Run SQL script via command line to remote server

Question

I have a large SQL script which I am trying to run using the command line.

Which seem to say that I can use this command:

sqlcmd -S myServer\instanceName -i C:\myScript.sql

Which makes sense to me. I assume I would use the same server details as I would in a Web.Config connection string.

The issue is, this does not seem to specify the database name to run the script on.

I think this is because it is assumed that the SQL file will have the DB name, but my file is too big to open to confirm this.

Also, I would like to specify the DB name to be double safe.

Can anyone advise how to do this?

Also, if anyone can advise how I can read the first line of a file using the command line that would be great aswell..

Thanks in advance

-d Specifies the database name - learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/tools/sqlcmd-utility — Ctznkane525
– Ctznkane525, Commented Jan 22, 2018 at 15:53
You find out all the parameters for sqlcmd by running sqlcmd -?. That tells you use can use -d to specify the database name. Thus: sqlcmd -S myServer\instanceName -i C:\myScript.sql -d MyDatabase. This command also assumes you are using integrated security. — Thom A
– Thom A ♦, Commented Jan 22, 2018 at 15:54
@Ctznkane525 that is the correct answer, if you write that as answer I will accept it — Alex
– Alex, Commented Jan 22, 2018 at 15:55
I'm curious how large this file is that you can't open it in a text editor. Notepad++ handles large text files more gracefully than Notepad if you can't get the standard notepad to open it. I've never tried to open a .sql file in server management studio that was anywhere near that size though. — EMUEVIL
– EMUEVIL, Commented Jan 22, 2018 at 16:04
@EMUEVIL SSMS does start to struggle quite early on, from my experience. I wouldn't trust it opening a file 100MB or more. I certainly can't open the >=500MB files I have in SSMS. notepad++ will open them, but you can't execute them from there. — Thom A
– Thom A ♦, Commented Jan 22, 2018 at 16:11

Ctznkane525 · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-22 15:56:23Z

11

-d - Specifies the database name - learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/tools/sqlcmd-utility – Ctznkane525

sqlcmd -S myServer\instanceName -i C:\myScript.sql -d DatabaseName

answered Jan 22, 2018 at 15:56

Ctznkane525

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Comments

Roberto Petrilli · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-25 12:43:48Z

7

in my case I needed SQL Server Authentication

sqlcmd -d database_name -U sa -P Password  -S 192.168.1.1 -i "D:\tmp\script.sql"

so I launched sqlcmd with these switches. I Hope that this can help somebody

answered Aug 25, 2021 at 12:43

Roberto Petrilli

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