ```[host][:port],[host][:port]``` Port is not mandatory.
and query_parameters is a list of parameter[=value]: ```param_name[=value]&param_name[=value]...``` value may not be required for some of parameters. Parameter names are case sensitive.

Allowed query_parameters keys:

- **secure** or shorthanded **s** - no value. If specified, client will connect to the server over a secure connection (TLS). See **secure** in [command-line-options](#command-line-options)

These examples illustrate valid connection strings for clickhouse-client:

```text
clickhouse:
clickhouse://localhost
clickhouse://localhost:9000
clickhouse://localhost/default
clickhouse://default@localhost
clickhouse://user:password@localhost
clickhouse://user_name@localhost/some_database?secure
clickhouse://host1:9000,host2:5000/some_database
```

The host component can either be an IP address or a host name. Put an IPv6 address in square brackets to specify it:

```text
clickhouse://[2001:db8::1234]
```

If user or/and password are not specified, default values will be used.
If host is not specified, the default host will be used (localhost).
If port is not specified, the default port will be used (9000).
If database is not specified, the default database will be used.

User, password, and database can be specified in the connection string either in --user, --password, --database command line options.

The connection string must be specified in the first argument of clickhouse-client. The connection string can be combined with other [command-line-options](#command-line-options) except **--host(h)** and **--port**.

### Multiple hosts {#connection_string_multiple_hosts}

URI allows multiple hosts to be connected to, and the client will try to connect to those hosts using the order from URI and command line options. The hosts and ports in the URI accept comma-separated lists of values.

If more than one host is supplied, or if a single host name is translated to more than one address, each host and address will be attempted one at a time until one is successful. The remaining hosts after successful connection in the list are not tried.

### Percent encoding {#connection_string_uri_percent_encoding}

Hosts, user name, password, database and query parameters should be [Percent-Encoded](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL_encoding) if values contain URI invalid characters.

### Examples {#connection_string_examples}

Connect to localhost using port 9000 and executes the query "SELECT 1".

``` bash
clickhouse-client "clickhouse://localhost:9000" --query "SELECT 1"
```

Connect to localhost using port 9000 in interactive, multiline mode.

``` bash
clickhouse-client "clickhouse://localhost:9000" -m
```

Connect to localhost using port 9000 in interactive mode with the user specified in --user option.

``` bash
clickhouse-client "clickhouse://localhost:9000" --user default
```

Connect to localhost using port 9000 in interactive mode with database 'my_database' specified in command line option

``` bash
clickhouse-client "clickhouse://localhost:9000" --database my_database
```

Connect to localhost using port 9000 in interactive mode with the database specified in the connection string.

``` bash
clickhouse-client "clickhouse://localhost:9000/my_database"
```

Connect to localhost using port 9000 in interactive mode with a database specified in the connection string and a secure connection using shorthanded 's' URI parameter.

```bash
clickhouse-client "clickhouse://localhost/my_database?s"
```

Connect to default host using the default port, default user, and default database.

``` bash
clickhouse-client "clickhouse:"
```

Connect to the default host using the default port, using user user_name and no password.

``` bash
clickhouse-client "clickhouse://user_name@"
```

Connect to localhost using email user name. Symbol '@' is percent encoded to '%40'.

``` bash
clickhouse-client "clickhouse://some_user%40some_mail.com@localhost:9000"
```

## Configuring {#interfaces_cli_configuration}

You can pass parameters to `clickhouse-client` (all parameters have a default value) using:

- From the Command Line

    Command-line options override the default values and settings in configuration files.

- Configuration files.

    Settings in the configuration files override the default values.

### Command Line Options {#command-line-options}

- `--host, -h` – The server name, ‘localhost’ by default. You can use either the name or the IPv4 or IPv6 address.
- `--port` – The port to connect to. Default value: 9000. Note that the HTTP interface and the native interface use different ports.
- `--user, -u` – The username. Default value: default.
- `--password` – The password. Default value: empty string.
- `--ask-password` - Prompt the user to enter a password.
- `--query, -q` – The query to process when using non-interactive mode. Cannot be used simultaneously with `--queries-file`.
- `--queries-file` – file path with queries to execute. Cannot be used simultaneously with `--query`.
- `--multiquery, -n` – If specified, multiple queries separated by semicolons can be listed after the `--query` option. For convenience, it is also possible to omit `--query` and pass the queries directly after `--multiquery`.
- `--multiline, -m` – If specified, allow multiline queries (do not send the query on Enter).
- `--database, -d` – Select the current default database. Default value: the current database from the server settings (‘default’ by default).
- `--format, -f` – Use the specified default format to output the result.
- `--vertical, -E` – If specified, use the [Vertical format](../interfaces/formats.md#vertical) by default to output the result. This is the same as `–format=Vertical`. In this format, each value is printed on a separate line, which is helpful when displaying wide tables.
- `--time, -t` – If specified, print the query execution time to ‘stderr’ in non-interactive mode.
- `--stacktrace` – If specified, also print the stack trace if an exception occurs.
- `--config-file` – The name of the configuration file.
- `--secure` – If specified, will connect to server over secure connection (TLS). You might need to configure your CA certificates in the [configuration file](#configuration_files). The available configuration settings are the same as for [server-side TLS configuration](../operations/server-configuration-parameters/settings.md#server_configuration_parameters-openssl).
- `--history_file` — Path to a file containing command history.
- `--param_<name>` — Value for a [query with parameters](#cli-queries-with-parameters).
- `--hardware-utilization` — Print hardware utilization information in progress bar.
- `--print-profile-events` – Print `ProfileEvents` packets.
- `--profile-events-delay-ms` – Delay between printing `ProfileEvents` packets (-1 - print only totals, 0 - print every single packet).

Since version 20.5, `clickhouse-client` has automatic syntax highlighting (always enabled).

### Configuration Files {#configuration_files}

`clickhouse-client` uses the first existing file of the following:

- Defined in the `--config-file` parameter.
- `./clickhouse-client.xml`
- `~/.clickhouse-client/config.xml`
- `/etc/clickhouse-client/config.xml`

Example of a config file:

```xml
<config>
    <user>username</user>
    <password>password</password>
    <secure>true</secure>
    <openSSL>
      <client>
        <caConfig>/etc/ssl/cert.pem</caConfig>
      </client>
    </openSSL>
</config>
```

### Query ID Format {#query-id-format}

In interactive mode `clickhouse-client` shows query ID for every query. By default, the ID is formatted like this:

```sql
Query id: 927f137d-00f1-4175-8914-0dd066365e96
```

A custom format may be specified in a configuration file inside a `query_id_formats` tag. `{query_id}` placeholder in the format string is replaced with the ID of a query. Several format strings are allowed inside the tag.
This feature can be used to generate URLs to facilitate profiling of queries.

**Example**

```xml
<config>
  <query_id_formats>
    <speedscope>http://speedscope-host/#profileURL=qp%3Fid%3D{query_id}</speedscope>
  </query_id_formats>
</config>
```

If the configuration above is applied, the ID of a query is shown in the following format:

```response
speedscope:http://speedscope-host/#profileURL=qp%3Fid%3Dc8ecc783-e753-4b38-97f1-42cddfb98b7d
```