View the Selected MySQL Database on Linux via Command Line

Pre-Flight Check

• These instructions are intended for viewing the selected MySQL database via the command line.
• I’ll be working from a Liquid Web Core Managed CentOS 7 server, and I’ll be logged in as root.

Login to MySQL

First we’ll login to the MySQL server from the command line with the following command:

mysql -u root -p

In this case, I’ve specified the user root with the -u flag, and then used the -p flag so MySQL prompts for a password. Enter your current root password to complete the login.

If you need to change your root (or any other) password in the database, then follow this tutorial on changing a password for MySQL via the command line.

You should now be at a MySQL prompt that looks very similar to:

mysql>

or

MariaDB [(none)]>

View Selected Database in MySQL

If you haven’t already created any databases, then check out our tutorial: Create a MySQL Database on Linux via Command Line

By default all MySQL operations run via the MySQL command line are performed on the currently selected database; thus, it’s important to know which database is currently selected. To find out issue the following command:

SELECT database();

Your result may be similar to this:

mysql> SELECT database();
+------------+
| database() |
+------------+
| NULL       |
+------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Here the result is null, meaning a database is not currently selected. To select a database, follow our tutorial: Select a MySQL Database on Linux via Command Line!