Support Start > Web Hosting Technical Information > MySQL Databases > MySQL Command Line

Advanced users can connect to a MySQL database using the mysql command line tool.

This is only recommended for advanced users who are familiar with SQL; most users will probably prefer phpMyAdmin, which provides a graphical MySQL interface. However, phpMyAdmin has some limitations that the command line tool doesn’t have (for example, phpMyAdmin can’t handle very large tables, and can’t manage stored procedures).

To use the “mysql” tool, you'll first need to connect to the shell using SSH. When connected, type the following command, replacing “database_name” in both places with the actual name of the MySQL database you want to use:

mysql -u database_name -p database_name

You will be asked to enter a password. This is the password you chose when you created the MySQL database, which is not necessarily the same as your main account password.