MySQL in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Name

mysqlaccess

Synopsis

mysqlaccess [host [user [database]]] [options]

This utility checks the privileges that a user has for a specific host and database. One use is to run it as a preliminary tool to check for user permissions before proceeding with a customized program that uses one of the APIs.

If MySQL was not installed in the default location for the version you’re using, you’ll have to set the variable MYSQL in the mysqlaccess script. Change it with a plain text editor. Look for the following line (near the beginning) and change the file path to where the mysql client is located:

 $MYSQL = '/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql';  # path to mysql executable

With regard to the syntax, the hostname is the first argument and is optional. If not given, localhost is assumed. The username given in the second argument is the name of the user for which the utility is checking privileges. The third argument is the database against which to check privileges. The fourth argument involves several possible options, one of which could be the username by which the utility will access the server to gather information on the user named in the second argument. Here is an example of how you might use this utility:

mysqlaccess localhost marie workrequests -U russell -P

In this example, I give the utility the hostname, then the user I’m inquiring about, then the database name for which I want user privilege information. The -U option specifies the username with which to access the server to gather information. ...