Ways to connect to MySQL

Each connection method requires a user/password

When you install MySQL, the automatically created "root" user has full privileges on all databases and can do "anything". You can use this root user to access any of your databases, but it's normal to create at least one additional user whose privileges are more limited, for everyday use. Spending most of your time logged in as a limited user helps prevent doing accidental damage with typing errors or by applying a command to a database different from the one you thought you were working with. You can create as many users as you want, even a different user for each database, and they can have all different, or the same, passwords.

Whenever you connect to MySQL from any of the clients described below, you'll be prompted to log in with a user and password. Log in with a user that has privileges to access the database you want to work with.