MySQL: How to Select Database via Terminal/Command Line

If you have connected to a MySQL database using the Command Line on Windows or Terminal on macOS/Linux and want to run queries against a particular schema/database, you can make use of the "USE" statement.

Using the USE statement, you can switch to a particular database before running queries against it.

mysql> USE myDb;

Database changed

If you do not provide the correct database name, or the database does not exist you will get ERROR 1049 (42000),

mysql> USE prodDb;

ERROR 1049 (42000): Unknown database 'prodDb'

The database name cannot be provided on a new line, if you just make use of the USE statement, you will get an error.

mysql> USE
ERROR: USE must be followed by a database name

If you do not want to switch to a particular database, you can also prefix the table name in your query with the database name.

For example:

Select * from myDb.employee where name='Sam';