25.3. mysql

25.3. mysql

The mysql program is a general-purpose client that sends SQL statements to the server, and thus can perform any administrative operation that can be expressed using SQL. The following list describes some of its administrative capabilities:

• Create and drop databases

• Create, drop, and modify tables and indexes

• Retrieve data from tables

• Modify data in tables

• Set up user accounts, grant and revoke privileges, and set passwords

• Display server configuration and version information

• Display or reset server status variables

• Reload the grant tables

• Flush the log files or various server caches

• Start or stop replication slave servers or display replication status

• Display information about client connections or kill connections

You can use mysql in interactive mode, where you type in queries and see their results. mysql also can operate in batch mode, in which it reads queries stored in a text file. For further information, see Chapter 2, "The mysql Client Program."