database management in Unix

Question

I am trying to use Unix for the first time and i don't fully understand how i control the database. I have used PHP Admin to edit my DB on a windows machine and it is very easy to use the GUI or hard code my tables.

How can i find the user and password and make tables using Unix? I just need to set up mysql and run a command like this:

mysql> CREATE TABLE pet (name VARCHAR(20), owner VARCHAR(20),
    -> species VARCHAR(20), sex CHAR(1), birth DATE, death DATE);

I have goggled this but i have found out that i am going about this wrong. please, i am very new and just need some guidance in the right direction.

Answer 1

phpMyAdmin is nothing more than an [excellent] GUI shell on top of raw MySQL commands. Assuming you are using MySQL, you use mysqladmin command line tool to manage (create/drop etc) databases and mysql tool to enter SQL commands interactively. MySQL documentation is pretty good and there are plenty of tutorials to get you started.