--help, -?

Display a help message and exit.

--base64-output[=value]

This option determines when events should be displayed encoded as base-64 strings using BINLOG statements. The option has these permissible values (not case sensitive):

For examples that show the effect of --base64-output and --verbose on row event output, see Section 4.6.7.2, “mysqlbinlog Row Event Display”.

--bind-address=ip_address

On a computer having multiple network interfaces, use this option to select which interface to use for connecting to the MySQL server.

This option is supported beginning with MySQL 5.5.8.

--character-sets-dir=dir_name

The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 10.5, “Character Set Configuration”.

--database=db_name, -d db_name

This option causes mysqlbinlog to output entries from the binary log (local log only) that occur while db_name is been selected as the default database by USE.

The --database option for mysqlbinlog is similar to the --binlog-do-db option for mysqld, but can be used to specify only one database. If --database is given multiple times, only the last instance is used.

The effects of this option depend on whether the statement-based or row-based logging format is in use, in the same way that the effects of --binlog-do-db depend on whether statement-based or row-based logging is in use.

Statement-based logging.  The --database option works as follows:

Suppose that the binary log was created by executing these statements using statement-based-logging:

INSERT INTO test.t1 (i) VALUES(100);
INSERT INTO db2.t2 (j)  VALUES(200);
USE test;
INSERT INTO test.t1 (i) VALUES(101);
INSERT INTO t1 (i)      VALUES(102);
INSERT INTO db2.t2 (j)  VALUES(201);
USE db2;
INSERT INTO test.t1 (i) VALUES(103);
INSERT INTO db2.t2 (j)  VALUES(202);
INSERT INTO t2 (j)      VALUES(203);

mysqlbinlog --database=test does not output the first two INSERT statements because there is no default database. It outputs the three INSERT statements following USE test, but not the three INSERT statements following USE db2.

mysqlbinlog --database=db2 does not output the first two INSERT statements because there is no default database. It does not output the three INSERT statements following USE test, but does output the three INSERT statements following USE db2.

Row-based logging.  mysqlbinlog outputs only entries that change tables belonging to db_name. The default database has no effect on this. Suppose that the binary log just described was created using row-based logging rather than statement-based logging. mysqlbinlog --database=test outputs only those entries that modify t1 in the test database, regardless of whether USE was issued or what the default database is.

If a server is running with binlog_format set to MIXED and you want it to be possible to use mysqlbinlog with the --database option, you must ensure that tables that are modified are in the database selected by USE. (In particular, no cross-database updates should be used.)

--debug[=debug_options], -# [debug_options]

Write a debugging log. A typical debug_options string is d:t:o,file_name. The default is d:t:o,/tmp/mysqlbinlog.trace.

--debug-check

Print some debugging information when the program exits.

--debug-info

Print debugging information and memory and CPU usage statistics when the program exits.

--default-auth=plugin

A hint about the client-side authentication plugin to use. See Section 6.3.6, “Pluggable Authentication”.

This option was added in MySQL 5.5.10.

--defaults-extra-file=file_name

Read this option file after the global option file but (on Unix) before the user option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. Before MySQL 5.5.8, file_name must be the full path name to the file. As of MySQL 5.5.8, the name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name.

--defaults-file=file_name

Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. Before MySQL 5.5.8, file_name must be the full path name to the file. As of MySQL 5.5.8, the name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name.

--defaults-group-suffix=str

Read not only the usual option groups, but also groups with the usual names and a suffix of str. For example, mysqlbinlog normally reads the [client] and [mysqlbinlog] groups. If the --defaults-group-suffix=_other option is given, mysqlbinlog also reads the [client_other] and [mysqlbinlog_other] groups.

--disable-log-bin, -D

Disable binary logging. This is useful for avoiding an endless loop if you use the --to-last-log option and are sending the output to the same MySQL server. This option also is useful when restoring after a crash to avoid duplication of the statements you have logged.

This option requires that you have the SUPER privilege. It causes mysqlbinlog to include a SET sql_log_bin = 0 statement in its output to disable binary logging of the remaining output. The SET statement is ineffective unless you have the SUPER privilege.

--force-if-open, -F

Read binary log files even if they are open or were not closed properly.

--force-read, -f

With this option, if mysqlbinlog reads a binary log event that it does not recognize, it prints a warning, ignores the event, and continues. Without this option, mysqlbinlog stops if it reads such an event.

--hexdump, -H

Display a hex dump of the log in comments, as described in Section 4.6.7.1, “mysqlbinlog Hex Dump Format”. The hex output can be helpful for replication debugging.

--host=host_name, -h host_name

Get the binary log from the MySQL server on the given host.

--local-load=dir_name, -l dir_name

Prepare local temporary files for LOAD DATA INFILE in the specified directory.

--no-defaults

Do not read any option files. If program startup fails due to reading unknown options from an option file, --no-defaults can be used to prevent them from being read.

--offset=N, -o N

Skip the first N entries in the log.

--password[=password], -p[password]

The password to use when connecting to the server. If you use the short option form (-p), you cannot have a space between the option and the password. If you omit the password value following the --password or -p option on the command line, mysqlbinlog prompts for one.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. See Section 6.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”. You can use an option file to avoid giving the password on the command line.

--plugin-dir=dir_name

The directory in which to look for plugins. Specify this option if the --default-auth option is used to specify an authentication plugin but mysqlbinlog does not find it. See Section 6.3.6, “Pluggable Authentication”.

This option was added in MySQL 5.5.10.

--port=port_num, -P port_num

The TCP/IP port number to use for connecting to a remote server.

--position=N

Deprecated. Use --start-position instead. --position was removed in MySQL 5.5.3.

--print-defaults

Print the program name and all options that it gets from option files.

--protocol={TCP|SOCKET|PIPE|MEMORY}

The connection protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when the other connection parameters normally would cause a protocol to be used other than the one you want. For details on the permissible values, see Section 4.2.2, “Connecting to the MySQL Server”.

--read-from-remote-server, -R

Read the binary log from a MySQL server rather than reading a local log file. Any connection parameter options are ignored unless this option is given as well. These options are --host, --password, --port, --protocol, --socket, and --user.

This option requires that the remote server be running. It works only for binary log files on the remote server, not relay log files.

--result-file=name, -r name

Direct output to the given file.

--server-id=id

Display only those events created by the server having the given server ID.

--server-id-bits=N

Use only the first N bits of the server_id to identify the server. If the binary log was written by a mysqld with server-id-bits set to less than 32 and user data stored in the most significant bit, running mysqlbinlog with --server-id-bits set to 32 enables this data to be seen.

This option is supported only by the versions of mysqlbinlog supplied with the MySQL Cluster distribution, or built from the MySQL Cluster sources.

--set-charset=charset_name

Add a SET NAMES charset_name statement to the output to specify the character set to be used for processing log files.

--shared-memory-base-name=name

On Windows, the shared-memory name to use, for connections made using shared memory to a local server. The default value is MYSQL. The shared-memory name is case sensitive.

The server must be started with the --shared-memory option to enable shared-memory connections.

--short-form, -s

Display only the statements contained in the log, without any extra information or row-based events. This is for testing only, and should not be used in production systems.

--socket=path, -S path

For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the name of the named pipe to use.

--start-datetime=datetime

Start reading the binary log at the first event having a timestamp equal to or later than the datetime argument. The datetime value is relative to the local time zone on the machine where you run mysqlbinlog. The value should be in a format accepted for the DATETIME or TIMESTAMP data types. For example:

shell> mysqlbinlog --start-datetime="2005-12-25 11:25:56" binlog.000003

This option is useful for point-in-time recovery. See Section 7.3, “Example Backup and Recovery Strategy”.

--start-position=N, -j N

Start reading the binary log at the first event having a position equal to or greater than N. This option applies to the first log file named on the command line.

This option is useful for point-in-time recovery. See Section 7.3, “Example Backup and Recovery Strategy”.

--stop-datetime=datetime

Stop reading the binary log at the first event having a timestamp equal to or later than the datetime argument. This option is useful for point-in-time recovery. See the description of the --start-datetime option for information about the datetime value.

This option is useful for point-in-time recovery. See Section 7.3, “Example Backup and Recovery Strategy”.

--stop-position=N

Stop reading the binary log at the first event having a position equal to or greater than N. This option applies to the last log file named on the command line.

This option is useful for point-in-time recovery. See Section 7.3, “Example Backup and Recovery Strategy”.

--to-last-log, -t

Do not stop at the end of the requested binary log from a MySQL server, but rather continue printing until the end of the last binary log. If you send the output to the same MySQL server, this may lead to an endless loop. This option requires --read-from-remote-server.

--user=user_name, -u user_name

The MySQL user name to use when connecting to a remote server.

--verbose, -v

Reconstruct row events and display them as commented SQL statements. If this option is given twice, the output includes comments to indicate column data types and some metadata.

For examples that show the effect of --base64-output and --verbose on row event output, see Section 4.6.7.2, “mysqlbinlog Row Event Display”.

--version, -V

Display version information and exit.

In MySQL 5.5, the version number shown for mysqlbinlog is always 3.3.

open_files_limit

Specify the number of open file descriptors to reserve.