3 Tutorial Introduction

This chapter provides a tutorial introduction to MySQL by showing how to use the mysql client program to create and use a simple database. mysql (sometimes referred to as the ``terminal monitor'' or just ``monitor'') is an interactive program that allows you to connect to a MySQL server, run queries, and view the results. mysql may also be used in batch mode: you place your queries in a file beforehand, then tell mysql to execute the contents of the file. Both ways of using mysql are covered here.

To see a list of options provided by mysql, invoke it with the --help option:

shell> mysql --help

This chapter assumes that mysql is installed on your machine and that a MySQL server is available to which you can connect. If this is not true, contact your MySQL administrator. (If you are the administrator, you will need to consult other sections of this manual.)

This chapter describes the entire process of setting up and using a database. If you are interested only in accessing an already-existing database, you may want to skip over the sections that describe how to create the database and the tables it contains.

Because this chapter is tutorial in nature, many details are necessarily left out. Consult the relevant sections of the manual for more information on the topics covered here.

Subsections

• 3.1 Connecting to and Disconnecting from the Server
• 3.2 Entering Queries
• 3.3 Creating and Using a Database
• 3.3.1 Creating and Selecting a Database
• 3.3.2 Creating a Table
• 3.3.3 Loading Data into a Table
• 3.3.4 Retrieving Information from a Table
• 3.3.4.1 Selecting All Data
• 3.3.4.2 Selecting Particular Rows
• 3.3.4.3 Selecting Particular Columns
• 3.3.4.4 Sorting Rows
• 3.3.4.5 Date Calculations
• 3.3.4.6 Working with NULL Values
• 3.3.4.7 Pattern Matching
• 3.3.4.8 Counting Rows
• 3.3.4.9 Using More Than one Table
• 3.4 Getting Information About Databases and Tables
• 3.5 Examples of Common Queries
• 3.5.1 The Maximum Value for a Column
• 3.5.2 The Row Holding the Maximum of a Certain Column
• 3.5.3 Maximum of Column per Group
• 3.5.4 The Rows Holding the Group-wise Maximum of a Certain Field
• 3.5.5 Using user variables
• 3.5.6 Using Foreign Keys
• 3.5.7 Searching on Two Keys
• 3.5.8 Calculating Visits Per Day
• 3.5.9 Using AUTO_INCREMENT
• 3.6 Using mysql in Batch Mode
• 3.7 Queries from Twin Project
• 3.7.1 Find all Non-distributed Twins
• 3.7.2 Show a Table on Twin Pair Status
• 3.8 Using MySQL with Apache

User Comments

An interactive SQL tutorial is available at http://sqlzoo.net
Students can enter SQL and have it executed from the browser.
Compare the syntax for MySQL against Oracle, SQL Server, Postgres and Access

Add your own comment.