MySQL Getting started with MySQL

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Remarks

MySQL Logo

MySQL is an open-source Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) that is developed and supported by Oracle Corporation.

MySQL is supported on a large number of platforms, including Linux variants, OS X, and Windows. It also has APIs for a large number of languages, including C, C++, Java, Lua, .Net, Perl, PHP, Python, and Ruby.

MariaDB is a fork of MySQL with a slightly different feature set. It is entirely compatible with MySQL for most applications.

Versions

VersionRelease Date
1.01995-05-23
3.191996-12-01
3.201997-01-01
3.211998-10-01
3.221999-10-01
3.232001-01-22
4.02003-03-01
4.12004-10-01
5.02005-10-01
5.12008-11-27
5.52010-11-01
5.62013-02-01
5.72015-10-01

Getting Started

Creating a database in MySQL

CREATE DATABASE mydb;
 

Return value:

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.05 sec)


Using the created database mydb

USE mydb;
 

Return value:

Database Changed

Creating a table in MySQL

CREATE TABLE mytable
(
  id              int unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
  username        varchar(100) NOT NULL,
  email           varchar(100) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY     (id)
);
 

CREATE TABLE mytable will create a new table called mytable .

id int unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment creates the id column, this type of field will assign a unique numeric ID to each record in the table (meaning that no two rows can have the same id in this case), MySQL will automatically assign a new, unique value to the record's id field (starting with 1).

Return value:

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.10 sec)


Inserting a row into a MySQL table

INSERT INTO mytable ( username, email )
VALUES ( "myuser", "[email protected]" );
 

Example return value:

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.06 sec)

The varchar a.k.a strings can be also be inserted using single quotes:

INSERT INTO mytable ( username, email )
VALUES ( 'username', '[email protected]' );
 

Updating a row into a MySQL table

UPDATE mytable SET username="myuser" WHERE id=8
 

Example return value:

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.06 sec)

The int value can be inserted in a query without quotes. Strings and Dates must be enclosed in single quote ' or double quotes " .


Deleting a row into a MySQL table

DELETE FROM mytable WHERE id=8
 

Example return value:

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.06 sec)

This will delete the row having id is 8.


Selecting rows based on conditions in MySQL

SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE username = "myuser";
 

Return value:

+----+----------+---------------------+
| id | username | email               |
+----+----------+---------------------+
|  1 | myuser   | [email protected]  |
+----+----------+---------------------+
 

1 row in set (0.00 sec)


Show list of existing databases

SHOW databases;
 

Return value:

+-------------------+
| Databases         |
+-------------------+
| information_schema|
| mydb              |
+-------------------+
 

2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

You can think of "information_schema" as a "master database" that provides access to database metadata.


Show tables in an existing database

SHOW tables;
 

Return value:

+----------------+
| Tables_in_mydb |
+----------------+
| mytable        |
+----------------+
 

1 row in set (0.00 sec)


Show all the fields of a table

DESCRIBE databaseName.tableName;
 

or, if already using a database:

DESCRIBE tableName;
 

Return value:

+-----------+----------------+--------+---------+-------------------+-------+
| Field     | Type           | Null   | Key     | Default           | Extra |
+-----------+----------------+--------+---------+-------------------+-------+
| fieldname | fieldvaluetype | NO/YES | keytype | defaultfieldvalue |       |
+-----------+----------------+--------+---------+-------------------+-------+
 

Extra may contain auto_increment for example.

Key refers to the type of key that may affect the field. Primary (PRI), Unique (UNI) ...

n row in set (0.00 sec)

Where n is the number of fields in the table.


Creating user

First, you need to create a user and then give the user permissions on certain databases/tables. While creating the user, you also need to specify where this user can connect from.

CREATE USER 'user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'some_password';
 

Will create a user that can only connect on the local machine where the database is hosted.

CREATE USER 'user'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'some_password';
 

Will create a user that can connect from anywhere (except the local machine).

Example return value:

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

Adding privileges

Grant common, basic privileges to the user for all tables of the specified database:

GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE ON databaseName.* TO 'userName'@'localhost';
 

Grant all privileges to the user for all tables on all databases (attention with this):

GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'userName'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
 

As demonstrated above, *.* targets all databases and tables, databaseName.* targets all tables of the specific database. It is also possible to specify database and table like so databaseName.tableName .

WITH GRANT OPTION should be left out if the user need not be able to grant other users privileges.

Privileges can be either

ALL
 

or a combination of the following, each separated by a comma (non-exhaustive list).

SELECT
INSERT
UPDATE
DELETE
CREATE
DROP
 

Note

Generally, you should try to avoid using column or table names containing spaces or using reserved words in SQL. For example, it's best to avoid names like table or first name .

If you must use such names, put them between back-tick `` delimiters. For example:

CREATE TABLE `table`
(   
   `first name` VARCHAR(30)
);
 

A query containing the back-tick delimiters on this table might be:

 SELECT `first name` FROM `table` WHERE `first name` LIKE 'a%';
 

Information Schema Examples

Processlist

This will show all active & sleeping queries in that order then by how long.
SELECT * FROM information_schema.PROCESSLIST ORDER BY INFO DESC, TIME DESC;
 

This is a bit more detail on time-frames as it is in seconds by default

SELECT ID, USER, HOST, DB, COMMAND, 
TIME as time_seconds, 
ROUND(TIME / 60, 2) as time_minutes, 
ROUND(TIME / 60 / 60, 2) as time_hours, 
STATE, INFO
FROM information_schema.PROCESSLIST ORDER BY INFO DESC, TIME DESC;
 

Stored Procedure Searching

Easily search thru all Stored Procedures for words and wildcards.

SELECT * FROM information_schema.ROUTINES WHERE ROUTINE_DEFINITION LIKE '%word%';
 


Got any MySQL Question?