The parameter -configDir specifies the directory where SQL Workbench/J will store all its settings. If this parameter is not supplied, the directory where the default location is used. The placeholder ${user.home} will be replaced with the current user's home directory (as returned by the Operating System). If the specified directory does not exist, it will be created.

If you want to control the location where SQL Workbench/J stores the configuration files, you have to start the application with the parameter -configDir to specify an alternate directory:

java -jar sqlworkbench.jar -configDir=/export/configs/SQLWorkbench

or if you are using the Windows® launcher:

SQLWorkbench -configDir=c:\ConfigData\SQLWorkbench

The placeholder ${user.home} will be replaced with the current user's home directory (as returned by the Operating System), e.g.:

java -jar sqlworkbench.jar -configDir=${user.home}/.sqlworkbench

If the specified directory does not exist, it will be created.

On the Windows® platform you can use a forward slash to separate directory names in the parameter.

The -libdir parameter defines the base directory for your JDBC drivers. The value of this parameter can be referenced when defining a driver library using the placeholder %LibDir% The value for this parameter can also be set in the file workbench.settings.

SQL Workbench/J stores the connection profiles in a file called WbProfiles.xml. If you want to use a different filename, or use different set of profiles for different purposes you can define the file where the profiles are stored with the -profileStorage parameter.

If the value of the parameter does not contain a path, the file will be expected (and stored) in the configuration directory.

The default XML format of the WbProfiles.xml file is not intended to be edited manually. To manage pre-defined profiles for console mode or batch mode, it's easier to use a properties file containing the profiles.

When specifying a properties file with -profileStorage the file extension must be .properties

You can define variables when starting SQL Workbench/J by either passing the variable definition directly or by passing a file that contains the variable definitions.

Defining variable values in this way can also be used when running in batch mode.

#Define some values
var_id=42
person_name=Dent
another_variable=24

java -jar sqlworkbench.jar -varFile=vars.txt

java -jar sqlworkbench.jar -variable=foo=42 -variable=bar='xyz'

java -jar sqlworkbench.jar -variable="foo=hello world"

If the -nosettings parameter is specified, SQL Workbench/J will not write its settings to the file workbench.settings when it's beeing closed. Note that in batch mode, this file is never written.

	If this parameter is supplied, the workspace will not be saved automatically as well!

You can specify the name of an already created connection profile on the command line with the -profile=<profile name> parameter. The name has to be passed exactly like it appears in the profile dialog (case sensitive!). If the name contains spaces or dashes, it has to be enclosed in quotations marks. If you have more than one profile with the same name but in different profile groups, you have to specify the desired profile group using the -profilegroup parameter, otherwise the first profile matching the passed name will be selected.

Example (on one line):

java -jar sqlworkbench.jar
     -profile='PostgreSQL - Test'
     -script='test.sql'

In this case the file WbProfiles.xml must be in the current (working) directory of the application. If this is not the case, please specify the location of the profile using either the -profileStorage or -configDir parameter.

If you have two profiles with the names "Oracle - Test" you will need to specify the profile group as well (in one line):

java -jar sqlworkbench.jar
     -profile='PostgreSQL - Test'
     -profilegroup='Local'
     -script='test.sql'

You can also store the connection profiles in a properties file and specify this file using the -profileStorage parameter.

You can also specify the full connection parameters on the command line, if you don't want to create a profile only for executing a batch file. The advantage of this method is, that SQL Workbench/J does not need the files WbProfiles.xml, WbDrivers.xml to be able to connect to the database.

If a value for one of the parameters contains a dash or a space, you will need to quote the parameter value.

A disadvantage of this method is, that the password is displayed in plain text on the command line. If this is used in a batch file, the password will be stored in plain text in the batch file. If you don't want to expose the password, you can use a connection profile and enable password encryption for connection profiles.