mysqladmin

The mysqladmin program is used to administrate various aspects of the MySQL database server. Using it, the administrator can perform tasks such as: create and delete databases, shutdown the database server, update the privilege tables, and view running MySQL processes. The general syntax is:

%>mysqladmin [options] command(s)

Where [options] can be one or a series of options used in conjunction with the mysqladmin program, and [database] is the name of the database to use. Since it is assumed to be the reader's first time using the MySQL monitor, take a moment to review all offered options by executing the following command:

%>mysqladmin --help

This produces a long list of options that can be used in conjunction with the mysqladmin program. As a demonstration of how these options are used, let's use mysqladmin to create a new database named widgets, which will be used throughout the remainder of this article to demonstrate various other useful MySQL functions. A new database is created as follows:

%>mysqladmin -u root -p create widgets
Enter Password:

Upon execution, mysqladmin will create the database and return to the shell prompt. Typically, the next step is to secure the new database by modifying the privilege tables. Details regarding how this is accomplished is the subject of the next section.