Commands

This page lists all database commands that are supported by BaseX. Database commands can either be run from the Command Line, the Language Bindings, JAX-RX, the input field in the GUI, or in many other ways. If the GUI is used, all commands that are triggered by the GUI itself will show up in the Info View.

The Permissions indicate which rights are required by a user to perform a command in the client/server architecture. A shortcut exists for some of the command keywords. For example, you may replace the DATABASE keyword with DB.

ADD

Signature	ADD (AS [name]) (TO [target]) [input]
Permission	WRITE
Summary	Adds the files, directory or XML string specified by [input] to the currently opened database, using an optional [target] path and an optional file [name]. The input may either be a single XML document, a directory, a remote URL or a plain XML string. The optional name is ignored if the input is a directory.
Errors	The command fails if one of the documents to be added is not well-formed or cannot be parsed for some other reason.
Examples	ADD input.xml adds the file input.xml to the database. ADD AS one.xml TO temp input.xml adds input.xml to the database and moves it to temp/one.xml. ADD TO new xmldir adds all files in the xmldir source directory to the database and moves them to to the target directory new.

ALTER DATABASE

Signature	ALTER DATABASE [name] [newname]
Permission	CREATE
Summary	Renames the database specified by [name] to [newname].
Errors	The command fails if one of the specified database names is invalid, if the target database exists already, if the source database is not found or currently locked, or if it cannot be renamed for some other reason.
Examples	ALTER DATABASE db tempdb renames the database db into tempdb.

ALTER USER

Signature	ALTER USER [name] ([password])
Permission	ADMIN
Summary	Alters the [password] of the user specified with [name]. If no password is specified in the console mode, it is requested via standard input.

BACKUP

Signature	BACKUP [name]
Permission	CREATE
Summary	Creates a zipped backup of the specified database. The backup file will be suffixed with the current timestamp.

CHECK

Signature	CHECK [input]
Permission	CREATE
Summary	Opens an existing database for the specified [input] or creates a new instance.

CLOSE

Signature	CLOSE
Permission	NONE
Summary	Closes the currently opened database.

COPY

Signature	COPY [name] [newname]
Permission	CREATE
Summary	Creates a copy of the database specified by [name].

CREATE DATABASE

Signature	CREATE DATABASE [name] ([input])
Permission	CREATE
Summary	Creates the database [name] with an optional [input]. The input may either be a single XML document, a directory, a remote URL or a plain XML string.
Errors	The command fails if one of the documents to be added is not well-formed or cannot be parsed for some other reason.

CREATE INDEX

Signature	CREATE INDEX [TEXT|ATTRIBUTE|FULLTEXT|PATH]
Permission	WRITE
Summary	Creates the specified database index.

CREATE USER

Signature	CREATE USER [name] ([password]):
Permission	ADMIN
Summary	Creates a user with the specified [name] and [password]. If no password is specified in the console mode, it is requested via standard input.

CS

Signature	CS [query]
Permission	depends on query
Summary	Evaluates the specified [query] and sets the result as new context set.

DELETE

Signature	DELETE [path]
Permission	WRITE
Summary	Deletes all documents from the currently opened database that start with the specified [path].

DROP BACKUP

Signature	DROP BACKUP [name]
Permission	CREATE
Summary	Drops all backups for the database with the specified [name].

DROP DATABASE

Signature	DROP DATABASE [name]
Permission	CREATE
Summary	Drops the database with the specified [name].

DROP INDEX

Signature	DROP INDEX [PATH|TEXT|ATTRIBUTE|FULLTEXT]
Permission	WRITE
Summary	Drops the specified database index.

DROP USER

Signature	DROP USER [name] (ON [database]):
Permission	ADMIN
Summary	Drops the user with the specified [name]. If a [database] is specified, the user is only dropped locally.

EXIT

Signature	EXIT
Permission	NONE
Summary	Exits the console mode.

EXPORT

Signature	EXPORT [path]
Permission	CREATE
Summary	Exports all documents in the database to the specified [path].

FIND

Signature	FIND [keywords]
Permission	READ
Summary	Builds and runs a query for the specified [keywords]. The following modifiers can be used to further limit search: = looks for exact text nodes @= looks for exact attributes @ looks for attributes

GET

Signature	GET [option]
Permission	NONE
Summary	Returns the value of the specified [option]. A list of all options is available here.

GRANT

Signature	GRANT [NONE|READ|WRITE|CREATE|ADMIN] (ON [database]) TO [user]
Permission	ADMIN
Summary	Grants the specified permission to the specified [user]. If a [database] is specified, the permissions are only granted locally.

HELP

Signature	HELP ([command])
Permission	NONE
Summary	If [command] is specified, information on the specific command is printed; otherwise, all commands are listed.

INFO

Signature	INFO
Permission	READ
Summary	Shows global information.

INFO DATABASE

Signature	INFO DATABASE
Permission	READ
Summary	Shows information on the currently opened database.

INFO INDEX

Signature	ATTRIBUTE|FULLTEXT|PATH])
Permission	READ
Summary	Shows information on the existing index structures. The output can be optionally limited to the specified index.

INFO STORAGE

Signature	[query]
Permission	READ
Summary	Shows the internal main table of the currently opened database.

KILL

Signature	KILL [name]
Permission	ADMIN
Summary	Kills all sessions of the user specified by [name].

LIST

Signature	LIST ([path])
Permission	NONE
Summary	Lists all available databases, or the documents in a database. [path] is the name of the database, optionally followed by a path to the requested documents.

OPEN

Signature	OPEN [path]
Permission	READ
Summary	Opens the documents in a database. [path] is the name of the database, optionally followed by a path to the requested documents.

OPTIMIZE

Signature	OPTIMIZE (ALL)
Permission	WRITE
Summary	Optimizes the current database structures. If the ALL flag is specified, the size of all database files is minimized.

PASSWORD

Signature	PASSWORD ([password])
Permission	NONE
Summary	Changes the [password] of the current user. If no password is specified in the console mode, it is requested via standard input.

RESTORE

Signature	RESTORE [name]
Permission	CREATE
Summary	Restores a database with the specified [name]. The name may include the timestamp of the backup file.

RUN

Signature	RUN [file]
Permission	depends on query
Summary	Runs the query contained in [file] and prints the result.

SET

Signature	SET [option] ([value])
Permission	NONE
Summary	Sets an [option] to the specified [value]. A list of all options is available here.

SHOW BACKUPS

Signature	SHOW BACKUPS
Permission	CREATE
Summary	Shows all database backups.

SHOW DATABASES

Signature	SHOW DATABASES
Permission	ADMIN
Summary	Shows all databases that are opened in the current server instance.

SHOW SESSIONS

Signature	SHOW SESSIONS
Permission	ADMIN
Summary	Shows all sessions that are connected to the current server instance.

SHOW USERS

Signature	SHOW USERS (ON [database])
Permission	ADMIN
Summary	Shows all users that are registered in the database. If a [database] is specified, local users are shown.

XQUERY

Signature	XQUERY [query]
Permission	depends on query
Summary	Runs the specified [query] and prints the result.
Examples	XQUERY 1 to 10 returns the sequence (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10).