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
`-f FILENAME`	Run the script in `FILENAME` and exit. Note that the `~/.duckdbrc` is read and executed first (if it exists)
`-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: `NULL`
`-quote`	Set output mode to `quote`
`-readonly`	Open the database read-only. This option also supports attaching to remote databases via HTTPS
`-s COMMAND`	Run `COMMAND` and exit
`-separator SEP`	Set output column separator to `SEP`. Default: `	`
`-storage-version VER`	Database storage compatibility version to use. To use the latest storage version, pass `-storage-version latest`
`-table`	Set output mode to `table`
`-ui`	Loads and starts the DuckDB UI. If the UI is not yet installed, it installs the `ui` extension
`-unsigned`	Allow loading of unsigned extensions. This option is intended to be used for developing extensions. Consult the Securing DuckDB page for guidelines on how to set up DuckDB in a secure manner
`-version`	Show DuckDB version

Passing a Sequence of Arguments

Note that the CLI arguments are processed in order, similarly to the behavior of the SQLite CLI. For example:

duckdb -csv -c 'SELECT 42 AS hello' -json -c 'SELECT 84 AS world'

Returns the following:

hello
42
[{"world":84}]

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Passing a Sequence of Arguments

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