arangodb/Documentation/UserManual/Arangosh.md

The ArangoDB Shell

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ArangoDB Shell Introduction

The ArangoDB shell (arangosh) is a command-line tool that can be used for administration of ArangoDB, including running ad-hoc queries.

The arangosh binary is shipped with ArangoDB and can be invoked like so:

unix> arangosh

By default arangosh will try to connect to an ArangoDB server running on server localhost on port 8529. It will use the username root and an empty password by default. Additionally it will connect to the default database (_system). All these defaults can be changed using the following command-line options:

• --server.database <string>: name of the database to connect to
• --server.endpoint <string>: endpoint to connect to
• --server.username <string>: database username
• --server.password <string>: password to use when connecting
• --server.disable-authentication <bool>: disable password prompt and authentication

For example, to connect to an ArangoDB server on IP 192.168.173.13 on port 8530 with the user foo and using the database test, use:

unix> arangosh  \
  --server.endpoint tcp://192.168.173.13:8530  \
  --server.username foo  \
  --server.database test  \
  --server.disable-authentication false

arangosh will then display a password prompt and try to connect to the server after the password was entered.

To change the current database after the connection has been made, you can use the db._useDatabase() command in arangosh:

arangosh> db._useDatabase("myapp");

To get a list of available commands, arangosh provides a help() function. Calling it will display helpful information.

arangosh also provides auto-completion. Additional information on available commands and methods is thus provided by typing the first few letters of a variable and then pressing the tab key. It is recommend to try this with entering db. (without pressing return) and then pressing tab.

By the way, arangosh provides the db object by default, and this object can be used for switching to a different database and managing collections inside the current database.

For a list of available methods for the db object, type

arangosh> db._help(); 

ArangoDB Shell Output

In general the ArangoDB shell prints its output to the standard output channel using the JSON stringifier.

arangosh> db.five.toArray();
[{ "_id" : "five/3665447", "_rev" : "3665447", "name" : "one" }, 
{ "_id" : "five/3730983", "_rev" : "3730983", "name" : "two" }, 
{ "_id" : "five/3862055", "_rev" : "3862055", "name" : "four" }, 
{ "_id" : "five/3993127", "_rev" : "3993127", "name" : "three" }]

@CLEARPAGE @FUN{start_pretty_print()}

While the standard JSON stringifier is very concise it is hard to read. Calling the function @FN{start_pretty_print} will enable the pretty printer which formats the output in a human-readable way.

arangosh> start_pretty_print();
using pretty printing
arangosh> db.five.toArray();
[
  { 
    "_id" : "five/3665447", 
    "_rev" : "3665447", 
    "name" : "one"
  }, 
  { 
    "_id" : "five/3730983", 
    "_rev" : "3730983", 
    "name" : "two"
  }, 
  { 
    "_id" : "five/3862055", 
    "_rev" : "3862055", 
    "name" : "four"
  }, 
  { 
    "_id" : "five/3993127", 
    "_rev" : "3993127", 
    "name" : "three"
  }
]

@CLEARPAGE @FUN{stop_pretty_print()}

The function disables the pretty printer, switching back to the standard dense JSON output format.

ArangoDB Shell Configuration

arangosh will look for a user-defined startup script named .arangosh.rc in the user's home directory on startup. If the file is present arangosh will execute the contents of this file inside the global scope.

You can use this to define your own extra variables and functions that you need often. For example, you could put the following into the .arangosh.rc file in your home directory:

// var keyword omitted intentionally,
// otherwise "timed" would not survive the scope of this script
timed = function (cb) {
  var internal = require("internal");
  var start = internal.time();
  cb();
  internal.print("execution took: ", internal.time() - start);
};

This will make a function named timed available in arangosh in the global scope.

You can now start arangosh and invoke the function like this:

timed(function () { 
  for (var i = 0; i < 1000; ++i) {
    db.test.save({ value: i }); 
  }
});

Please keep in mind that, if present, the .arangosh.rc file needs to contain valid JavaScript code. If you want any variables in the global scope to survive you need to omit the var keyword for them. Otherwise the variables will only be visible inside the script itself, but not outside.

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