Chapter 8. Client and Utility Programs

MySQL 5.0

Chapter 8. Client and Utility Programs

There are many different MySQL client programs that connect to the server to access databases or perform administrative tasks. Other utilities are available as well. These do not establish a client connection with the server but perform MySQL-related operations.

This chapter provides a brief overview of these programs and then a more detailed description of each one. Each program's description indicates its invocation syntax and the options that it understands. See Chapter 4, Using MySQL Programs, for general information on invoking programs and specifying program options.

8.1. Overview of Client and Utility Programs

The following list briefly describes the MySQL client programs and utilities:

MySQL AB also provides a number of GUI tools for administering and otherwise working with MySQL servers. For basic information about these, see Chapter 4, Using MySQL Programs.

Each MySQL program takes many different options. Most programs provide a option that you can use to get a full description of the program's different options. For example, try mysql --help.

MySQL client programs that communicate with the server using the MySQL client/server library use the following environment variables:

The default Unix socket file; used for connections to
The default port number; used for TCP/IP connections
The default password
Debug trace options when debugging
The directory where temporary tables and files are created

Use of is insecure. See Section 5.9.6, “Keeping Your Password Secure”.

You can override the default option values or values specified in environment variables for all standard programs by specifying options in an option file or on the command line. See Section 4.3, “Specifying Program Options”.