The txtclient is an extremely simple program with a very limited amount of functionality. Here are the various arguments and commands that can be used to control its behavior.

Command-Line Options

The command-line options are listed by typing "txtclient -x".
    -s [server port]
        The server port number to connect to.
    -h [server host]
        By default, the server is on the same host as the client.
    -p [prompt]
        What prompt do you want? 
        Default : "Q>"
    -t [0/1] timing off/on
        This is useful for performance measurements.
        Default : 1.
    -r [0/1] schema printing off/on
        Should schemas be printed before answers?
        Default : 1.
    -l [top language]
        Multiple languages will be supported in later releases.
        Default: SQL
    -b [0/1] binary printing off/on
        Should data be printed in binary (vs ascii) form?
        Default : 0.
    -u [user name]
        This is for future use.

Commands Supported

Any input typed at the txtclient prompt is sent to the server. However, the following special commands are exceptions that are interpreted at the client. Note that all of them begin with an underscore "_" and that they do not need to be terminated by a semi-colon.
_consult [filename] : read commands from [filename]
_defaults : print the defaults for the various options.
_help : print a help message
_lang [langname] : change the default language to [langname]
_label [labelstring] : tag all timer output with [labelstring]
_outfile [filename] : write outputs to [filename]
_quit : exit the client (equivalent to Ctrl-D)
_shell [command] : execute the shell command
_toggle [flag] : toggle the setting of one of the command line flags (timing, schema, binary)
_timerfile [filename] : write timings to [filename]
The use of _label is particularly useful in batch processing of timed experiments.