MySQL Cookbook

Starting and Terminating mysql

Problem

You want to start and stop the mysql program.

Solution

Invoke mysql from your command prompt to start it, specifying any connection parameters that may be necessary. To leave mysql, use a QUIT statement.

Discussion

To start the mysql program, try just typing its name at your command-line prompt. If mysql starts up correctly, you’ll see a short message, followed by a mysql> prompt that indicates the program is ready to accept queries. To illustrate, here’s what the welcome message looks like (to save space, I won’t show it in any further examples):

% mysql
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 18427 to server version: 3.23.51-log

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql>

If mysql tries to start but exits immediately with an “access denied” message, you’ll need to specify connection parameters. The most commonly needed parameters are the host to connect to (the host where the MySQL server runs), your MySQL username, and a password. For example:

% mysql -h localhost -p -u cbuser
Enter password: cbpass

In general, I’ll show mysql commands in examples with no connection parameter options. I assume that you’ll supply any parameters that you need, either on the command line, or in an option file (Recipe 1.5) so that you don’t have to type them each time you invoke mysql.

If you don’t have a MySQL username and password, you need to obtain permission to use the MySQL server, as described ...