SQLCMD Step-by-Step Tutorial

In order to run SQLCMD, you must first open a Windows command line utility. In Windows XP, click Start > Run and then type CMD in the text box before clicking OK. In Windows Vista, click the Windows button, type CMD into the Search box and press Enter.

You should see a Windows command prompt.

Once you have a command prompt open, use the SQLCMD utility to connect to the database. In this example, we're connecting to the AdventureWorks2014 database, so we use the command:

sqlcmd -d AdventureWorks2014

This uses the default Windows credentials to connect to your database. You may also specify a username using the -U flag and a password using the -P flag. For example, you could connect to the database using the username "mike" and password "goirish" with the following command line:

sqlcmd -U mike -P goirish -d AdventureWorks2014

Begin typing a SQL statement at the 1> prompt. You can use as many lines as you want for your query, pressing the Enter key after each line. SQL Server does not execute your query until explicitly instructed to do so.

In this example, we enter the following query:

 SELECT *
FROM HumanResources.shift

When you are ready to execute your query, type the command GO on a new command line within SQLCMD and press Enter. SQLCMD executes your query and displays the results on the screen.

When you are ready to exit SQLCMD, type the command EXIT on a blank command line to return to the Windows command prompt.