This chapter provides a tutorial introduction to MySQL by showing how
to use the `mysql' client program to create and use a simple database.
`mysql' (sometimes referred to as the "terminal monitor" or just
"monitor") is an interactive program that allows you to connect to a
MySQL server, run queries, and view the results. `mysql' may also be
used in batch mode: you place your queries in a file beforehand, then
tell `mysql' to execute the contents of the file. Both ways of using
`mysql' are covered here.
To see a list of options provided by `mysql', invoke it with the
`--help' option:
shell> mysql --help
This chapter assumes that `mysql' is installed on your machine and that
a MySQL server is available to which you can connect. If this is not
true, contact your MySQL administrator. (If _you_ are the
administrator, you will need to consult other sections of this manual.)
This chapter describes the entire process of setting up and using a
database. If you are interested only in accessing an already-existing
database, you may want to skip over the sections that describe how to
create the database and the tables it contains.
Because this chapter is tutorial in nature, many details are
necessarily left out. Consult the relevant sections of the manual for
more information on the topics covered here.