Q. How do I specify MySQL SQL queries on the UNIX / Linux command line?

A. mysql command line has option to execute the SQL statement and quit. This is also useful for running sql queries from a shell script. Following is the syntax:

mysql -u user -p -e ‘SQL Query’ database

Where,
-u : Specify mysql database user name
-p : Prompt for password
-e : Execute sql query
database : Specify database name
To list all database, enter:
$ mysql -u vivek -p -e 'show databases;'
To list count all rows, enter:
$ mysql -u vivek -p -e 'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM quotes' cbzquotes
Sample output:

Enter password:
+———-+
| count(*) |
+———-+
| 471 |
+———-+

Tell mysql to display output a page at a time, by using more or less pager:
$ mysql --pager=/usr/bin/less -u vivek -p -e 'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM quotes' cbzquotes
Redirect out to a file:
$ mysql -u vivek -p 'PassWord' -e 'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM quotes' cbzquotes > sql.output.txt
To avoid password prompt just create ~/my.cnf file:

[client]
# for local server
#host=localhost
host=10.0.1.100
user=vivek
password=myPassword

[mysql]
pager=/usr/bin/less