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mssql-scripter is the multiplatform command line equivalent of the widely used Generate Scripts Wizard experience in SSMS.
You can use mssql-scripter on Linux, macOS, and Windows to generate data definition language (DDL) and data manipulation language (DML) T-SQL scripts for database objects in SQL Server running anywhere, Azure SQL Database, and Azure SQL Data Warehouse. You can save the generated T-SQL script to a .sql file or pipe it to standard *nix utilities (for example, sed, awk, grep) for further transformations. You can edit the generated script or check it into source control and subsequently execute the script in your existing SQL database deployment processes and DevOps pipelines with standard multiplatform SQL command line tools such as sqlcmd.
For option parameters, pass in '-h':
$ mssql-scripter -h
usage: mssql-scripter [-h] [--connection-string | -S ] [-d] [-U] [-P] [-f]
[--file-per-object] [--data-only | --schema-and-data]
[--script-create | --script-drop | --script-drop-create]
[--target-server-version {2005,2008,2008R2,2012,2014,2016,vNext,AzureDB,AzureDW}]
[--target-server-edition {Standard,Personal,Express,Enterprise,Stretch}]
[--include-objects [[...]]] [--exclude-objects [[...]]]
[--include-schemas [[...]]] [--exclude-schemas [[...]]]
[--include-types [[...]]] [--exclude-types [[...]]]
[--ansi-padding] [--append] [--check-for-existence] [-r]
[--convert-uddts] [--include-dependencies]
[--exclude-headers] [--constraint-names]
[--unsupported-statements]
[--disable-schema-qualification] [--bindings]
[--collation] [--exclude-defaults]
[--exclude-extended-properties] [--logins]
[--object-permissions] [--owner]
[--exclude-use-database] [--statistics]
[--change-tracking] [--exclude-check-constraints]
[--data-compressions] [--exclude-foreign-keys]
[--exclude-full-text-indexes] [--exclude-indexes]
[--exclude-primary-keys] [--exclude-triggers]
[--exclude-unique-keys] [--display-progress]
[--enable-toolsservice-logging] [--version]
Microsoft SQL Server Scripter Command Line Tool. Version 1.0.0a14
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--connection-string Connection string of database to script. If connection
string and server are not supplied, defaults to value
in environment variable
MSSQL_SCRIPTER_CONNECTION_STRING.
-S , --server Server name.
-d , --database Database name.
-U , --user Login ID for server.
-P , --password If not supplied, defaults to value in environment
variable MSSQL_SCRIPTER_PASSWORD.
-f , --file-path File to script out to or directory name if scripting
file per object.
--file-per-object By default script to a single file. If supplied and
given a directory for --file-path, script a file per
object to that directory.
--data-only By default only the schema is scripted. if supplied,
generate scripts that contains data only.
--schema-and-data By default only the schema is scripted. if supplied,
generate scripts that contain schema and data.
--script-create Script object CREATE statements.
--script-drop Script object DROP statements.
--script-drop-create Script object CREATE and DROP statements.
--target-server-version {2005,2008,2008R2,2012,2014,2016,vNext,AzureDB,AzureDW}
Script only features compatible with the specified SQL
Version.
--target-server-edition {Standard,Personal,Express,Enterprise,Stretch}
Script only features compatible with the specified SQL
Server database edition.
--include-objects [ [ ...]]
Database objects to include in script.
--exclude-objects [ [ ...]]
Database objects to exclude from script.
--include-schemas [ [ ...]]
Database objects of this schema to include in script.
--exclude-schemas [ [ ...]]
Database objects of this schema to exclude from
script.
--include-types [ [ ...]]
Database objects of this type to include in script.
--exclude-types [ [ ...]]
Database objects of this type to exclude from script.
--ansi-padding Generates ANSI Padding statements.
--append Append script to file.
--check-for-existence
Check that an object with the given name exists before
dropping or altering or that an object with the given
name does not exist before creating.
-r, --continue-on-error
Continue scripting on error.
--convert-uddts Convert user-defined data types to base types.
--include-dependencies
Generate script for the dependent objects for each
object scripted.
--exclude-headers Exclude descriptive headers for each object scripted.
--constraint-names Include system constraint names to enforce declarative
referential integrity.
--unsupported-statements
Include statements in the script that are not
supported on the target SQL Server Version.
--disable-schema-qualification
Do not prefix object names with the object schema.
--bindings Script options to set binding options.
--collation Script the objects that use collation.
--exclude-defaults Do not script the default values.
--exclude-extended-properties
Exclude extended properties for each object scripted.
--logins Script all logins available on the server, passwords
will not be scripted.
--object-permissions Generate object-level permissions.
--owner Script owner for the objects.
--exclude-use-database
Do not generate USE DATABASE statement.
--statistics Script all statistics.
--change-tracking Script the change tracking information.
--exclude-check-constraints
Exclude check constraints for each table or view
scripted.
--data-compressions Script the data compression information.
--exclude-foreign-keys
Exclude foreign keys for each table scripted.
--exclude-full-text-indexes
Exclude full-text indexes for each table or indexed
view scripted.
--exclude-indexes Exclude indexes (XML and clustered) for each table or
indexed view scripted.
--exclude-primary-keys
Exclude primary keys for each table or view scripted.
--exclude-triggers Exclude triggers for each table or view scripted.
--exclude-unique-keys
Exclude unique keys for each table or view scripted.
--display-progress Display scripting progress.
--enable-toolsservice-logging
Enable verbose logging.
--version show program's version number and exit
Below are example commands that run against the AdventureWorks database. Here is the list of examples:
Dump database object schema and data
Pipe a generated script to sed
# generate DDL scripts for all objects in the Adventureworks database and save the script to a file
mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U sa
# alternatively, specify the schema only flag to generate DDL scripts for all objects in the Adventureworks database and save the script to a file
mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U sa -f ./adventureworks.sql
# generate DDL scripts for all objects in the Adventureworks database and save the script to stdout.
mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U sa --data-only
# script the database schema and data piped to a file.
mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U sa --schema-and-data > ./adventureworks.sql
# execute the generated above script with sqlcmd
sqlcmd -S mytestserver -U sa -i ./adventureworks.sql
# generate DDL scripts for objects that contain 'Employee' in their name to stdout
mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U sa --include-objects Employee
# generate DDL scripts for the dbo schema and pipe the output to a file
mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U sa --include-objects dbo. > ./dboschema.sql
# generate DDL scripts for objects that do not contain 'Sale' in their name to stdout
mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U sa --exclude-objects Sale
# generate DDL scripts for stored procedures to stdout
# The list of object types is specified in the DatabaseObjectTypes Enum of Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo
# https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.sqlserver.management.smo.databaseobjecttypes?view=sql-smo-160
mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U sa --include-types StoredProcedure
# specify the version of SQL Server the script will be run against
mssql-scripter -S myServer -d AdventureWorks -U myUser –-target-server-version "AzureDB" > myData.sql
# specify the edition of SQL Server the script will be run against
mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U myUser –-target-server-edition "Enterprise" > myData.sql
Note this example is for Linux and macOS usage.
# change a schema name in the generated DDL script
# 1) generate DDL scripts for all objects in the Adventureworks database
# 2) pipe generated script to sed and change all occurrences of SalesLT to SalesLT_test and save the script to a file
$ mssql-scripter -S localhost -d Adventureworks -U sa | sed -e "s/SalesLT./SalesLT_test./g" > adventureworks_SalesLT_test.sql
# script all the data to a file.
mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U sa --data-only > ./adventureworks-data.sql
You can set environment variables for your connection string through the following steps:
# (linux/bash)
# set environment variable MSSQL_SCRIPTER_CONNECTION_STRING with a connection string.
$ export MSSQL_SCRIPTER_CONNECTION_STRING='Server=myserver;Database=mydb;User Id=myuser;Password=mypassword;'
$ mssql-scripter
# (linux/bash)
# set environment variable MSSQL_SCRIPTER_PASSWORD so no password input is required.
$ export MSSQL_SCRIPTER_PASSWORD='[PLACEHOLDER]'
$ mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U sa
# (windows)
# set environment variable MSSQL_SCRIPTER_CONNECTION_STRING with a connection string.
$Env:MSSQL_SCRIPTER_CONNECTION_STRING = 'Server=myserver;Database=mydb;User Id=myuser;Password=mypassword;'
mssql-scripter
# (windows)
# set environment variable MSSQL_SCRIPTER_PASSWORD so no password input is required.
$Env:MSSQL_SCRIPTER_PASSWORD = "placeholder"
mssql-scripter -S localhost -d AdventureWorks -U sa