= cqlsh: the CQL shell

`cqlsh` is a command-line interface for interacting with Cassandra using CQL (the Cassandra Query Language).
It is shipped with every Cassandra package, and can be found in the bin/ directory alongside the cassandra
executable.
`cqlsh` is implemented with the Python native protocol driver, and connects to the single specified node.

== Compatibility

In general, a given version of `cqlsh` is only guaranteed to work with the
version of Cassandra that it was released with.
In some cases, `cqlsh` may work with older or newer versions of Cassandra, but this is not
officially supported.

== Optional Dependencies

`cqlsh` ships with all essential dependencies. However, there are some
optional dependencies that can be installed to improve the capabilities
of `cqlsh`.

=== pytz

By default, `cqlsh` displays all timestamps with a UTC timezone.
For Python 3.9 or higher, timestamps can be displayed in different timezones by modifying the
`timezone` option in xref:cassandra:managing/tools/cqlsh.adoc#cqlshrc[cqlshrc] or by setting the environment
variable `TZ`.
Python 3.8 or lower, however, will also require the installation of http://pytz.sourceforge.net/[pytz] library.

=== cython

The performance of cqlsh's `COPY` operations can be improved by
installing http://cython.org/[cython]. This will compile the python
modules that are central to the performance of `COPY`.

[[cqlshrc]]
== cqlshrc

The `cqlshrc` file holds configuration options for `cqlsh`.
By default, the file is located the user's home directory at `~/.cassandra/cqlshrc`, but a
custom location can be specified with the `--cqlshrc` option.

Example config values and documentation can be found in the
`conf/cqlshrc.sample` file of a tarball installation.
You can also view the latest version of the
https://github.com/apache/cassandra/blob/trunk/conf/cqlshrc.sample[cqlshrc file online].

[[credentials]]
== credentials

The credentials file contains a user-name and a password for cqlsh.
A user-name and a password must be located in a section whose name matches the classname from the `[auth_provider]` section of the cqlshrc file.
The credentials file must be owned by the user and no one else has permission to read the file.

Example config values and documentation can be found in the
`conf/credentials.sample` file of a tarball installation.

[[cql_history]]
== cql history

All CQL commands you execute are written to a history file. By default, CQL history will be written to `~/.cassandra/cql_history`.
You can change this default by setting the environment variable `CQL_HISTORY` like `~/some/other/path/to/cqlsh_history` where `cqlsh_history` is a file. All parent directories to history file will be created if they do not exist. If you do not want to persist history, you can do so by setting CQL_HISTORY to `/dev/null`. This can also be controlled via the --disable-history command line option or from the cqlshrc file. Disabling history is supported since Cassandra 4.0.

== Command Line Options

Usage: `cqlsh.py [options] [host [port]]`

CQL Shell for Apache Cassandra

Options:

`--version`::
  show program's version number and exit

`-h` `--help`::
  show this help message and exit
`-C` `--color`::
  Always use color output
`--no-color`::
  Never use color output
`--browser=BROWSER`::
  The browser to use to display CQL help, where BROWSER can be:
  one of the supported browsers in https://docs.python.org/3/library/webbrowser.html.
  browser path followed by %s, example: /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable %s
`--ssl`::
  Use SSL

`-u USERNAME` `--username=USERNAME`::
  Authenticate as user.
`-p PASSWORD` `--password=PASSWORD`::
  Authenticate using password.
`-k KEYSPACE` `--keyspace=KEYSPACE`::
  Authenticate to the given keyspace.
`-f FILE` `--file=FILE`::
  Execute commands from FILE, then exit
`--debug`::
  Show additional debugging information
`--coverage`::
  Collect coverage data
`--encoding=ENCODING`::
  Specify a non-default encoding for output. (Default: utf-8)
`--cqlshrc=CQLSHRC`::
  Specify an alternative cqlshrc file location.
`--credentials=CREDENTIALS`::
  Specify an alternative credentials file location.
`--cqlversion=CQLVERSION`::
  Specify a particular CQL version, by default the
  highest version supported by the server will be used.
  Examples: "3.0.3", "3.1.0"
`--protocol-version=PROTOCOL_VERSION`::
  Specify a specific protcol version otherwise the
  client will default and downgrade as necessary
`-e EXECUTE` `--execute=EXECUTE`::
  Execute the statement and quit.
`--connect-timeout=CONNECT_TIMEOUT`::
  Specify the connection timeout in seconds (default: 5 seconds).
`--request-timeout=REQUEST_TIMEOUT`::
  Specify the default request timeout in seconds
  (default: 10 seconds).
`-t, --tty`::
  Force tty mode (command prompt).
`-v` `--v`::
  Print the current version of cqlsh.

== Special Commands

In addition to supporting regular CQL statements, `cqlsh` also supports a
number of special commands that are not part of CQL. These are detailed
below.

=== `CONSISTENCY`

`Usage`: `CONSISTENCY <consistency level>`

Sets the consistency level for operations to follow. Valid arguments
include:

* `ANY`
* `ONE`
* `TWO`
* `THREE`
* `QUORUM`
* `ALL`
* `LOCAL_QUORUM`
* `LOCAL_ONE`
* `SERIAL`
* `LOCAL_SERIAL`

=== `SERIAL CONSISTENCY`

`Usage`: `SERIAL CONSISTENCY <consistency level>`

Sets the serial consistency level for operations to follow. Valid
arguments include:

* `SERIAL`
* `LOCAL_SERIAL`

The serial consistency level is only used by conditional updates
(`INSERT`, `UPDATE` and `DELETE` with an `IF` condition). For those, the
serial consistency level defines the consistency level of the serial
phase (or “paxos” phase) while the normal consistency level defines the
consistency for the “learn” phase, i.e. what type of reads will be
guaranteed to see the update right away. For example, if a conditional
write has a consistency level of `QUORUM` (and is successful), then a
`QUORUM` read is guaranteed to see that write. But if the regular
consistency level of that write is `ANY`, then only a read with a
consistency level of `SERIAL` is guaranteed to see it (even a read with
consistency `ALL` is not guaranteed to be enough).

=== `SHOW VERSION`

Prints the `cqlsh`, Cassandra, CQL, and native protocol versions in use.
Example:

[source,none]
----
cqlsh> SHOW VERSION
[cqlsh 5.0.1 | Cassandra 3.8 | CQL spec 3.4.2 | Native protocol v4]
----

=== `SHOW HOST`

Prints the IP address and port of the Cassandra node that `cqlsh` is
connected to in addition to the cluster name. Example:

[source,none]
----
cqlsh> SHOW HOST
Connected to Prod_Cluster at 192.0.0.1:9042.
----

=== `SHOW REPLICAS`

Prints the IP addresses of the Cassandra nodes which are replicas for the
listed given token and keyspace. This command is available from Cassandra 4.2.

`Usage`: `SHOW REPLICAS <token> (<keyspace>)`

Example usage:

[source,none]
----
cqlsh> SHOW REPLICAS 95
['192.0.0.1', '192.0.0.2']
----

=== `SHOW SESSION`

Pretty prints a specific tracing session.

`Usage`: `SHOW SESSION <session id>`

Example usage:

[source,none]
----
cqlsh> SHOW SESSION 95ac6470-327e-11e6-beca-dfb660d92ad8

Tracing session: 95ac6470-327e-11e6-beca-dfb660d92ad8

 activity                                                  | timestamp                  | source    | source_elapsed | client
-----------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------+-----------+----------------+-----------
                                        Execute CQL3 query | 2016-06-14 17:23:13.979000 | 127.0.0.1 |              0 | 127.0.0.1
 Parsing SELECT * FROM system.local; [SharedPool-Worker-1] | 2016-06-14 17:23:13.982000 | 127.0.0.1 |           3843 | 127.0.0.1
...
----

=== `SOURCE`

Reads the contents of a file and executes each line as a CQL statement
or special cqlsh command.

`Usage`: `SOURCE <string filename>`

Example usage:

[source,none]
----
cqlsh> SOURCE '/home/calvinhobbs/commands.cql'
----

=== `CAPTURE`

Begins capturing command output and appending it to a specified file.
Output will not be shown at the console while it is captured.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
CAPTURE '<file>';
CAPTURE OFF;
CAPTURE;
----

That is, the path to the file to be appended to must be given inside a
string literal. The path is interpreted relative to the current working
directory. The tilde shorthand notation (`'~/mydir'`) is supported for
referring to `$HOME`.

Only query result output is captured. Errors and output from cqlsh-only
commands will still be shown in the cqlsh session.

To stop capturing output and show it in the cqlsh session again, use
`CAPTURE OFF`.

To inspect the current capture configuration, use `CAPTURE` with no
arguments.

=== `HELP`

Gives information about cqlsh commands. To see available topics, enter
`HELP` without any arguments. To see help on a topic, use
`HELP <topic>`. Also see the `--browser` argument for controlling what
browser is used to display help.

=== `HISTORY`

Prints to the screen the last `n` cqlsh commands executed on the server.
The number of lines defaults to 50 if not specified. `n` is set for
the current CQL session so if you set it e.g. to `10`, from that point
there will be at most 10 last commands returned to you.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
HISTORY <n>
----

=== `TRACING`

Enables or disables tracing for queries. When tracing is enabled, once a
query completes, a trace of the events during the query will be printed.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
TRACING ON
TRACING OFF
----

=== `PAGING`

Enables paging, disables paging, or sets the page size for read queries.
When paging is enabled, only one page of data will be fetched at a time
and a prompt will appear to fetch the next page. Generally, it's a good
idea to leave paging enabled in an interactive session to avoid fetching
and printing large amounts of data at once.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
PAGING ON
PAGING OFF
PAGING <page size in rows>
----

=== `EXPAND`

Enables or disables vertical printing of rows. Enabling `EXPAND` is
useful when many columns are fetched, or the contents of a single column
are large.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
EXPAND ON
EXPAND OFF
----

=== `ELAPSED`

Enables or disables the printing of the elapsed time for a query. Except a quick evaluation
of how long a CQL statement took, this is also a complementary output to `TRACING` (if enabled).
A user can debug if there is a communication delay to a node or not comparing the timestamps as `TRACING` tracks
the time elapsed only on the server side.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
cqlsh> ELAPSED ON
ELAPSED set to ON
cqlsh> select * from myks.mytb limit 5;

 id | age
----+-----
  5 |  10
 10 |  10
 11 |  10
  1 |  10
  8 |  10

(5 rows)
(6ms elapsed)
cqlsh> DROP KEYSPACE myks ;
(510ms elapsed)
----

=== `LOGIN`

Authenticate as a specified Cassandra user for the current session.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
LOGIN <username> [<password>]
----

=== `EXIT`

Ends the current session and terminates the cqlsh process.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
EXIT
QUIT
----

=== `CLEAR`

Clears the console.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
CLEAR
CLS
----

=== `DESCRIBE`

Prints a description (typically a series of DDL statements) of a schema
element or the cluster. This is useful for dumping all or portions of
the schema.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
DESCRIBE CLUSTER
DESCRIBE SCHEMA
DESCRIBE KEYSPACES
DESCRIBE KEYSPACE <keyspace name>
DESCRIBE TABLES
DESCRIBE TABLE <table name>
DESCRIBE INDEX <index name>
DESCRIBE MATERIALIZED VIEW <view name>
DESCRIBE TYPES
DESCRIBE TYPE <type name>
DESCRIBE FUNCTIONS
DESCRIBE FUNCTION <function name>
DESCRIBE AGGREGATES
DESCRIBE AGGREGATE <aggregate function name>
----

In any of the commands, `DESC` may be used in place of `DESCRIBE`.

The `DESCRIBE CLUSTER` command prints the cluster name and partitioner:

[source,none]
----
cqlsh> DESCRIBE CLUSTER

Cluster: Test Cluster
Partitioner: Murmur3Partitioner
----

The `DESCRIBE SCHEMA` command prints the DDL statements needed to
recreate the entire schema. This is especially useful for dumping the
schema in order to clone a cluster or restore from a backup.

=== `COPY TO`

Copies data from a table to a CSV file.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
COPY <table name> [(<column>, ...)] TO <file name> WITH <copy option> [AND <copy option> ...]
----

If no columns are specified, all columns from the table will be copied
to the CSV file. A subset of columns to copy may be specified by adding
a comma-separated list of column names surrounded by parenthesis after
the table name.

The `<file name>` should be a string literal (with single quotes)
representing a path to the destination file. This can also the special
value `STDOUT` (without single quotes) to print the CSV to stdout.

See `shared-copy-options` for options that apply to both `COPY TO` and
`COPY FROM`.

[NOTE]
====
`COPY TO` exports CSV using a restricted RFC 4180-compatible format and does not
preserve control characters in text column values. Text columns containing control characters
such as newlines (`\n`), carriage returns (`\r`), null bytes (`\x00`),
or other non-printable characters cannot be reliably exported — values
will be corrupted on re-import via `COPY FROM`. Beyond data integrity,
non-printable characters in CSV output can pose security risks, including
CSV injection and other forms of malicious data embedding. If your data
contains such characters, consider using DSBulk, Spark, or
`sstableloader` for data migration instead.
====

==== Options for `COPY TO`

`MAXREQUESTS`::
  The maximum number token ranges to fetch simultaneously. Defaults to
  6.
`PAGESIZE`::
  The number of rows to fetch in a single page. Defaults to 1000.
`PAGETIMEOUT`::
  By default, the page timeout is 10 seconds per 1000 entries in the page
  size or 10 seconds if pagesize is smaller.
`BEGINTOKEN`, `ENDTOKEN`::
  Token range to export. Defaults to exporting the full ring.
`MAXOUTPUTSIZE`::
  The maximum size of the output file measured in number of lines;
  beyond this maximum the output file will be split into segments. -1
  means unlimited, and is the default.
`ENCODING`::
  The encoding used for characters. Defaults to `utf8`.

=== `COPY FROM`

Copies data from a CSV file to table.

`Usage`:

[source,none]
----
COPY <table name> [(<column>, ...)] FROM <file name> WITH <copy option> [AND <copy option> ...]
----

If no columns are specified, all columns from the CSV file will be
copied to the table. A subset of columns to copy may be specified by
adding a comma-separated list of column names surrounded by parenthesis
after the table name.

The `<file name>` should be a string literal (with single quotes)
representing a path to the source file. This can also the special value
`STDIN` (without single quotes) to read the CSV data from stdin.

See `shared-copy-options` for options that apply to both `COPY TO` and
`COPY FROM`.

==== Options for `COPY FROM`

`INGESTRATE`::
  The maximum number of rows to process per second. Defaults to 100000.
`MAXROWS`::
  The maximum number of rows to import. -1 means unlimited, and is the
  default.
`SKIPROWS`::
  A number of initial rows to skip. Defaults to 0.
`SKIPCOLS`::
  A comma-separated list of column names to ignore. By default, no
  columns are skipped.
`MAXPARSEERRORS`::
  The maximum global number of parsing errors to ignore. -1 means
  unlimited, and is the default.
`MAXINSERTERRORS`::
  The maximum global number of insert errors to ignore. -1 means
  unlimited. The default is 1000.
`ERRFILE` =::
  A file to store all rows that could not be imported, by default this
  is `import_<ks>_<table>.err` where `<ks>` is your keyspace and
  `<table>` is your table name.
`MAXBATCHSIZE`::
  The max number of rows inserted in a single batch. Defaults to 20.
`MINBATCHSIZE`::
  The min number of rows inserted in a single batch. Defaults to 10.
`CHUNKSIZE`::
  The number of rows that are passed to child worker processes from the
  main process at a time. Defaults to 5000.

==== Shared COPY Options

Options that are common to both `COPY TO` and `COPY FROM`.

`NULLVAL`::
  The string placeholder for null values. Defaults to `null`.
`HEADER`::
  For `COPY TO`, controls whether the first line in the CSV output file
  will contain the column names. For COPY FROM, specifies whether the
  first line in the CSV input file contains column names. Defaults to
  `false`.
`DECIMALSEP`::
  The character that is used as the decimal point separator. Defaults to
  `.`.
`THOUSANDSSEP`::
  The character that is used to separate thousands. Defaults to the
  empty string.
`BOOLSTYlE`::
  The string literal format for boolean values. Defaults to
  `True,False`.
`NUMPROCESSES`::
  The number of child worker processes to create for `COPY` tasks.
  Defaults to 16 for `COPY` tasks. However, at most (num_cores - 1)
  processes will be created.
`MAXATTEMPTS`::
  The maximum number of failed attempts to fetch a range of data (when
  using `COPY TO`) or insert a chunk of data (when using `COPY FROM`)
  before giving up. Defaults to 5.
`REPORTFREQUENCY`::
  How often status updates are refreshed, in seconds. Defaults to 0.25.
`RATEFILE`::
  An optional file to output rate statistics to. By default, statistics
  are not output to a file.

== Escaping Quotes

Dates, IP addresses, and strings need to be enclosed in single quotation marks. To use a single quotation mark itself in a string literal, escape it using a single quotation mark.

When fetching simple text data, `cqlsh` will return an unquoted string. However, when fetching text data from complex types (collections, user-defined types, etc.) `cqlsh` will return a quoted string containing the escaped characters. For example:

Simple data
[source,none]
----
cqlsh> CREATE TABLE test.simple_data (id int, data text, PRIMARY KEY (id));
cqlsh> INSERT INTO test.simple_data (id, data) values(1, 'I''m fine');
cqlsh> SELECT data from test.simple_data; data
----------
 I'm fine
----
Complex data
[source,none]
----
cqlsh> CREATE TABLE test.complex_data (id int, data map<int, text>, PRIMARY KEY (id));
cqlsh> INSERT INTO test.complex_data (id, data) values(1, {1:'I''m fine'});
cqlsh> SELECT data from test.complex_data; data
------------------
 {1: 'I''m fine'}
----
