Question

How do I call the following in a .sql file?

mysql -u username -h serverip db -e "select a, b, c, d from mytable" > '/home/dump/result.txt';

I will then have to convert the tab separated file to csv for which I want to use sed.

1. Is there a way to do it all in one
   line? (append sed command to convert
   the .txt file to csv)
2. How to use an
   os.system call in .sql file? Will it
   work?

Answer 1

Try this:

mysql --batch --skip-column-names -u username -h serverip db \
  -e "select a, b, c, d from mytable" \
  | sed -e 's/\t/,/g' \
  > '/home/dump/result.txt'

See docs for --batch and --skip-column-names for more info.