MySQL commands

As root, create a database and grant permissions to a new user

To connect to the mysql client as root

mysql -u root -p

You'll be prompted for the password.

How to create a new user

CREATE USER 'newuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Create a database

create database databasename

Connect to a database

connect databasename

 Grant permissions to a user

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON * . * TO 'newuser'@'localhost';

Then you can log out of mysql

quit

As a user 

To connect to the mysql client as a user

mysql -u username -p

If you have the correct privileges, you can also create a database with a pipe. How to create a database

echo "create database databasename" | mysql -u username -p

Load a dump

cat file.sql | mysql -u username -p databasename

Graphical client

On Ubuntu, I used mysql navigator by shi bok jang.
On Debian, I used  mysql workbench

More on users

Change password, as the user itself or as root:

SET PASSWORD FOR 'Karl'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('cleartext password');

As root , list all users

SELECT User FROM mysql.user;

As root , delete a user

drop user Rasdfas@localhost;

MySQL documentation on adding user accounts.

More on databases

Commands below work if your shell user name is the same as your mysql user name. If it's dufferent add -u username to the command.

List all databases (in mysql client)

show databases

Delete a database (in the mysql client)

DROP database databasename;

Rename a database  (in the shell)

mysqladmin -p create new_database
mysqldump -p old_database | mysql -p new_database

After you have verified that everything is in order

drop database old_database

Move a table from one database to another

mysqldump -p database_1 table_name | mysql -p database_2 

Back up only part of a database with the where option

mysqldump -p -w"productcode=440799" tradeflows raw_flow_yearly > sawnwood99raw.sql

Back up only the structure of a database (not the data)

mysqldump -p -d tradeflows > tradeflows.sql

Load a dump into a database :

cat file.sql | mysql -u username -p databasename

Configuration file my.cnf

It's not desirable to share user name and password in software disseminated over the internet. User name, password and database names can be placed under groups in the configuration file. For example for a given project enter this group in ~/.my.cnf

[project_name]

user = user
password = password
host = localhost
database = dbname

Then simply specify group=project_name to the client that accesses the database.