How to Connect to MySQL Database using PHP

Hello folks! welcome back to a new section of our tutorial on PHP. In this section of our PHP tutorial, we are going to be discussing about MySQL Database Connection.

Opening Database Connection

PHP gives the mysql_connect function that opens a database connection. The function accepts five parameters and then returns a MySQL link identifier on success or False on failure.

Syntax

Following below is syntax to use the PHP mysql_connect function -

connection mysql_connect(server,user,passwd,new_link,client_flag);

Parameter Details

Following below is the details of the above parameters -

Sr.No	Parameter & Description
1	server Optional − The host name running database server. If not specified then default value is localhost:3306.
2	user Optional − The username accessing the database. If not specified then default is the name of the user that owns the server process.
3	passwd Optional − The password of the user accessing the database. If not specified then default is an empty password.
4	new_link Optional − If a second call is made to mysql_connect() with the same arguments, no new connection will be established; instead, the identifier of the already opened connection will be returned.
5	client_flags Optional − A combination of the following constants − MYSQL_CLIENT_SSL − Use SSL encryption MYSQL_CLIENT_COMPRESS − Use compression protocol MYSQL_CLIENT_IGNORE_SPACE − Allow space after function names MYSQL_CLIENT_INTERACTIVE − Allow interactive timeout seconds of inactivity before closing the connection

READ: PHP MySQL Database

Note - You can specify a server, password, user in the php.ini file instead of using them again and again in every of your PHP script. Read our tutorial on php.ini configuration.

Closing Database Connection

PHP provides the mysql_close function for closing of a database connection. This PHP function takes the connection resource that was returned by mysql_connect function. If successful it returns TRUE otherwise FALSE on failure.

Syntax

Following below is the syntax to use the mysql_close function -

bool mysql_close ( resource $link_identifier );

If a resource is not specified, then the last opened database is going to be closed.

Example

Try the following example below to open and close a MySQL database connection -

<?php
   
   $dbhost = 'localhost:3036';
   $dbuser = 'guest';
   $dbpass = 'guest1234';
   $conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
   
   if(! $conn ) {
      die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
   }
   
   echo 'Connected successfully';
   mysql_close($conn);
?>

READ: A Definitive Guide to PHP Bugs Debugging

Alright guys! This is where we are rounding up for this tutorial post. In our next tutorial guide, we are going to be discussing about how to create MYSQL database using PHP.

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