Command Line Arguments

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Documentation / Client APIs / CLI

The table below summarizes DuckDB's command line options. To list all command line options, use the command:

duckdb -help

For a list of dot commands available in the CLI shell, see the Dot Commands page.

Argument	Description
`-append`	Append the database to the end of the file
`-ascii`	Set output mode to `ascii`
`-bail`	Stop after hitting an error
`-batch`	Force batch I/O
`-box`	Set output mode to `box`
`-column`	Set output mode to `column`
`-cmd COMMAND`	Run `COMMAND` before reading `stdin`
`-c COMMAND`	Run `COMMAND` and exit
`-csv`	Set output mode to `csv`
`-echo`	Print commands before execution
`-init FILENAME`	Run the script in `FILENAME` upon startup (instead of `~/.duckdbrc`)
`-header`	Turn headers on
`-help`	Show this message
`-html`	Set output mode to HTML
`-interactive`	Force interactive I/O
`-json`	Set output mode to `json`
`-line`	Set output mode to `line`
`-list`	Set output mode to `list`
`-markdown`	Set output mode to `markdown`
`-newline SEP`	Set output row separator. Default: `\n`
`-nofollow`	Refuse to open symbolic links to database files
`-noheader`	Turn headers off
`-no-stdin`	Exit after processing options instead of reading stdin
`-nullvalue TEXT`	Set text string for `NULL` values. Default: empty string
`-quote`	Set output mode to `quote`
`-readonly`	Open the database read-only
`-s COMMAND`	Run `COMMAND` and exit
`-separator SEP`	Set output column separator to `SEP`. Default: `\|`
`-stats`	Print memory stats before each finalize
`-table`	Set output mode to `table`
`-unsigned`	Allow loading of unsigned extensions
`-version`	Show DuckDB version