diff -urN mysql-5.0.41-orig/client/client_priv.h mysql-5.0.41/client/client_priv.h
--- mysql-5.0.41-orig/client/client_priv.h	2007-05-21 12:31:39.000000000 -0700
+++ mysql-5.0.41/client/client_priv.h	2007-05-21 12:50:01.000000000 -0700
@@ -51,5 +51,6 @@
   OPT_TRIGGERS,
   OPT_IGNORE_TABLE,OPT_INSERT_IGNORE,OPT_SHOW_WARNINGS,OPT_DROP_DATABASE,
   OPT_TZ_UTC, OPT_AUTO_CLOSE, OPT_SSL_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT,
+  OPT_AUTO_VERTICAL_OUTPUT,
   OPT_DEBUG_INFO
 };
diff -urN mysql-5.0.41-orig/client/mysql.cc mysql-5.0.41/client/mysql.cc
--- mysql-5.0.41-orig/client/mysql.cc	2007-05-21 12:31:39.000000000 -0700
+++ mysql-5.0.41/client/mysql.cc	2007-05-21 12:53:17.000000000 -0700
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@
 	       tty_password= 0, opt_nobeep=0, opt_reconnect=1,
 	       default_charset_used= 0, opt_secure_auth= 0,
                default_pager_set= 0, opt_sigint_ignore= 0,
+               auto_vertical_output= 0,
                show_warnings= 0;
 static volatile int executing_query= 0, interrupted_query= 0;
 static ulong opt_max_allowed_packet, opt_net_buffer_length;
@@ -173,6 +174,7 @@
 static uint prompt_counter;
 static char delimiter[16]= DEFAULT_DELIMITER;
 static uint delimiter_length= 1;
+unsigned short terminal_width= 80;
 
 #ifdef HAVE_SMEM
 static char *shared_memory_base_name=0;
@@ -224,6 +226,8 @@
 static char *get_arg(char *line, my_bool get_next_arg);
 static void init_username();
 static void add_int_to_prompt(int toadd);
+static int get_result_width(MYSQL_RES *res);
+static int get_field_disp_length(MYSQL_FIELD * field);
 
 /* A structure which contains information on the commands this program
    can understand. */
@@ -343,7 +347,9 @@
 static void nice_time(double sec,char *buff,bool part_second);
 static sig_handler mysql_end(int sig);
 static sig_handler mysql_sigint(int sig);
-
+#if defined(HAVE_TERMIOS_H)
+static sig_handler window_resize(int sig);
+#endif
 
 int main(int argc,char *argv[])
 {
@@ -430,8 +436,8 @@
   if (sql_connect(current_host,current_db,current_user,opt_password,
 		  opt_silent))
   {
-    quick=1;					// Avoid history
-    status.exit_status=1;
+    quick= 1;					// Avoid history
+    status.exit_status= 1;
     mysql_end(-1);
   }
   if (!status.batch)
@@ -443,6 +449,13 @@
     signal(SIGINT, mysql_sigint);		// Catch SIGINT to clean up
   signal(SIGQUIT, mysql_end);			// Catch SIGQUIT to clean up
 
+#if defined(HAVE_TERMIOS_H)
+  //Readline will call this if it installs a handler
+  signal(SIGWINCH, window_resize);
+  //call the SIGWINCH handler to get the default term width
+  window_resize(0);
+#endif
+
   put_info("Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \\g.",
 	   INFO_INFO);
   sprintf((char*) glob_buffer.ptr(),
@@ -569,6 +582,16 @@
 }
 
 
+#if defined(HAVE_TERMIOS_H)
+sig_handler window_resize(int sig)
+{
+  struct winsize window_size;
+
+  if (ioctl(fileno(stdin), TIOCGWINSZ, &window_size) == 0)
+    terminal_width= window_size.ws_col;
+}
+#endif
+
 static struct my_option my_long_options[] =
 {
   {"help", '?', "Display this help and exit.", 0, 0, 0, GET_NO_ARG, NO_ARG, 0,
@@ -586,6 +609,9 @@
   {"no-auto-rehash", 'A',
    "No automatic rehashing. One has to use 'rehash' to get table and field completion. This gives a quicker start of mysql and disables rehashing on reconnect. WARNING: options deprecated; use --disable-auto-rehash instead.",
    0, 0, 0, GET_NO_ARG, NO_ARG, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0},
+   {"auto-vertical-output", OPT_AUTO_VERTICAL_OUTPUT,
+    "Automatically switch to vertical output mode if the result is wider than the terminal width.",
+    (gptr*) &auto_vertical_output, (gptr*) &auto_vertical_output, 0, GET_BOOL, NO_ARG, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0},
   {"batch", 'B',
    "Don't use history file. Disable interactive behavior. (Enables --silent)", 0, 0, 0, GET_NO_ARG, NO_ARG, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0},
   {"character-sets-dir", OPT_CHARSETS_DIR,
@@ -2125,7 +2151,7 @@
 	  print_table_data_html(result);
 	else if (opt_xml)
 	  print_table_data_xml(result);
-	else if (vertical)
+  else if (vertical || (auto_vertical_output && (terminal_width < get_result_width(result))))
 	  print_table_data_vertically(result);
 	else if (opt_silent && verbose <= 2 && !output_tables)
 	  print_tab_data(result);
@@ -2454,6 +2480,33 @@
   my_afree((gptr) num_flag);
 }
 
+static int get_field_disp_length(MYSQL_FIELD *field)
+{
+  uint length= column_names ? field->name_length : 0;
+
+  if (quick)
+    length= max(length,field->length);
+  else
+    length= max(length,field->max_length);
+
+  if (length < 4 && !IS_NOT_NULL(field->flags))
+    length= 4;					// Room for "NULL"
+
+  return length;
+}
+
+static int get_result_width(MYSQL_RES *result)
+{
+  unsigned int len= 0;
+  MYSQL_FIELD *field;
+
+  while ((field= mysql_fetch_field(result)) != NULL)
+    len+= get_field_disp_length(field) + 3;
+
+  (void)mysql_field_seek(result, 0);	
+
+  return len + 1;	
+}
 
 static void
 tee_print_sized_data(const char *data, unsigned int data_length, unsigned int total_bytes_to_send, bool right_justified)