MySQL command output too wide in command-line client [duplicate]

Question

This question already has an answer here:

• How to best display in Terminal a MySQL SELECT returning too many fields? 12 answers

I am using mysql command line client in terminal emulator lxterminal in Ubuntu. When I run the following command:

mysql> select * from routines where routine_name = "simpleproc";

The output is a mess:

But if I copy and paste it here, the output shows me a nice table:

mysql> select * from routines where routine_name = "simpleproc";

+---------------+-----------------+----------------+--------------+--------------+-----------+--------------------------+------------------------+-------------------+---------------+--------------------+--------------------+----------------+----------------+--------------+--------------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------+----------+---------------+---------------------+---------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------------+----------------+----------------------+----------------------+--------------------+
| SPECIFIC_NAME | ROUTINE_CATALOG | ROUTINE_SCHEMA | ROUTINE_NAME | ROUTINE_TYPE | DATA_TYPE | CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH | CHARACTER_OCTET_LENGTH | NUMERIC_PRECISION | NUMERIC_SCALE | DATETIME_PRECISION | CHARACTER_SET_NAME | COLLATION_NAME | DTD_IDENTIFIER | ROUTINE_BODY | ROUTINE_DEFINITION                                     | EXTERNAL_NAME | EXTERNAL_LANGUAGE | PARAMETER_STYLE | IS_DETERMINISTIC | SQL_DATA_ACCESS | SQL_PATH | SECURITY_TYPE | CREATED             | LAST_ALTERED        | SQL_MODE                                                                                                                                  | ROUTINE_COMMENT | DEFINER        | CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT | COLLATION_CONNECTION | DATABASE_COLLATION |
+---------------+-----------------+----------------+--------------+--------------+-----------+--------------------------+------------------------+-------------------+---------------+--------------------+--------------------+----------------+----------------+--------------+--------------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------+----------+---------------+---------------------+---------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------------+----------------+----------------------+----------------------+--------------------+
| simpleproc    | def             | test           | simpleproc   | PROCEDURE    |           |                     NULL |                   NULL |              NULL |          NULL |               NULL | NULL               | NULL           | NULL           | SQL          | BEGIN


SELECT COUNT(*) INTO param1 FROM CUSTOMERS1;

END | NULL          | NULL              | SQL             | NO               | CONTAINS SQL    | NULL     | DEFINER       | 2018-01-12 15:18:20 | 2018-01-12 15:18:20 | ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY,STRICT_TRANS_TABLES,NO_ZERO_IN_DATE,NO_ZERO_DATE,ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO,NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION |                 | root@localhost | utf8                 | utf8_general_ci      | latin1_swedish_ci  |
+---------------+-----------------+----------------+--------------+--------------+-----------+--------------------------+------------------------+-------------------+---------------+--------------------+--------------------+----------------+----------------+--------------+--------------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------+----------+---------------+---------------------+---------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------------+----------------+----------------------+----------------------+--------------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)

I wonder if it is possible to view the output in a terminal emulator as a nice table like this one?

Answer 1

Using mysql's ego command

From mysql's help command:

ego          (\G) Send command to mysql server, display result vertically.

So by appending a \G to your select, you can get a very clean vertical output:

mysql> select * from routines where routine_name = "simpleproc" \G

Using a pager

You can tell MySQL to use the less pager with its -S option that chops wide lines and gives you an output that you can scroll with the arrow keys:

mysql> pager less -S

Thus, next time you run a command with a wide output, MySQL will let you browse the output with the less pager:

mysql> select * from routines where routine_name = "simpleproc";

If you're done with the pager and want to go back to the regular output on stdout, use this:

mysql> nopager

Answer 2

You can try also adjusting the font size of the terminal but displaying the output vertically should be clear if all doesn't. use the /G option to run the query i.e

mysql> select * from routines where routine_name = "simpleproc" /G

Answer 3

If you are running on Ubuntu you can use the bash shell, it looks nice and not messed up like this.