Configuring cqlsh from a file

The cqlshrc file configures the cqlsh session when starting the utility. Use the file by default by saving it in the ~/.cassandra directory on the local computer or specify the directory that the file is in with the --cqlshrc option. Only one cqlshrc per directory.

Pre-configure the following options:

Synopsis

./cqlsh CQLSHRC="~/directory_name"

Note: Tilde (~) expands to the user's home directory; you can also specify the absolute path, for example /Users/jdoe/cqlshprofiles/west.

Table 1. Legend
Syntax conventions	Description
UPPERCASE	Literal keyword.
Lowercase	Not literal.
`Italics`	Variable value. Replace with a user-defined value.
`[]`	Optional. Square brackets ( `[]` ) surround optional command arguments. Do not type the square brackets.
`( )`	Group. Parentheses ( `( )` ) identify a group to choose from. Do not type the parentheses.
`\|`	Or. A vertical bar ( `\|` ) separates alternative elements. Type any one of the elements. Do not type the vertical bar.
`...`	Repeatable. An ellipsis ( `...` ) indicates that you can repeat the syntax element as often as required.
`'Literal string'`	Single quotation ( `'` ) marks must surround literal strings in CQL statements. Use single quotation marks to preserve upper case.
`{ key : value }`	Map collection. Braces ( `{ }` ) enclose map collections or key value pairs. A colon separates the key and the value.
`<datatype1,datatype2>`	Set, list, map, or tuple. Angle brackets ( `< >` ) enclose data types in a set, list, map, or tuple. Separate the data types with a comma.
`cql_statement;`	End CQL statement. A semicolon ( `;` ) terminates all CQL statements.
`[--]`	Separate the command line options from the command arguments with two hyphens ( `--` ). This syntax is useful when arguments might be mistaken for command line options.
`' <schema> ... </schema> '`	Search CQL only: Single quotation marks ( `'` ) surround an entire XML schema declaration.
`@xml_entity='xml_entity_type'`	Search CQL only: Identify the entity and literal value to overwrite the XML element in the schema and solrConfig files.

Using the cqlshrc.sample

A sample file is installed with Cassandra, cqlshrc.sample. The file contains all the available settings. Some settings are commented out using a single semi-colon.

To use this file:

Copy the file to the home directory.
Rename it cqlshrc.

Remove the semi-colon to uncomment an option (options must be in brackets) and corresponding settings, for example to import all CSV without a header row, uncomment [copy] and header = false:

;; Options that are common to both COPY TO and COPY FROM
[copy]

;; The string placeholder for null values
; nullval = null

;; For COPY TO, controls whether the first line in the CSV output file will
;; contain the column names.  For COPY FROM, specifies whether the first
;; line in the CSV file contains column names.
header = false

Restart the CQL shell.

Automatically logging in and selecting a keyspace

Set up credentials to automatically log in when CQL shell starts and/or choose a keyspace.

Note: Only set a user name and password for hosts that use Cassandra internal authentication, see Encrypting Cassandra with SSL.

[authentication]
username: Log in account name.
password: Log in password.
keyspace: Optional. Opens the specified keyspace. Equivalent to issuing a USE keyspace command immediately after starting cqlsh. (Does not require internal Cassandra authentication).

Changing the CQL shell display

The cqlsh console display and COPY TO date parsing settings.

[ui]

color

Shows query results with color.

on In color.

off No color.

datetimeformat

Configure the format of timestamps using Python strftime syntax.

timezone

Display timestamps in Etc/UTC.

float_precision, double_precision

Sets the number of digits displayed after the decimal point for single and double precision numbers.

Note: Increasing this to large numbers can result in unusual values.

completekey

Set the key for automatic completion of a cqlsh shell entry. Default is the tab key.

encoding

The encoding used for characters. The default is UTF8.

browser

Sets the browser for cqlsh help. If the value is not specified, cqlsh uses the default browser. Available browsers are those supported by the Python webbrowser module. For example, to use Google Chrome:

Mac OSX: browser = open -a /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app %s
Linux: browser = /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable %s

This setting can be overridden with the --browser command line option.

Forcing the CQL version

Use the specified version of CQL only.

[cql]
version: Only use the specified version of CQL.

Connecting to a CQL host

Specify the host and connection details for the CQL shell session.

[connection]
hostname: The host for the cqlsh connection.
port: The connection port. Default: 9042 (native protocol).
ssl: Always connect using SSL. Default: false.
timeout: Configures timeout in seconds when opening new connections.
request_timeout: Configures the request timeout in seconds for executing queries. Set the number of seconds of inactivity.

Limiting the field size

[csv]
field_size_limit: Set to a particular field size, such as field_size_limit = 1000000000.

Setting tracing timeout

Specify the wait time for tracing.

[tracing]
max_trace_wait: The maximum number of seconds to wait for a trace to complete.

Configuring SSL

Specify connection SSL settings.

Note: For more information, see Using cqlsh with SSL encryption for your version:

[ssl]
certfile: The path to the cassandra certificate. See Using cqlsh with SSL encryption in the Cassandra documentation (links above).
validate: Optional. Default: true.
userkey: Must be provided when require_client_auth=true in cassandra.yaml.
usercert: Must be provided when require_client_auth=true in cassandra.yaml.

Overriding SSL local settings

Overrides default certfiles in [ssl] section. Create an entry for each remote host.

[certfiles]
remote_host=path_to_cert: Specify the IP address or remote host name and path to the certificate file on your local system.

Setting common COPY TO and COPY FROM options

Settings common to both COPY TO and COPY FROM.

Also see the COPY table.

[copy]
nullval: The string placeholder for null values.
header: For COPY TO, controls whether the first line in the CSV output file contains the column names.; For COPY FROM, specifies whether the first line in the CSV file contains column names.

decimalsep: Separator for decimal values. Default value: period (.).
thousandssep: Separator for thousands digit groups. Default value: None. Default: empty string.
boolstyle: Boolean indicators for True and False. The values are case insensitive, for example: yes,no and YES,NO are the same. Default values: True,False.
numprocesses: Sets the number of child worker processes.
maxattempts: Maximum number of attempts for errors. Default value: 5.
reportfrequency: Frequency with which status is displayed in seconds. Default value: 0.25.
ratefile: Print output statistics to this file.

Setting COPY TO specific options

[copy-to]
maxrequests: Maximum number of requests each worker can process in parallel.
pagesize: Page size for fetching results.
pagetimeout: Page timeout for fetching results.
begintoken: Minimum token string for exporting data.
endtoken: Maximum token string for exporting data.
maxoutputsize: Maximum size of the output file, measured in number of lines. When set, the output file is split into segment when the value is exceeded. Use "-1" for no maximum.
encoding: The encoding used for characters. The default is UTF8.

Setting COPY FROM specific options

[copy-from]
ingestrate: Approximate ingest rate in rows per second. Must be greater than the chunk size.

maxrows: Maximum number of rows. Use "-1" for no maximum.

skiprows: Number of rows to skip.

skipcols: Comma-separated list of column names to skip.

maxparseerrors: Maximum global number of parsing errors. Use "-1" for no maximum.

maxinserterrors: Maximum global number of insert errors. Use "-1" for no maximum.

errfile: File to store all rows that are not imported. If no value is set, the information is stored in import_ks_table.err where ks is the keyspace and table is the table name.

maxbatchsize: Maximum size of an import batch.

minbatchsize: Minimum size of an import batch.

chunksize: Chunk size passed to worker processes. Default value: 1000

Setting table specific COPY TO/FROM options

Use these options to configure table specific settings; create a new entry for each table, for example to set the chunk size for cyclist names and rank:

[copy:cycling.cyclist_names]
chunksize = 1000

[copy:cycling.rank_by_year_and_name]
chunksize = 10000

[copy:keyspace_name.table_name]
chunksize: Chunk size passed to worker processes. Default value: 1000

[copy-from:keyspace_name.table_name]
ingestrate: Approximate ingest rate in rows per second. Must be greater than the chunk size.

[copy-to:keyspace_name.table_name]
pagetimeout: Page timeout for fetching results.

The location of the home directory depends on the type of installation:

Linux installations

home/.cassandra

where home is your home or client program directory.

The location of the cqlshrc.sample file depends on the type of installation:

Package installations	/etc/cassandra/cqlshrc.sample
Tarball installations	`install_location`/conf/cqlshrc.sample

The location of the cassandra.yaml file depends on the type of installation:

Package installations	/etc/cassandra/cassandra.yaml
Tarball installations	`install_location`/resources/cassandra/conf/cassandra.yaml