Each table is locked and therefore unavailable to other sessions while it is being processed, although for check operations, the table is locked with a READ lock only (see Section 13.3.5, "LOCK TABLES and UNLOCK TABLES Syntax", for more information about READ and WRITE locks). Table maintenance operations can be time-consuming, particularly for large tables. If you use the --databases or --all-databases option to process all tables in one or more databases, an invocation of mysqlcheck might take a long time. (This is also true for mysql_upgrade because that program invokes mysqlcheck to check all tables and repair them if necessary.)

mysqlcheck is similar in function to myisamchk, but works differently. The main operational difference is that mysqlcheck must be used when the mysqld server is running, whereas myisamchk should be used when it is not. The benefit of using mysqlcheck is that you do not have to stop the server to perform table maintenance.

mysqlcheck uses the SQL statements CHECK TABLE, REPAIR TABLE, ANALYZE TABLE, and OPTIMIZE TABLE in a convenient way for the user. It determines which statements to use for the operation you want to perform, and then sends the statements to the server to be executed. For details about which storage engines each statement works with, see the descriptions for those statements in Section 13.7.2, "Table Maintenance Statements".

The MyISAM storage engine supports all four maintenance operations, so mysqlcheck can be used to perform any of them on MyISAM tables. Other storage engines do not necessarily support all operations. In such cases, an error message is displayed. For example, if test.t is a MEMORY table, an attempt to check it produces this result:

shell> mysqlcheck test t
test.t
note     : The storage engine for the table doesn't support check

If mysqlcheck is unable to repair a table, see Section 2.11.4, "Rebuilding or Repairing Tables or Indexes" for manual table repair strategies. This will be the case, for example, for InnoDB tables, which can be checked with CHECK TABLE, but not repaired with REPAIR TABLE.

Caution

It is best to make a backup of a table before performing a table repair operation; under some circumstances the operation might cause data loss. Possible causes include but are not limited to file system errors.

There are three general ways to invoke mysqlcheck:

shell> mysqlcheck [options] db_name [tbl_name ...]
shell> mysqlcheck [options] --databases db_name ...
shell> mysqlcheck [options] --all-databases

If you do not name any tables following db_name or if you use the --databases or --all-databases option, entire databases are checked.

mysqlcheck has a special feature compared to other client programs. The default behavior of checking tables (--check) can be changed by renaming the binary. If you want to have a tool that repairs tables by default, you should just make a copy of mysqlcheck named mysqlrepair, or make a symbolic link to mysqlcheck named mysqlrepair. If you invoke mysqlrepair, it repairs tables.

The names shown in the following table can be used to change mysqlcheck default behavior.

mysqlcheck supports the following options, which can be specified on the command line or in the [mysqlcheck] and [client] groups of an option file. For information about option files used by MySQL programs, see Section 4.2.6, "Using Option Files".

• --help, -?

Display a help message and exit.

• --all-databases, -A

Check all tables in all databases. This is the same as using the --databases option and naming all the databases on the command line, except that the INFORMATION_SCHEMA and performace_schema databases are not dumped. They can be dumped by explicitly naming them with the --databases option.

• --all-in-1, -1

Instead of issuing a statement for each table, execute a single statement for each database that names all the tables from that database to be processed.

• --analyze, -a

Analyze the tables.

• --auto-repair

If a checked table is corrupted, automatically fix it. Any necessary repairs are done after all tables have been checked.

• --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 5.6.1.

• --character-sets-dir=dir_name

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

• --check, -c

Check the tables for errors. This is the default operation.

• --check-only-changed, -C

Check only tables that have changed since the last check or that have not been closed properly.

• --check-upgrade, -g

Invoke CHECK TABLE with the FOR UPGRADE option to check tables for incompatibilities with the current version of the server. This option automatically enables the --fix-db-names and --fix-table-names options.

• --compress

Compress all information sent between the client and the server if both support compression.

• --databases, -B

Process all tables in the named databases. Normally, mysqlcheck treats the first name argument on the command line as a database name and any following names as table names. With this option, it treats all name arguments as database names.

This option may be used to dump the INFORMATION_SCHEMA and performace_schema databases, which normally are not dumped even with the --all-databases option. (Also use the --skip-lock-tables option.)

• --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.

• --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-character-set=charset_name

Use charset_name as the default character set. See Section 10.5, "Character Set Configuration".

• --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. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full 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. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full 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, mysqlcheck normally reads the [client] and [mysqlcheck] groups. If the --defaults-group-suffix=_other option is given, mysqlcheck also reads the [client_other] and [mysqlcheck_other] groups.

• --extended, -e

If you are using this option to check tables, it ensures that they are 100% consistent but takes a long time.

If you are using this option to repair tables, it runs an extended repair that may not only take a long time to execute, but may produce a lot of garbage rows also!

• --default-auth=plugin

A hint about the client-side authentication plugin to use. See Section 6.3.7, "Pluggable Authentication".

This option was added in MySQL 5.6.2.

• --enable-cleartext-plugin

Enable the mysql_clear_password cleartext authentication plugin. (See Section 6.4.1.7, "The Cleartext Client-Side Authentication Plugin".)

This option was added in MySQL 5.6.28.

• --fast, -F

Check only tables that have not been closed properly.

• --fix-db-names

Convert database names to 5.1 format. Only database names that contain special characters are affected.

• --fix-table-names

Convert table names to 5.1 format. Only table names that contain special characters are affected. This option also applies to views.

• --force, -f

Continue even if an SQL error occurs.

• --host=host_name, -h host_name

Connect to the MySQL server on the given host.

• --login-path=name

Read options from the named login path in the .mylogin.cnf login path file. A "login path" is an option group containing options that specify which MySQL server to connect to and which account to authenticate as. To create or modify a login path file, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See mysql_config_editor(1). This option was added in MySQL 5.6.6.

• --medium-check, -m

Do a check that is faster than an --extended operation. This finds only 99.99% of all errors, which should be good enough in most cases.

• --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.

The exception is that the .mylogin.cnf file, if it exists, is read in all cases. This permits passwords to be specified in a safer way than on the command line even when --no-defaults is used. (.mylogin.cnf is created by the mysql_config_editor utility. See mysql_config_editor(1).)

• --optimize, -o

Optimize the tables.

• --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, mysqlcheck 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.

• --pipe, -W

On Windows, connect to the server using a named pipe. This option applies only if the server supports named-pipe connections.

• --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 mysqlcheck does not find it. See Section 6.3.7, "Pluggable Authentication".

This option was added in MySQL 5.6.2.

• --port=port_num, -P port_num

The TCP/IP port number to use for the connection.

• --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".

• --quick, -q

If you are using this option to check tables, it prevents the check from scanning the rows to check for incorrect links. This is the fastest check method.

If you are using this option to repair tables, it tries to repair only the index tree. This is the fastest repair method.

• --repair, -r

Perform a repair that can fix almost anything except unique keys that are not unique.

• --secure-auth

Do not send passwords to the server in old (pre-4.1) format. This prevents connections except for servers that use the newer password format. This option is enabled by default; use --skip-secure-auth to disable it. This option was added in MySQL 5.6.17.

Note
Passwords that use the pre-4.1 hashing method are less secure than passwords that use the native password hashing method and should be avoided. Pre-4.1 passwords are deprecated and support for them will be removed in a future MySQL release. For account upgrade instructions, see Section 6.4.1.3, "Migrating Away from Pre-4.1 Password Hashing and the mysql_old_password Plugin".

• --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.

• --silent, -s

Silent mode. Print only error messages.

• --skip-database=db_name

Do not include the named database (case sensitive) in the operations performed by mysqlcheck. This option was added in MySQL 5.6.11.

• --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.

• --ssl*

Options that begin with --ssl specify whether to connect to the server using SSL and indicate where to find SSL keys and certificates. See Section 6.3.9.5, "Command Options for Secure Connections".

• --tables

Override the --databases or -B option. All name arguments following the option are regarded as table names.

• --use-frm

For repair operations on MyISAM tables, get the table structure from the .frm file so that the table can be repaired even if the .MYI header is corrupted.

• --user=user_name, -u user_name

The MySQL user name to use when connecting to the server.

• --verbose, -v

Verbose mode. Print information about the various stages of program operation.

• --version, -V

Display version information and exit.

• --write-binlog

This option is enabled by default, so that ANALYZE TABLE, OPTIMIZE TABLE, and REPAIR TABLE statements generated by mysqlcheck are written to the binary log. Use --skip-write-binlog to cause NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG to be added to the statements so that they are not logged. Use the --skip-write-binlog when these statements should not be sent to replication slaves or run when using the binary logs for recovery from backup.