Introduction to MySQL Client
Whenever the Mysql is installed on any machine, a default command-line interface(CLI) that will accept text-based inputs to communicate with the MySQL database server is also installed on that machine. Any program that can accept the inputs from the user and then send it to the server and accept the returned response from the server and display the outputs to the user is called a client-side program or simply client program.
The MySQL client program does a similar job to send the queries entered by the user and display the output on the screen. In this article, we will learn about MySQL command-line in-built software usage and will also get a look at other client-side programs that provide interactive GUI to communicate with MySQL server.
MySQL Client Usage
By default, when you install MySQL, the MySQL client command-line program is also installed. This client helps to send the queries across the network to the server and also retrieve the response and display it on screen. It is not always necessary to use the MySQL client on the same machine where your server is present. We can install the MySQL client software on the remote machine and communicate with your MySQL server from anywhere using it. There are certain steps that you need to follow to use MySQL client that are listed below –
Locate the presence of Mysql client on your machine
Firstly, you need to know where your MySQL client is present on your machine. By default for Unix/Linux machines its usually /usr/local/MySQL/bin while for windows machine the default location is c: Program and then further your MySQL folder where bin folder must be present. The reason when you might fail to locate the MySQL client program is either the program is not installed on your machine or installed on a different path or you don’t have the database administrator rights.
Beginning the Client usage
Firstly, open the terminal or command prompt and then navigate to the path where your MySQL client program is located and then you will be entered to MySQL client automatically if no username and password credentials are required. In case, if you want to login using ceratin username and password and mention them, then you can make the use of the following command provided you are present in the directory where MySQL is installed –
mysql -u educba -p
where you will be further prompted for entering your password.
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-u stands for specifying that you are mentioning the username in the further parameter value and -p stand for specifying that you will enter the password. The educba is our username, so we have used it in my command.
In case, you want to access the MySQL database server that is located remotely on some different machine in the network then you will need to specify some additional parameters in the above query as follows –
mysql -h educbadbhost.edu_database.com -u educba -p
where -h stands for host address that in my case is educbadbhost.edu_database.com and educba is the username using which we wish to log in to the system. In either of the case, that is local or remote machine server location, once you see the following output MySQL client starts.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Selecting the database you want to use
The next step is to specify the name of the database you wish to use that is present on your MySQL database server. For this, you can make the use of the following command –
use nameOfYourDB;
where nameOfYourDB is the name of the database you wish to connect to and use. In case, you are not aware of the databases present in your database server, you can make the use of SHOW DATABASES command to list out all the databases present in your MySQL database server.
Using the database and firing queries
If you are known with MySQL queries, you can begin to fire the queries on your database and perform whatever operations you wish to perform on your database by firing or executing the MySQL queries. Make sure that you specify semicolon at the end of each query you are firing on the database.
Exiting the MySQL client program
Once you are done with using the database server, you can simply type quit and press enter on the command-line.
Client tools with interactive GUI
Besides command-line MySQL client default installed to communicate with the MySQL database server, you can also use various other tools that are available in the market and can be used that are better in the GUI interactions and provide facilities to use the database in an easy and effective manner. Dome of them is free of cost while some are paid.
Some of the client tools for using MySQL are listed below –
1. Dbeaver
It comes with multiplatform support that means it can run with any operating system such as windows, Linux, and mac os. It provides mock data that can be generated if we want. NoSQL database is also supported by this tool. ERDs can run to get a look at our database visually.
2. navicat
It helps to import and export the data from a large variety of sources and file types. It is cross-platform and can be used on different operating systems like Linux, Windows, or Mac. We can schedule the reports, restore, and backup tasks. We can share the connections, queries, and data between teammates.
3. sqlyog
It has the best interface that is elegant and provides the capability to create and manage your schemas and tables and visually design them. It is highly customizable and provides different themes that can be applied to personalize.
Some of the other client tools include Mysql WorkBench, Jetbrain’s datagrip, Heidi SQL, DB forge studio for MySQL.
Conclusion
The MySQL client that is command-line based is by default installed once you install the MySQL on your machine or you can externally install it if you wish to use a remote database server on your machine. Besides this, there are other client tools available in the market that provide better GUI and are most of the time free of cost.
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This is a guide to MySQL Client. Here we discuss an introduction to MySQL Client. usage in detail, tools with interactive GUI in detail. You can also go through our other related articles to learn more –
