Specifying Arbitrary Output Column Delimiters
1.23.1 Problem
You want mysql to produce query output using a delimiter other than tab.
1.23.2 Solution
Postprocess mysql's output.
1.23.3 Discussion
In non-interactive mode, mysql separates output columns with tabs and there is no option for specifying the output delimiter. Under some circumstances, it may be desirable to produce output that uses a different delimiter. Suppose you want to create an output file for use by a program that expects values to be separated by colon characters (:) rather than tabs. Under Unix, you can convert tabs to arbitrary delimiters by using utilities such as tr and sed. For example, to change tabs to colons, any of the following commands would work (TAB indicates where you type a tab character):[7]
[7] The syntax for some versions of tr may be different; consult your local documentation. Also, some shells use the tab character for special purposes such as filename completion. For such shells, type a literal tab into the command by preceding it with Ctrl-V.
% mysql cookbook < inputfile | sed -e "s/ TAB /:/g" > outputfile % mysql cookbook < inputfile | tr " TAB " ":" > outputfile % mysql cookbook < inputfile | tr "