Import data from JSON to MySQL via command line on Linux

Want to import data from JSON Lines (JSONL) to MySQL via Command Line Interface (CLI) on Linux (Ubuntu/RedHat/CentOS…)?

Using my-cmd, a Command Line Interface (CLI) client for MySQL, you can import data from JSON Lines to MySQL (MariaDB, Percona) easily and fast. Direct Interaction or Scripting and Automation.

• No need to install MySQL client library.
• Convenient to deploy to cloud. No need to run installation file, just uncompress and run, immediately.
• Commands are entered into a terminal or command prompt, accessed from local or remote (like SSH).
• Support Windows, Linux, and MacOS.

Download my-cmd Linux version
my-cmd.linux-386.zip
my-cmd.linux-amd64.zip
my-cmd.linux-arm64.zip

JSON Lines text format, also called newline-delimited JSON (NDJSON), or Line-delimited JSON (LDJSON). JSON Lines files may be saved with the file extension .jsonl, *.ndjson, *.ldjson.

Import data from JSON Lines to MySQL (MariaDB, Percona) via command line on Linux (Ubuntu/RedHat/CentOS…)

1. In interactive mode:

my-cmd> load table=media_messages 
      > datafile=f:\media_messages.json 
      > filetype=json;

2. In batch mode:

my-cmd dsn="pan:withdata@192.168.0.102:3306/test" task=load table=media_messages datafile=f:\media_messages.json filetype=json quit=y

“loadtype=replace” will delete all data in table before inserting.

See parameters detail.

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More about my-cmd – Command Line Interface (CLI) tool for MySQL

JSON → MySQL reference

Type mapping

Value kind	in JSON	in MySQL
Int	1234 (number)	INT
Bigint	9007199254740993	BIGINT
Decimal	1234.56 (number)	DECIMAL(p,s)
Float	1.234e10 (number)	DOUBLE
Text	"text" (string)	VARCHAR(n)
Long text	"multi-line\ntext" (escaped newline inside a string)	LONGTEXT
Date	"2026-09-18" (string)	DATE
Datetime	"2026-09-18T14:30:00Z" (string)	DATETIME
Binary	"base64:..." (string)	LONGBLOB
Boolean	true / false (boolean)	TINYINT(1)
JSON	nested object or array, kept as structure	JSON

Dialect differences

JSON is a file format and MySQL is a database server, so the target has to be told the types the file never carried - the rows below are where the two sides diverge.

Property	in JSON	in MySQL
port	—	3306
identifiers	Double quotes; backslash escapes	`backtick`
row limit	—	LIMIT n
dates	No date type: dates arrive as strings and the reader must p...	DATETIME, TIMESTAMP, DATE, TIME
long text	—	TINYTEXT / TEXT / MEDIUMTEXT / LONGTEXT
binary	Not supported natively - base64 inside a string	BLOB / TINYBLOB / LONGBLOB
separator	Braces and commas	—
encoding	UTF-8 by definition	—
typing	string, number, boolean, null, object, array - no date type	—
shape	Nested objects and arrays	Tables of rows and columns
ceiling	Whole document is usually parsed into memory	—

Command line

Side	Command
MySQL	mysqldump, or mysql -e "SELECT ..." > out.csv
MySQL (load)	mysqlimport, or LOAD DATA INFILE

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