SDSS Command Line Query Tool

sqlcl.py is a (very) simple Python program that can run SQL queries against SkyServer. Python runs on your favourite OS including the most exotic ones. The query goes through the same .asp page that you use in the web form or using wget.

For basic SQL help, go to the Intro to SQL page

Command line examples/tutorial:

skysrv: budavari$ sqlcl.py -h
>> sqlcl << command line query tool by Tamas Budavari 
Usage: sqlcl [options] sqlfile(s)

Options:
        -s url     : URL with the ASP interface (default: pha)
        -f fmt     : set output format (html,xml,csv - default: csv)
        -q query   : specify query on the command line
        -l         : skip first line of output with column names
        -h         : show this message
        
skysrv: budavari$ sqlcl.py -q "select top 2 ra,dec from star"
ra,dec
238.60018,3.467897E-1
238.601051,-5.516095E-1

skysrv: budavari$ for i in 17 18; do \
echo "select top 2 ra,dec from star where r between "$i" and "$((i+1)) \
 > star$i.sql; done
skysrv: budavari$ sqlcl.py star??.sql
ra,dec
238.596559,-7.822902E-2
238.584209,-7.833417E-2
ra,dec
238.595337,2.787041E-1
238.594255,-1.397587E-1

skysrv: budavari$ sqlcl.py -l star??.sql
238.596559,-7.822902E-2
238.584209,-7.833417E-2
238.595337,2.787041E-1
238.594255,-1.397587E-1

Python examples/tutorial:

skysrv: budavari$ python2
Python 2.2 (#1, Apr 12 2002, 15:29:57) 
[GCC 2.96 20000731 (Red Hat Linux 7.2 2.96-109)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import sqlcl
>>> print sqlcl.query("select top 2 ra, dec from galaxy").read()
ra,dec
238.594193,-5.39169E-1
238.588016,2.669783E-1

>>> lines = sqlcl.query("select top 2 ra, dec from galaxy").readlines()
>>> data = []
>>> for line in lines[1:]: data.append(map(float,line[:-1].split(',')))
... 
>>> print data
[[238.59419299999999, -0.53916900000000001], [238.58801600000001, 0.2669783]]
>>> print data[0]
[238.59419299999999, -0.53916900000000001]
>>> print data[0][0]
238.594193
>>> print type(data[0][0])

>>> 

This should be enough to get you started, let me know if you need more help!