Command-Line Options

This page gives an overview on all command-line options of the BaseX Startup scripts:

BaseX Server

Console command

> basexserver

If the server has been succesfully started, this is coming up:

BaseX [Server]
Server was started.

Additional command-line flags can be listed by adding -h to the call:

> basexserver -h

Usage: BaseXServer [-dpsz] [-c] [stop]
  stop     Stop existing server
  -c<cmd>  Execute initial database command(s)
  -d       Activate debugging mode
  -i       Enter interactive mode
  -p<num>  Set server port
  -s       Start as service
  -z       Suppress logging

The command-line flags have the following meaning:

Flag	Description	Examples
stop	Stop an existing server instance; remaining input is ignored.
-c<cmd>	Launch database commands before the server itself is started; all remaining text is interpreted as command input. Several commands can be separated by semicolons.	-c"open database;info"
-d	Turn on debugging. Debugging information is output to standard error (STDERR).
-i	Interactively enter commands on the console, similar to standalone and client mode.
-p<num>	Specify the port on which the server can be addressed.	-p9999
-s	Start the server as service (i.e., in background).
-z	Do not generate log files.

BaseX Client

Launch interactive mode

> basexclient

The user name and password is requested. The default user/password combination is admin/admin:

Username: admin
Password:
> _

Available command-line flags can be listed by adding -h to the call:

> basexclient -h

Usage: BaseXClient [-npPU] [-dovVwz] [-cq] [file]
  [file]     Execute XQuery file
  -c<cmd>    Execute database command(s)
  -d         Activate debugging mode
  -n<name>   Set server (host) name
  -o<file>   Write output to file
  -p<num>    Set server port
  -P<pass>   Specify user password
  -q<expr>   Execute XQuery expression
  -U<name>   Specify user name
  -v/V       Show (all) process info
  -w         Retain whitespaces from source files
  -z         Skip XQuery serialization

The command-line flags have the following meaning:

Flag	Description	Examples
[file]	Execute the specified XQuery file.
-c<cmd>	Launch database commands and skip interactive mode. The flag should be placed last, all remaining characters are interpreted as commands. Several commands can be separated by semicolons.	-c"list;info"
-d	Turn on debugging. Debugging information is output to standard error (STDERR).
-n<name>	Specify the server name on which the server is running.	-nserver.basex.org
-o<file>	Command and query output is written to the specified file.	-p9999
-p<num>	Specify the port on which the server is running.	-p9999
-P<pass>	Specify the user password. Warning: when the password is specified on command-line, it may be visible to others.	-Uadmin -Padmin
-q<expr>	Execute the specified string as XQuery expression. The flag should be placed last, as all remaining characters are interpreted as XQuery.	-q"doc('input')//head"
-U<name>	Specify the user name.	-Uadmin
-v	Process information is written to standard output (STDOUT).
-V	Detailed query information is written to standard output (STDOUT), including compilation and profiling steps.
-w	By default, whitespaces around text nodes are chopped when a database is created. This flag can be specified to suppress chopping.
-z	Skip the serialization of XQuery results. This flag may be useful for analyzing query plans.

BaseX Standalone

Launch the interactive mode

> basex

Available command-line options can be listed with the -h flag:

> basex -h

Usage: BaseX [-diosuvVwz] [-cq] [file]
  [file]     Execute XQuery file
  -c<cmd>    Execute database command(s)
  -d         Activate debugging mode
  -i<input>  Open initial file or database
  -o<file>   Write output to file
  -q<expr>   Execute XQuery expression
  -s<pars>   Set serialization parameter(s)
  -u         Modifiy original files after updates
  -v/V       Show (all) process info
  -w         Retain whitespaces from source files
  -z         Skip output of results

The command-line flags have the following meaning:

Flag	Description	Examples
[file]	Execute the specified XQuery file.
-c<cmd>	Launch database commands and skip interactive mode. The flag should be placed last, as all remaining characters are interpreted as commands. Several commands can be separated by semicolons.	-c"list;info"
-d	Turn on debugging. Debugging information is output to standard error.
-i<input>	Open a database or XML document specified by the argument. The opened input may be further processed by an XQuery expression.	-iitems.xml -q"//item"
-o<file>	Command and query output is written to the specified file.	-p9999
-q<expr>	Execute the specified string as XQuery expression. The flag should be placed last, as all remaining characters are interpreted as XQuery.	-q"doc('input')//head"
-s<pars>	Specify parameters for serializing XQuery results, as specified in the W3C XQuery Serialization document. Key/value pairs are separated by equality signs (=).	-smethod=text
-u	Modify original files after evaluating XQuery Update expressions.
-v	Process information is written to standard output.
-V	Detailed query information is written to standard output, including compilation and profiling steps.
-w	By default, whitespaces around text nodes are chopped when a database is created. This flag can be specified to suppress chopping.
-z	Skip the serialization of XQuery results. This flag may be useful for analyzing query plans.