What to Do if mysql Cannot Be Found
Problem
When you invoke mysql from the command line, your command interpreter can’t find it.
Solution
Add the directory where mysql is installed to your
PATH setting. Then you’ll be able
to run mysql from any directory easily.
Discussion
If your shell or command interpreter can’t find mysql when you invoke it, you’ll see some sort of error message. It may look like this under Unix:
% mysql
mysql: Command not found.Or like this under Windows:
C:\> mysql
Bad command or invalid filenameOne way to tell your shell where to find mysql is to type its full pathname each time you run it. The command might look like this under Unix:
% /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqlOr like this under Windows:
C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqlTyping long pathnames gets tiresome pretty quickly, though. You can avoid doing so by changing into the directory where mysql is installed before you run it. However, I recommend that you not do that. If you do, the inevitable result is that you’ll end up putting all your datafiles and query batch files in the same directory as mysql, thus unnecessarily cluttering up what should be a location intended only for programs.
A better solution is to make sure that the directory where
mysql is installed is included in the
PATH environment variable that
lists pathnames of directories where the shell looks for commands.
(See Recipe 1.9.) Then you can invoke
mysql from any directory by entering just its name, and your shell will be able to find it. This eliminates ...