How to do it...

Connecting to the MySQL client can be done with any of the following commands:

shell> mysql -h localhost -P 3306 -u <username> -p<password>

shell> mysql --host=localhost --port=3306 --user=root --password=<password>

shell> mysql --host localhost --port 3306 --user root --password=<password>

It is highly recommended not to give the password in the command line, instead you can leave the field blank; you will be prompted for a password:

shell> mysql --host=localhost --port=3306 --user=root --password  
Enter Password:

1. The  -P argument (in uppercase) is passed for specifying the port.
2. The  -p argument (in lowercase) is passed for specifying the password.
3. There is no space after the  -p argument.
4. For the password, there is no space after =.

By default, the host is taken as localhost, the port is taken as 3306, and the user is taken as the current shell user.

1. To know the current user:

shell> whoami

1. To disconnect, press Ctrl + D or type exit:

mysql> ^DBye
shell> 

Or use:

mysql> exit;
Bye
shell>

1. After connecting to the mysql prompt, you can execute statements followed by the delimiter. The default delimiter is a semicolon (;):

mysql> SELECT 1;
+---+
| 1 |
+---+
| 1 |
+---+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

1. To cancel a command, press Ctrl + C or type \c:

mysql> SELECT ^C
mysql> SELECT \c