Using C with MySQL
This section presents the basic tasks you need to use the C API.
Connecting to MySQL
When writing a C program to interact with MySQL, you first need to prepare variables that will store data necessary for a MySQL connection and query results, and then you need to establish a connection to MySQL. To do this easily, you need to include a couple of C header files (as shown in the code example): stdio.h for basic C functions and variables, and mysql.h for special MySQL functions and definitions. These two files come with C and MySQL, respectively; you shouldn’t have to download them from the Web if both were installed properly:
#include <stdio.h> #include "/usr/include/mysql/mysql.h" int main(int argc, char *argv[ ]) { MYSQL *mysql; MYSQL_RES *result; MYSQL_ROW row;
Because stdio.h is surrounded by
<
and >
symbols, C is
instructed to look for it in the default location for C header files
(e.g., /usr/include), or in the user’s path.
Because mysql.h may not be in the default
locations, the absolute path is given with the aid of double quotes. An
alternative here would be <mysql/mysql.h>
because the header file is in a subdirectory of the default
directory.
Within the standard main
function just shown,
variables needed for the connection to MySQL are prepared. The first
line creates a pointer to the MYSQL
structure stored
in the mysql
variable. The next line defines and
names a results set based on the definitions for
MYSQL_RES
in mysql.h. The results are stored in the ...
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