Creating & Using A MYSQL Database

You may have an Administrator that will create your database for you, but if not, creating a database is a simple process.

Before creating a database, you will want to check through any existing databases in order to confirm that your database does not already exist.
mysql> SHOW DATABASES;
This command will print out an alphabetical list of the databases that you have access to. It might look something like this:
mysql> SHOW DATABASES;
+----------+
| Database |
+----------+
| pets     |
| test     |
+----------+
And it might not look something like this, because you have not yet created the "pets" database. Let's do that now.
mysql> CREATE DATABASE pets;
Note: Database names are case-sensitive!
Now that your database is created, you have to select it for use. How, you might ask? I'm glad you asked!
mysql> USE pets;
As soon as you see the message "Database changed", you know you're on the right track!
Alternately, you can skip the "USE database;" step by adding the database name when connecting to MYSQL. Example:
mysql> mysql -h host -u username -p pets
After logging in, if at any time you forget what database you are using, simply type in "SELECT database();" and you will be told.
And now you're all set and ready to go!