Using JDBC URL in Liquibase

A JDBC URL is a database connection URL that identifies a database so that the appropriate driver recognizes it and connects to it. Liquibase requires a JDBC driver to establish a connection between Liquibase and your database.

Syntax

All JDBC URLs begin with jdbc:. The format of other string elements depends on the JDBC driver. In most cases, the format of the database connection URL resembles the following example:

jdbc:<database>://<host>:<port>/<database_name>;<URL_attributes>
database name Name of the database to which you want to connect. Can also be the file system path to the database.
URL attributes Supported attributes of the database connection URL, such as upgrade=true and create=true. Attributes are usually separated by ;, or by ? and &.
host Name or address of the machine on which the server is running.
port Port number that the server framework uses.

Example: jdbc:postgresql://myinstance.123456789012.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com:5432/postgresql?user=user&password=password

Specify a JDBC URL

You can specify a JDBC URL in your command line (CLI), as an environment variable, or in your liquibase.properties file (defaults file):

  • CLI: specify the --url parameter in the CLI at runtime:
    • --url=jdbc:<database>://<host>:<port>/<database_name>;<URL_attributes>

    Tip: If your database requires an & in the URL, you may have to wrap the URL in double quotes when you specify it on the command line. For example: --url="jdbc:snowflake://otter-enthusiasts.com/?db=TEST&schema=PUBLIC&warehouse=COMPUTE_WH&role=ACCOUNTADMIN".

  • Environment variable: configure LIQUIBASE_COMMAND_URL as an environment variable to set it once and pass connection information to Liquibase and your database:
    • LIQUIBASE_COMMAND_URL=jdbc:<database>://<host>:<port>/<database_name>;<URL_attributes>
  • Properties file: in the Liquibase properties file, specify a value for liquibase.command.url to set it once and pass connection information to Liquibase and your database:
    • url: jdbc:<database>://<host>:<port>/<database_name>;<URL_attributes>

Note: Command-line arguments override environment variables and the Liquibase properties file data. Environment variables override the properties file data. The properties file does not override any values.

For a list of JDBC examples for different databases, see Liquibase Database Tutorials.

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