

<a id="confluent-lightning-query"></a>

# confluent lightning query

## Description

Run a SQL query on Lightning Tables and print the results.

Provide the SQL statement with `--sql`, or use `--file` to read the statement from a file. The query runs against the Kafka cluster set with `--cluster`, or the active Kafka cluster if the flag is not set.

The query runs synchronously. If the result is too large or takes too long to return, the command fails instead of starting an asynchronous query; narrow the query, for example with a “LIMIT” clause or a more selective “WHERE” clause.

With `-o human` (the default), only the first 100 rows are printed as a preview. Raise `--max-rows` to fetch more, or use `-o json` or `-o yaml` for the complete result set.

The `-o json` and `-o yaml` flags return a bare array of row objects.

When `--max-rows` cuts a result short, a warning is printed to standard error and the command still exits 0, so a script reading the rows on standard output is unaffected.

```none
confluent lightning query [flags]
```

## Flags

```none
    --sql string           SQL statement. Alternatively, use "--file" or "-f".
-f, --file string          Path to a file that contains the SQL statement. Alternatively, use "--sql".
    --cluster string       Kafka cluster ID.
    --max-rows int         Maximum number of rows to fetch, or 0 for no limit. Defaults to 100 for "-o human"; raise it to fetch more. "-o json"/"-o yaml" fetch every row by default.
    --environment string   Environment ID.
    --context string       CLI context name.
-o, --output string        Specify the output format as "human", "json", or "yaml". (default "human")
```

## Global Flags

```none
-h, --help            Show help for this command.
    --unsafe-trace    Equivalent to -vvvv, but also log HTTP requests and responses which might contain plaintext secrets.
-v, --verbose count   Increase verbosity (-v for warn, -vv for info, -vvv for debug, and -vvvv for trace).
```

## Examples

Run a query against the active Kafka cluster and print the rows as a table.

```none
confluent lightning query --sql "SELECT * FROM orders WHERE status = 'completed'"
```

Run a query against Kafka cluster “lkc-123456” and return JSON for a script.

```none
confluent lightning query --sql "SELECT order_id, status FROM orders LIMIT 10" --cluster lkc-123456 --output json
```

## See Also

* [confluent lightning](index.md#confluent-lightning) - Manage Lightning Tables.