The width for isql output is adjusted according to the character-set expansion or the character width, and displays a output column of the maximum possible bytes.
For example, for the UTF8 character set, each character may use at most 4 bytes, so the output column width is the character number multiplied by 4. However, the output column width can not be larger than the column defined value, and the column width is calculated using this formula:
Min(character_number X max_character_width, column_defined_width)
For example, if a column co11 is defined as varchar(10), then left(col1, 2) returns a width of eight, or four bytes per character. A value of left(col1,5) returns a width or 10, and cannot be larger than the defined length, even though, according to the formula, 5 X 4 = 20).
-h headers – the number of rows to print between column headings. The default is 1.
-s colseparator – changes the column separator character. The default is single space.
-w columnwidth – changes the line width. The default is 80 characters.
-e – Includes each command issued to isql in the output
-n – Removes numbering and prompt symbols
In this example, the query’s results are placed in a file called output:
isql -Uuser_name -Ppassword -Sserver -e -n -o output use pubs2 go select * from authors where city = "Oakland" go quit
To view the contents of output, enter:
(Windows) type output
(UNIX) cat output
select * from authors where city = "Oakland" au_id au_lname au_fname phone address city state country postalcode ----------- ---------- -------- ------------- ------------------------------- ------------- ---- ----------- ----------- 213-46-8915 Green Marjorie 415 986-7020 309 63rd St. #411 Oakland CA USA 94618 274-80-9391 Straight Dick 415 834-2919 5420 College Av. Oakland CA USA 94609 724-08-9931 Stringer Dirk 415 843-2991 5420 Telegraph Av. Oakland CA USA 94609 724-80-9391 MacFeather Stearns 415 354-7128 44 Upland Hts. Oakland CA USA 94612 756-30-7391 Karsen Livia 415 534-9219 5720 McAuley St. Oakland CA USA 94609