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POmysql command with the -H flag is translating column values to HTML safe strings
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  1. POmysql command with the -H flag is translating column values to HTML safe strings
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    copied!<p>There seems to be a feature that has been added in mysql's client command line v14.12 which causes the output columns to be converted to web safe output when the -H flag is being used. This is clearly a safety feature but in my case I am using CONCAT to create intentional html links etc. within some of the columns. Is there a way to turn this apparently new feature off? This problem has arisen in a set of scripts in a shared hosting environment.</p> <p>Extracting a simpler example:</p> <pre><code>echo select \'\&lt;a\&gt;\'\; Results desirably in: select '&lt;a&gt;'; echo select \'\&lt;a\&gt;\'\; | /usr/bin/mysql -s -D database -ppassword Results desirably in: &lt;a&gt; echo select \'\&lt;a\&gt;\'\; | /usr/bin/mysql -H -s -D database -ppassword Results UNDESIRABLY in: &lt;TABLE BORDER=1&gt;&lt;TR&gt;&lt;TH&gt;&amp;lt;a&amp;gt;&lt;/TH&gt;&lt;/TR&gt;&lt;TR&gt;&lt;TD&gt;&amp;lt;a&amp;gt;&lt;/TD&gt;&lt;/TR&gt;&lt;/TABLE&gt; </code></pre> <p>WHAT I WANT, AND USE TO GET IS</p> <pre><code>&lt;TABLE BORDER=1&gt;&lt;TR&gt;&lt;TH&gt;&lt;a&gt;&lt;/TH&gt;&lt;/TR&gt;&lt;TR&gt;&lt;TD&gt;&lt;a&gt;&lt;/TD&gt;&lt;/TR&gt;&lt;/TABLE&gt; </code></pre> <p>which I know isn't valid HTML in this example but in my more complex real examples it is a full set of matched anchor tags with labels not just a single &lt;a&gt; in the cell.</p> <p>I want to continue to use the -H flag as I have a large number of scripts yielding simple internal web readable reports that have links to related reports etc. built with CONCAT in the SQL results.</p> <p>It seems to me that the behavior of -H has changed in 14.12 and I can find no mechanism to switch it off. The --raw/-r flag has no effect on the behavior.</p> <p>Is the -H flag irrecoverably broken or is there a workaround? I'm currently using </p> <pre><code>sed -e 's/\&amp;lt;/&lt;/g' | sed -e 's/\&amp;gt;/&gt;/g' </code></pre> <p>but there must be a better way within the options of the mysql command itself?</p> <p>For reference:</p> <pre><code>/usr/bin/mysql -V /usr/bin/mysql Ver 14.12 Distrib 5.0.51a, for debian-linux-gnu (i486) using readline 5.2 mysql&gt; status; -------------- /usr/bin/mysql Ver 14.12 Distrib 5.0.51a, for debian-linux-gnu (i486) using readline 5.2 Connection id: 117586 Current database: database Current user: database@localhost SSL: Not in use Current pager: stdout Using outfile: '' Using delimiter: ; Server version: 5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.8 (Ubuntu) Protocol version: 10 Connection: Localhost via UNIX socket Server characterset: latin1 Db characterset: utf8 Client characterset: latin1 Conn. characterset: latin1 UNIX socket: /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock Uptime: 1 day 8 hours 22 min 47 sec Threads: 1 Questions: 4222310 Slow queries: 171 Opens: 122761 Flush tables: 1 Open tables: 64 Queries per second avg: 36.222 </code></pre>
 

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