The default host name is localhost. On Unix, this has a special meaning, as described later.

The default user name is ODBC on Windows or your Unix login name on Unix.

No password is sent if neither -p nor --password is given.

For mysql, the first nonoption argument is taken as the name of the default database. If there is no such option, mysql does not select a default database.

If you use a -p or --password option and specify the password value, there must be no space between -p or --password= and the password following it.

If you use a -p or --password option but do not specify the password value, the client program prompts you to enter the password. The password is not displayed as you enter it. This is more secure than giving the password on the command line. Other users on your system may be able to see a password specified on the command line by executing a command such as ps auxw. See Section 5.3.2.2, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”.

--host=host_name, -h host_name

The host where the server is running. The default value is localhost.

--password[=pass_val], -p[pass_val]

The password of the MySQL account. As described earlier, the password value is optional, but if given, there must be no space between -p or --password= and the password following it. The default is to send no password.

--pipe, -W

On Windows, connect to the server using a named pipe. The server must be started with the --enable-named-pipe option to enable named-pipe connections.

--port=port_num, -P port_num

The port number to use for the connection, for connections made using TCP/IP. The default port number is 3306.

--protocol={TCP|SOCKET|PIPE|MEMORY}

This option explicitly specifies a protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when the other connection parameters normally would cause a protocol to be used other than the one you want. For example, connections on Unix to localhost are made using a Unix socket file by default:

shell> mysql --host=localhost

To force a TCP/IP connection to be used instead, specify a --protocol option:

shell> mysql --host=localhost --protocol=TCP

The following table shows the permissible --protocol option values and indicates the platforms on which each value may be used. The values are not case sensitive.

--shared-memory-base-name=name

On Windows, the shared-memory name to use, for connections made using shared memory to a local server. The default value is MYSQL. The shared-memory name is case sensitive.

The server must be started with the --shared-memory option to enable shared-memory connections.

--socket=file_name, -S file_name

On Unix, the name of the Unix socket file to use, for connections made using a named pipe to a local server. The default Unix socket file name is /tmp/mysql.sock.

On Windows, the name of the named pipe to use, for connections to a local server. The default Windows pipe name is MySQL. The pipe name is not case sensitive.

The server must be started with the --enable-named-pipe option to enable named-pipe connections.

--ssl*

Options that begin with --ssl are used for establishing a secure connection to the server using SSL, if the server is configured with SSL support. For details, see Section 5.5.8.3, “SSL Command Options”.

--user=user_name, -u user_name

The user name of the MySQL account you want to use. The default user name is ODBC on Windows or your Unix login name on Unix.

You can specify connection parameters in the [client] section of an option file. The relevant section of the file might look like this:

[client]
host=host_name
user=user_name
password=your_pass

Section 4.2.3.3, “Using Option Files”, discusses option files further.

You can specify some connection parameters using environment variables. The host can be specified for mysql using MYSQL_HOST. The MySQL user name can be specified using USER (this is for Windows only). The password can be specified using MYSQL_PWD, although this is insecure; see Section 5.3.2.2, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”. For a list of variables, see Section 2.14, “Environment Variables”.