Mac install and open mysql using terminal

I downloaded the mysql dmg file and went through the wizard to run. Done. I have also started mysql server under system preferences.

The purpose of me doing this is to work through the exercises of my SQL text book. The terminal commands are new to me but I think once I can actually get started, working through the exercises should be OK.

From researching the web the various blogs tell me to navigate to to the mysql folder in the terminal:

/usr/local/mysql

Fine. Then it gets a little less clear as nearly each article has a different set of instructions on how to proceed. I was fiddling with it yesterday and was prompted for a password - what is the default mysql password?

Could someone give me the steps to get up and running with mysql via the terminal?

13 Answers

(Updated for 2017)

When you installed MySQL it generated a password for the root user. You can connect using

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql -u root -p

and type in the generated password.

Previously, the root user in MySQL used to not have a password and could only connect from localhost. So you would connect using

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql -u root

5

open terminal and type

sudo sh -c 'echo /usr/local/mysql/bin > /etc/paths.d/mysql'

then close terminal and open a new terminal and type

mysql -u root -p

hit enter, and it will ask you for password

I have found this solution on

now to set new password type

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'MyNewPass';

2

In the terminal, I typed:

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql -u root -p

I was then prompted to enter the temporary password that was given to me upon completion of the installation.

In MacOS, Mysql's executable file is located in /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql and you can easily login to it with the following command:

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql -u USERNAME -p

But this is a very long command and very boring, so you can add mysql path to Os's Environment variable and access to it much easier.

For macOS Catalina and later

Starting with macOS Catalina, Mac devices use zsh as the default login shell and interactive shell and you have to update .zprofile file in your home directory.

echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin"' >> ~/.zprofile
source ~/.zprofile
mysql -u USERNAME -p

For macOS Mojave and earlier

Although you can always switch to zsh, bash is the default shell in macOS Mojave and earlier and with bash you have to update .bash_profile file.

echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin"' >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile
mysql -u USERNAME -p

3

This command works for me:

./mysql -u root -p

(PS: I'm working on mac through terminal)

1. install homebrew via terminal

2. brew install mysql

For mac OS Catalina :

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql -uroot -p

This will prompt you to enter password of mysql

If you have your MySQL server up and running, then you just need a client to connect to it and start practicing. One is the mysql-client, which is a command-line tool, or you can use phpMyAdmin, which is a web-based tool.

2

In terminal

sudo sh -c 'echo /usr/local/mysql/bin > /etc/paths.d/mysql'

Close that and open new terminal

mysql -u root -p

Give your password

This command works for me:

Command:

mysql --host=localhost -uroot -proot

try with either of the 2 below commands

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql -uroot
-- OR --
/usr/local/Cellar/mysql/<version>/bin/mysql -uroot

You can simply type in Terminal

brew services start mysql

if you installed mysql via brew on mac

You can connect to your local instance using

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql -u root -p

which will then prompt you for the password. Add the following in your ~/.zshrc (or bash) to directly use mysql

echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin"' >> ~/.zshrc

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