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SQL Server Local Database common commands

Cheat sheet for myself. There are more comprehensive guides out there.

Starting the instance

sqllocaldb start
sqllocaldb s

If you don't specify the instance name after start, it starts MSSQLLocalDB by default.

Interacting with the database

Once the database has started, you can interact with it using Invoke-Sqlcmd.

Invoke-Sqlcmd 
    -ServerInstance "(localdb)\<instancename>" 
    -Database "<databasename>" 
    -Query "SELECT name FROM sys.databases"

For example,

Invoke-Sqlcmd 
    -ServerInstance "(localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB" 
    -Database "master" 
    -Query "SELECT name FROM sys.databases"

Creating a new database

This is normal SQL.

CREATE DATABASE "<databasename>"

Further reading: