Typographical And Syntax Conventions - Oracle 5.0 Reference Manual

Forums". If you have suggestions concerning additions or corrections to the manual itself, please send
them to the http://www.mysql.com/company/contact/.
This manual was originally written by David Axmark and Michael "Monty" Widenius. It is maintained by
the MySQL Documentation Team, consisting of Paul DuBois, Stefan Hinz, Philip Olson, John Russell,
and Jon Stephens.

1.2. Typographical and Syntax Conventions

This manual uses certain typographical conventions:
•
Text in this style
listings and source code; and environment variables. Example: "To reload the grant tables, use the
FLUSH PRIVILEGES
•
Text in this style
•
Text in this style
(the MySQL command-line client program) and
mysql
•
Text in this style
own choosing.
• Text in this style is used for emphasis.
• Text in this style is used in table headings and to convey especially strong emphasis.
•
Text in this style
executed, or that supplies information that is needed for the program to function in a certain way.
Example: "The
address of the MySQL server that it should connect to".
• File names and directory names are written like this: "The global
directory."
• Character sequences are written like this: "To specify a wildcard, use the '%' character."
When commands are shown that are meant to be executed from within a particular program, the
prompt shown preceding the command indicates which command to use. For example,
indicates a command that you execute from your login shell,
executed as root, and
shell> type a shell command here
root-shell>
mysql> type a mysql statement here
In some areas different systems may be distinguished from each other to show that commands should
be executed in two different environments. For example, while working with replication the commands
might be prefixed with
master> type a mysql command on the replication master here
slave> type a mysql command on the replication slave here
The "shell" is your command interpreter. On Unix, this is typically a program such as sh, csh, or bash.
On Windows, the equivalent program is
When you enter a command or statement shown in an example, do not type the prompt shown in the
example.
Database, table, and column names must often be substituted into statements. To indicate that such
substitution is necessary, this manual uses db_name, tbl_name, and col_name. For example, you
might see a statement like this:
mysql> SELECT col_name FROM db_name.tbl_name;
Typographical and Syntax Conventions
is used for SQL statements; database, table, and column names; program
statement."
indicates input that you type in examples.
indicates the names of executable programs and scripts, examples being
is used for variable input for which you should substitute a value of your
is used to indicate a program option that affects how the program is
option (short form -h) tells the
--host
indicates a statement that you execute from the
mysql>
type a shell command as root here
and slave:
master
mysqld
mysql
root-shell>
or cmd.exe, typically run in a console window.
command.com
3
(the MySQL server executable).
client program the hostname or IP
file is located in the
my.cnf
shell>
is similar but should be
mysql
/etc
client program: