# mysql_connect

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PECL mysql:1.0)

mysql_connect — Open a connection to a MySQL Server

### Description

resource mysql_connect ([ string `$server` [, string `$username` [, string `$password` [, bool `$new_link` [, int `$client_flags` ]]]]] )

Opens or reuses a connection to a MySQL server.

### Parameters

`server`

  The MySQL server. It can also include a port number. e.g. "hostname:port" or a path to a local socket e.g. ":/path/to/socket" for the localhost.

  If the PHP directive mysql.default_host is undefined (default), then the default value is 'localhost:3306'. In SQL safe mode, this parameter is ignored and value 'localhost:3306' is always used.

`username`

  The username. Default value is defined by mysql.default_user. In SQL safe mode, this parameter is ignored and the name of the user that owns the server process is used.

`password`

  The password. Default value is defined by mysql.default_password. In SQL safe mode, this parameter is ignored and empty password is used.

`new_link`

  If a second call is made to mysql_connect() with the same arguments, no new link will be established, but instead, the link identifier of the already opened link will be returned. The `new_link` parameter modifies this behavior and makes mysql_connect() always open a new link, even if mysql_connect() was called before with the same parameters. In SQL safe mode, this parameter is ignored.

`client_flags`

  The `client_flags` parameter can be a combination of the following constants: 128 (enable LOAD DATA LOCAL handling), `MYSQL_CLIENT_SSL`, `MYSQL_CLIENT_COMPRESS`, `MYSQL_CLIENT_IGNORE_SPACE` or `MYSQL_CLIENT_INTERACTIVE`. Read the section about MySQL for further information. In SQL safe mode, this parameter is ignored.

### Return Values

Returns a MySQL link identifier on success, or `FALSE` on failure.

### ChangeLog

Version | Description
--- | ---
4.3.0 | Added the `client_flags` parameter.
4.2.0 | Added the `new_link` parameter.
3.0.10 | Added support for ":/path/to/socket" with `server` .
3.0.0 | Added support for ":port" with `server` .

### Examples

Example#1 mysql_connect() example

`<?php
$link = mysql_connect('localhost', 'mysql_user', 'mysql_password');
if (!$link) {
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
echo 'Connected successfully';
mysql_close($link);
?>`

Example#2 mysql_connect() example using hostname:port syntax

`<?php
// we connect to example.com and port 3307
$link = mysql_connect('example.com:3307', 'mysql_user', 'mysql_password');
if (!$link) {
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
echo 'Connected successfully';
mysql_close($link);
// we connect to localhost at port 3307
$link = mysql_connect('127.0.0.1:3307', 'mysql_user', 'mysql_password');
if (!$link) {
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
echo 'Connected successfully';
mysql_close($link);
?>`

Example#3 mysql_connect() example using ":/path/to/socket" syntax

`<?php
// we connect to localhost and socket e.g. /tmp/mysql.sock
//variant 1: ommit localhost
$link = mysql_connect('/tmp/mysql', 'mysql_user', 'mysql_password');
if (!$link) {
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
echo 'Connected successfully';
mysql_close($link);
// variant 2: with localhost
$link = mysql_connect('localhost:/tmp/mysql.sock', 'mysql_user', 'mysql_password');
if (!$link) {
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
echo 'Connected successfully';
mysql_close($link);
?>`

### Notes

> Note: Whenever you specify "localhost" or "localhost:port" as server, the MySQL client library will override this and try to connect to a local socket (named pipe on Windows). If you want to use TCP/IP, use "127.0.0.1" instead of "localhost". If the MySQL client library tries to connect to the wrong local socket, you should set the correct path as MySQL in your PHP configuration and leave the server field blank.

> Note: The link to the server will be closed as soon as the execution of the script ends, unless it's closed earlier by explicitly calling mysql_close().

> Note: You can suppress the error message on failure by prepending a @ to the function name.

### See Also

- mysql_pconnect()
- mysql_close()