Of course, simply connecting to the MySQL server isn’t going to accomplish much. Chances are you will want to select a database to work with. This is accomplished in one of two ways:
- Including the name of the database along with the mysql connection command. For example, the command used to both connect to the MySQL server and select the mysql database is:
%>mysql -u root -p mysql
This might be misleading for some readers, as it seems as if the intent is to input mysql as the password. This is not correct. Take a moment to review the syntax as described in the mysql –help output, and it will be apparent that -u root -p actually comprise the [options] component of the syntax, and mysql comprises the [database] component.
- Once connected, select the database using the use command, as follows:
mysql>use mydatabase
Once executed, all queries not explicitly specifying a database name will be directed towards the hypothetical mydatabase database.
