MySql Command Line Syntax :: Robar's Pages

MySql Command Line Syntax

July 25th, 2010 | Published in Programming, technology, Web Development

These are some MySql commands (most run at the command line in linux) that I’ve been collecting since getting a few sites set up on linode. The “#” indicates that it is to be run from the unix shell. When you see “mysql>” the command is to be run from the MySQL command prompt after logging into MySQL.

MySQL Command to login (from unix shell) use -h only if needed.

# [mysql dir]/bin/mysql -h hostname -u root -p

MySQL Command to Create a database on the sql server.

mysql> create database [databasename];

MySQL Command to List all databases on the sql server.

mysql> show databases;

MySQL Command to Switch to a database.

mysql> use [db name];

MySQL Command to see all the tables in the db.

mysql> show tables;

MySQL Command to see database’s field formats.

mysql> describe [table name];

MySQL Command to delete a db.

mysql> drop database [database name];

MySQL Command to delete a table.

mysql> drop table [table name];

MySQL Command to Join tables on common columns.

mysql> select lookup.illustrationid, lookup.personid,person.birthday from lookup left join person on lookup.personid=person.personid=statement to join birthday in person table with primary illustration id;

MySQL Command to Create a new user. Login as root. Switch to the MySQL db. Make the user. Update privs.

# mysql -u root -p
mysql> use mysql;
mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password) VALUES('%','username',PASSWORD('password')); 
mysql> flush privileges;

MySQL Command Change a users password from unix shell.

# [mysql dir]/bin/mysqladmin -u username -h hostname.blah.org -p password 'new-password'

MySQL Command to Change a users password from MySQL prompt. Login as root. Set the password. Update privs.

# mysql -u root -p
mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR 'user'@'hostname' = PASSWORD('passwordhere');
mysql> flush privileges;

MySQL Command to Recover a MySQL root password. Stop the MySQL server process. Start again with no grant tables. Login to MySQL as root. Set new password. Exit MySQL and restart MySQL server.

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop
# mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
# mysql -u root
mysql> use mysql;
mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD("newrootpassword") where User='root';
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> quit<br /> 
# /etc/init.d/mysql stop
# /etc/init.d/mysql start

MySQL Command to Set a root password if there is on root password.

# mysqladmin -u root password newpassword

MySQL Command to Update a root password.

# mysqladmin -u root -p oldpassword newpassword

MySQL Command to Allow the user “bob” to connect to the server from localhost using the password “passwd”.
Login as root. Switch to the MySQL db. Give privs. Update privs.

# mysql -u root -p 
mysql> use mysql; 
mysql> grant usage on *.* to bob@localhost identified by 'passwd';
mysql> flush privileges;

MySQL Command Give user privilages for a db. Login as root. Switch to the MySQL db. Grant privs. Update privs.

# mysql -u root -p 
mysql> use mysql; 
mysql> INSERT INTO db (Host,Db,User,Select_priv,Insert_priv,Update_priv,Delete_priv,Create_priv,Drop_priv) VALUES 
('%','databasename','username','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','N'); 
mysql> flush privileges;
# or 
mysql> grant all privileges on databasename.* to username@localhost;
mysql> flush privileges;

MySQL Command to update info already in a table.

mysql> UPDATE [table name] SET Select_priv = 'Y',Insert_priv = 'Y',Update_priv = 'Y' where [field name] = 'user';

MySQL Command to Delete a row(s) from a table.

mysql> DELETE from [table name] where [field name] = 'whatever';

MySQL Command to Update database permissions/privilages.

mysql> flush privileges;

MySQL Command to Delete a column.

mysql> alter table [table name] drop column [column name];

MySQL Command to Add a new column to db.

mysql> alter table [table name] add column [new column name] varchar (20);

MySQL Command to Change column name.

mysql> alter table [table name] change [old column name] [new column name] varchar (50);

MySQL Command to Make a unique column so you get no dupes.

mysql> alter table [table name] add unique ([column name]);

MySQL Command to Make a column bigger.

mysql> alter table [table name] modify [column name] VARCHAR(3);

MySQL Command to Delete unique from table.

mysql> alter table [table name] drop index [colmn name];

MySQL Command to Load a CSV file into a table.

mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE '/tmp/filename.csv' replace INTO TABLE [table name] FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' LINES TERMINATED BY '\n' (field1,field2,field3);

MySQL Command to Dump all databases for backup. Backup file is sql commands to recreate all db’s.

# [mysql dir]/bin/mysqldump -u root -ppassword --opt > /tmp/alldatabases.sql

MySQL Command to Dump one database for backup.

# [mysql dir]/bin/mysqldump -u username -ppassword --databases databasename > /tmp/databasename.sql

MySQL Command to Dump a table from a database.

# [mysql dir]/bin/mysqldump -c -u username -ppassword databasename tablename > /tmp/databasename.tablename.sql

MySQL Command to Restore database (or database table) from backup.

# [mysql dir]/bin/mysql -u username -ppassword databasename < /tmp/databasename.sql

MySQL Command to Create Table Example 1.

mysql> CREATE TABLE [table name] (firstname VARCHAR(20), middleinitial VARCHAR(3), lastname VARCHAR(35),suffix VARCHAR(3),officeid VARCHAR(10),userid 
VARCHAR(15),username VARCHAR(8),email VARCHAR(35),phone VARCHAR(25), groups VARCHAR(15),datestamp DATE,timestamp time,pgpemail VARCHAR(255));

MySQL Command to Create Table Example 2.

mysql> create table [table name] (personid int(50) not null auto_increment primary key,firstname varchar(35),middlename varchar(50),lastnamevarchar(50) default 
'bato');

MySQL Command to Show all data in a table.

mysql> SELECT * FROM [table name];

MySQL Command to Returns the columns and column information pertaining to the designated table.

mysql> show columns from [table name];

MySQL Command to Show certain selected rows with the value "whatever".

mysql> SELECT * FROM [table name] WHERE [field name] = "whatever";

MySQL Command to Show all records containing the name "Bob" AND the phone number '3444444'.

mysql> SELECT * FROM [table name] WHERE name = "Bob" AND phone_number = '3444444';

MySQL Command to Show all records not containing the name "Bob" AND the phone number '3444444' order by the phone_number field.

mysql> SELECT * FROM [table name] WHERE name != "Bob" AND phone_number = '3444444' order by phone_number;

MySQL Command to Show all records starting with the letters 'bob' AND the phone number '3444444'.

mysql> SELECT * FROM [table name] WHERE name like "Bob%" AND phone_number = '3444444';

MySQL Command to Show all records starting with the letters 'bob' AND the phone number '3444444' limit to records 1 through 5.

mysql> SELECT * FROM [table name] WHERE name like "Bob%" AND phone_number = '3444444' limit 1,5;

MySQL Command to Use a regular expression to find records. Use "REGEXP BINARY" to force case-sensitivity. This finds any record beginning with a.

mysql> SELECT * FROM [table name] WHERE rec RLIKE "^a";

MySQL Command to Show unique records.

mysql> SELECT DISTINCT [column name] FROM [table name];

MySQL Command to Show selected records sorted in an ascending (asc) or descending (desc).

mysql> SELECT [col1],[col2] FROM [table name] ORDER BY [col2] DESC;

MySQL Command to Return number of rows.

mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM [table name];

MySQL Command to Sum a column.

mysql> SELECT SUM(*) FROM [table name];