[role="xpack"]
[testenv="basic"]
[[sql-cli]]
== SQL CLI

Elasticsearch ships with a script to run the SQL CLI in its `bin` directory:

[source,bash]
--------------------------------------------------
$ ./bin/elasticsearch-sql-cli
--------------------------------------------------

The jar containing the SQL CLI is a stand alone Java application and
the scripts just launch it. You can move it around to other machines
without having to install Elasticsearch on them.

You can pass the URL of the Elasticsearch instance to connect to as
the first parameter:

[source,bash]
--------------------------------------------------
$ ./bin/elasticsearch-sql-cli https://some.server:9200
--------------------------------------------------

Once the CLI is running you can use any <<sql-spec,query>> that
Elasticsearch supports:

[source,sqlcli]
--------------------------------------------------
sql> SELECT * FROM library WHERE page_count > 500 ORDER BY page_count DESC;
     author      |        name        |  page_count   | release_date
-----------------+--------------------+---------------+---------------
Peter F. Hamilton|Pandora's Star      |768            |1078185600000
Vernor Vinge     |A Fire Upon the Deep|613            |707356800000
Frank Herbert    |Dune                |604            |-144720000000
Alastair Reynolds|Revelation Space    |585            |953078400000
James S.A. Corey |Leviathan Wakes     |561            |1306972800000
--------------------------------------------------
// TODO it'd be lovely to be able to assert that this is correct but
// that is probably more work then it is worth right now.