Using Auto-Completion for Database and Table Names
Problem
You wish there was a way to type database and table names more quickly.
Solution
There is; use mysql’s name auto-completion facility.
Discussion
Normally when you use mysql interactively, it reads the list of database names and the names of the tables and columns in your current database when it starts up. mysql remembers this information to provide name completion capabilities that are useful for entering statements with fewer keystrokes:
Type in a partial database, table, or column name and then hit the Tab key.
If the partial name is unique, mysql completes it for you. Otherwise, you can hit Tab again to see the possible matches.
Enter additional characters and hit Tab again once to complete it or twice to see the new set of matches.
mysql’s name auto-completion
capability is based on the table names in the current database, and
thus is unavailable within a mysql session until a
database has been selected, either on the command line or by means of
a USE statement.
Auto-completion allows you to cut down the amount of typing you do.
However, if you don’t use this feature, reading
name-completion information from the MySQL server may be
counterproductive because it can cause mysql to
start up more slowly when you have a lot of tables in your database.
To tell mysql not to read this information so that
it starts up more quickly, specify the
-A (or
--no-auto-rehash)
option on the mysql command line. Alternatively,
put a no-auto-rehash ...