How to format the output of mysql in command line

Use of switches in command line

Here are some interesting switches that can be helpful..

-N removes header
-s removes separator chars
-r raw output

exemple

if you need to get the result of a count(*)

mysql -uusername -ppassword -N -s -r -e 'select count(*) from user'  

if you get the ERROR : 2003 you may need to add more options like the port number and the socket

mysql --port=$MYSQL_PORT --socket=$MYSQL_SOCKET -uroot -p -Dmysql -h localhost -N -s -r -e 'select count(*) from user'