EXAplus CLI

Learn how to install and use the EXAplus CLI client.

EXAplus is a simple command line interface client for running SQL statements in Exasol. EXAplus is a Java console application and is available in versions for Windows and Linux on the Exasol Download Portal. The Linux version also runs on FreeBSD and macOS.

This article explains how to install the EXAplus client and connect to the database. To learn more about how to use EXAplus, see EXAplus commands.

Prerequisites

  • Your Exasol database must be running and reachable from the environment where the tool is used.

  • For correct formatting of special Unicode characters (such as CJK characters), a font capable of displaying those characters must be installed.

Exasol SaaS

  • The IP address of the host where the tool is running must be in the allowed IP address list in Exasol SaaS. To learn how to allow traffic to your database, see Network security (SaaS).

  • To connect the tool to an Exasol SaaS cluster you will need the connection string and a personal access token (PAT) for authentication. To learn how to get the connection details, see Connect to Exasol SaaS.

Install EXAplus on Windows

Additional prerequisites on Windows

  • You must have administrator privileges in Windows to install the application.

  • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 Client Profile must be installed.

  • EXAplus requires a Java runtime environment for execution. EXAplus is tested on Windows with Java 8, 11, 17, 21, and 24.

    We recommend that you select support for additional languages when installing Java.

Procedure

  1. Uninstall any existing versions of the EXAplus client.

  2. Download the latest version of EXAplus from the Exasol Downloads Portal and run the installer.

  3. Once EXAplus is installed, run the application from the Windows Start menu.

    You can also open a command line shell (cmd or PowerShell) and run the exaplusx64.exe executable from the EXAplus installation directory. The default location is C:\Program Files\Exasol\EXAplus.

    When starting EXAplus from the command line, you can provide additional parameters to select different options when connecting to the database. To see all the available command-line parameters, use exaplusx64.exe -help.

  4. Enter the database name, the username and password for the Exasol user, and the connection string for the database. If the connection uses a TLS certificate and a valid certification path is not found, include the certificate fingerprint in the connection string.

    For Exasol SaaS, use the connection string provided in the web console as hostname and a valid personal access token (PAT) as password.

    Example:
    Copy
    PS C:\Program Files\Exasol\EXAplus> .\exaplusx64.exe
    EXAplus 25.2.5 (c) EXASOL AG

    Database (Exasol): Exasol
    User (username): sys
    Password: ******
    Connection String (localhost:8563): 203.0.113.10/<fingerprint>:8563

    You can also run the JAR executable file directly from the command line using java -jar exaplus.jar. In this case the connection string and any command line parameters must be added after the JAR file path.

    Copy
    java -jar exaplus.jar -c <hostname><fingerprint>:8563 -u <user> -P <password>

Install EXAplus on Linux/macOS/FreeBSD

Additional prerequisites for Linux/macOS/FreeBSD

  • Java 8 or higher must be installed and the java executable must be included in your PATH.

  • To input Japanese characters using SCIM, we recommend installing SCIM version 1.4.7 or later. Scim-Anthy for Japanese character support should be version 1.2.4 or later.

Environments

EXAplus has been tested on the following systems/distributions with the specified Java versions:

Linux (64-bit)

OpenJDK JVM 8 and JVM 11

  • Red Hat / CentOS 7

  • Red Hat / CentOS 8 Stream

  • OpenSUSE Leap 15.2

  • Debian 10

  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

  • Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

macOS (64-bit)

OpenJDK JVM 8 and JVM 16

  • macOS Catalina (10.15)

  • macOS Big Sur (11.6.1)

  • macOS Monterey (12.0.1)

FreeBSD (64-bit)

OpenJDK JVM 8

  • FreeBSD 12.2

Procedure

  1. Download the latest version of EXAplus for Linux from the Exasol Downloads Portal.

  2. Use tar -xzf <filename> to extract the downloaded archive.

  3. Change into the directory where the EXAplus files were extracted.

  4. Enter the connection details to connect to Exasol database. If the connection uses a TLS certificate and a valid certification path is not found, include the certificate fingerprint in the connection string.

    For Exasol SaaS, use the connection string provided in the web console as hostname and a valid personal access token (PAT) as password.

Example:
Copy
tar -xzf EXAplus-25.2.5.tar.gz
cd EXAplus-25.2.5
./exaplus -c 203.0.113.10/<fingerprint>:8563 -u <username> -p <password>

You can provide additional parameters with the exaplus command to select different options when connecting to the database. To see all the available command-line parameters, use exaplus -help.

How to use EXAplus

After successfully connecting to the database, an interactive session is started where you can send SQL commands or EXAplus commands to the database. Result tables will be displayed as text.

When using some command-line options, such as -f, an interactive session will not be started.

Example:
Copy
EXAplus 25.2.5 (c) EXASOL AG

Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at 7:07:09 PM Central European Standard Time
Connected to database Exasol as user sys.
EXASolution 2025.1.4 (c) EXASOL AG

SQL_EXA>
SQL_EXA> select * from exa_syscat;
EXA: select * from exa_syscat;

SCHEMA_NAME
--------------------------------------------------------------
OBJECT_NAME                                                    OBJECT_TYPE
-------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------
OBJECT_COMMENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYS
EXA_SQL_KEYWORDS                                               TABLE
This system table contains all SQL keywords in EXASolution.
SYS
EXA_SPATIAL_REF_SYS                                            TABLE
List of supported spatial reference systems.
SYS
EXA_DBA_SCHEMAS                                                TABLE
This system table lists all the schemas of the database.

Usage notes

  • To exit EXAplus, use the commands EXIT or QUIT.
  • All commands except EXIT and QUIT have to end with a semicolon ; except function and script definitions, which must be finished by a forward slash (/) on a new line.
  • To abort multi-line commands, use Control+T.
  • You can use the TAB key for autocompletion of some commands.
  • To view the command history, use the up/down arrow keys.

Next steps

After connecting EXAplus CLI to Exasol, you can start loading data into the Exasol database. To learn more, see Load data.