Use the influxctl CLI to query data

Use the influxctl query command to query data in InfluxDB Cloud Dedicated with SQL or InfluxQL.

Provide the following with your command:

• Database token: A database token with read permissions on the queried database. By default, this uses the database setting from the influxctl connection profile or the --token command flag.

• Database name: The name of the database to query. By default, this uses the database setting from the influxctl connection profile or the --database command flag.

• Query language (Optional): The query language of the query. Use the --language flag to specify one of the following query languages:

  • sql (default)
  • influxql

• Query: SQL or InfluxQL query to execute. Pass the query in one of the following ways:

  • a string on the command line
  • a path to a file that contains the query
  • a single dash (-) to read the query from stdin

influxctl query \
  --token 
DATABASE_TOKEN
 \
  --database 
DATABASE_NAME
 \
  "SELECT * FROM home"

influxctl query \
  --token 
DATABASE_TOKEN
 \
  --database 
DATABASE_NAME
 \
  /path/to/query.sql

cat ./query.sql | influxctl query \
  --token 
DATABASE_TOKEN
 \
  --database 
DATABASE_NAME
 \
  - 

influxctl query \
  --token 
DATABASE_TOKEN
 \
  --database 
DATABASE_NAME
 \
  --language influxql \
  "SELECT * FROM home"

influxctl query \
  --token 
DATABASE_TOKEN
 \
  --database 
DATABASE_NAME
 \
  --language influxql \
  /path/to/query.influxql

cat ./query.influxql | influxctl query \
  --token 
DATABASE_TOKEN
 \
  --database 
DATABASE_NAME
 \
  --language influxql \
  - 

Replace the following:

• DATABASE_TOKEN: Database token with read access to the queried database
• DATABASE_NAME: Name of the database to query

Query timeouts

The influxctl --timeout global flag sets the maximum duration for API calls, including query requests. If a query takes longer than the specified timeout, the operation will be canceled.

Timeout examples

Use different timeout values based on your query type:

# Shorter timeout for testing dashboard queries (10 seconds)
influxctl query \
  --timeout 10s \
  --token 
DATABASE_TOKEN
 \
  --database 
DATABASE_NAME
 \
  "SELECT AVG(temperature) FROM sensors WHERE time >= now() - INTERVAL '1 day'"

# Longer timeout for analytical queries (5 minutes)
influxctl query \
  --timeout 5m \
  --token 
DATABASE_TOKEN
 \
  --database 
DATABASE_NAME
 \
  "SELECT room, AVG(temperature) FROM sensors WHERE time >= now() - INTERVAL '30 days' GROUP BY room"

For guidance on selecting appropriate timeout values, see Query timeout best practices.

Output format

The influxctl query command supports the following output formats:

• table (default)
• json

Use the --format flag to specify the output format:

influxctl query \
  --format json \
  "SELECT * FROM home WHERE time >= '2025-08-12T08:00:00Z' LIMIT 5"

+-------+--------+---------+------+----------------------+
|    co |    hum | room    | temp | time                 |
+-------+--------+---------+------+----------------------+
|     0 |   35.9 | Kitchen |   21 | 2025-08-12T08:00:00Z |
|     0 |   36.2 | Kitchen |   23 | 2025-08-12T09:00:00Z |
|     0 |   36.1 | Kitchen | 22.7 | 2025-08-12T10:00:00Z |
|     0 |     36 | Kitchen | 22.4 | 2025-08-12T11:00:00Z |
|     0 |     36 | Kitchen | 22.5 | 2025-08-12T12:00:00Z |
+-------+--------+---------+------+----------------------+
| TOTAL | 5 ROWS |         |      |                      |
+-------+--------+---------+------+----------------------+

[
  {
    "co": 0,
    "hum": 35.9,
    "room": "Kitchen",
    "temp": 21,
    "time": 1754985600000000000
  },
  {
    "co": 0,
    "hum": 36.2,
    "room": "Kitchen",
    "temp": 23,
    "time": 1754989200000000000
  },
  {
    "co": 0,
    "hum": 36.1,
    "room": "Kitchen",
    "temp": 22.7,
    "time": 1754992800000000000
  },
  {
    "co": 0,
    "hum": 36,
    "room": "Kitchen",
    "temp": 22.4,
    "time": 1754996400000000000
  },
  {
    "co": 0,
    "hum": 36,
    "room": "Kitchen",
    "temp": 22.5,
    "time": 1755000000000000000
  }
]

Timestamp format

When using the table output format, you can specify which of the following timestamp formats to use to display timestamp values in the query results:

• rfc3339nano: (Default) RFC3339Nano-formatted timestamp–for example: 2024-01-01T00:00:00.000000000Z
• unixnano: Unix nanosecond timestamp

influxctl query \
  --time-format unixnano \
  "SELECT * FROM home WHERE time >= '2025-08-12T08:00:00Z' LIMIT 5"

+-------+--------+---------+------+---------------------+
|    co |    hum | room    | temp |                time |
+-------+--------+---------+------+---------------------+
|     0 |   35.9 | Kitchen |   21 | 1754985600000000000 |
|     0 |   36.2 | Kitchen |   23 | 1754989200000000000 |
|     0 |   36.1 | Kitchen | 22.7 | 1754992800000000000 |
|     0 |     36 | Kitchen | 22.4 | 1754996400000000000 |
|     0 |     36 | Kitchen | 22.5 | 1755000000000000000 |
+-------+--------+---------+------+---------------------+
| TOTAL | 5 ROWS |         |      |                     |
+-------+--------+---------+------+---------------------+