Chapter 23 Connectors and APIs

This section provides guidelines for compiling C programs that use the MySQL C API.

Compiling MySQL Clients on Unix

The examples here use gcc as the compiler. A different compiler might be appropriate on some systems (for example, clang on OS X or FreeBSD, or Sun Studio on Solaris). Adjust the examples as necessary.

You may need to specify an -I option when you compile client programs that use MySQL header files, so that the compiler can find them. For example, if the header files are installed in /usr/local/mysql/include, use this option in the compile command:

-I/usr/local/mysql/include

MySQL clients must be linked using the -lmysqlclient option in the link command. You may also need to specify a -L option to tell the linker where to find the library. For example, if the library is installed in /usr/local/mysql/lib, use these options in the link command:

-L/usr/local/mysql/lib -lmysqlclient

The path names may differ on your system. Adjust the -I and -L options as necessary.

To make it simpler to compile MySQL programs on Unix, use the mysql_config script. See Section 4.7.2, “mysql_config — Display Options for Compiling Clients”.

mysql_config displays the options needed for compiling or linking:

shell> mysql_config --cflags
shell> mysql_config --libs

You can run those commands to get the proper options and add them manually to compilation or link commands. Alternatively, include the output from mysql_config directly within command lines using backticks:

shell> gcc -c `mysql_config --cflags` progname.c
shell> gcc -o progname progname.o `mysql_config --libs`

On Unix, linking uses dynamic libraries by default. To link to the static client library instead, add its path name to the link command. For example, if the library is located in /usr/local/mysql/lib, link like this:

shell> gcc -o progname progname.o /usr/local/mysql/lib/libmysqlclient.a

Or use mysql_config to provide the library name:

shell> gcc -o progname progname.o `mysql_config --variable=pkglibdir`/libmysqlclient.a

mysql_config does not currently provide a way to list all libraries needed for static linking, so it might be necessary to name additional libraries on the link command (for example, -lnsl -lsocket on Solaris). To get an idea which libraries to add, use mysql_config --libs and ldd libmysqlclient.so (or otool -L libmysqlclient.dylib on OS X).

Compiling MySQL Clients on Microsoft Windows

To specify header and library file locations, use the facilities provided by your development environment.

To build C API clients on Windows, you must link in the C client library, as well as the Windows ws2_32 sockets library and Secur32 security library.

On Windows, you can link your code with either the dynamic or static C client library. The static library is named mysqlclient.lib and the dynamic library is named libmysql.dll. In addition, the libmysql.lib static import library is needed for using the dynamic library.

If you link with the static library, failure can occur unless these conditions are satisfied:

If the client application is built in debug mode and uses the static debug C runtime (/MTd compiler option), it can link to the mysqlclient.lib static library if that library was built using the same option. If the client application uses the dynamic C runtime (/MD option, or /MDd option in debug mode), it must be linked to the libmysql.dll dynamic library. It cannot link to the static client library.

The MSDN page describing the link options can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2kzt1wy3.aspx

Troubleshooting Problems Linking to the MySQL Client Library

If the linker cannot find the MySQL client library, you might get undefined-reference errors for symbols that start with mysql_, such as those shown here:

/tmp/ccFKsdPa.o: In function `main':
/tmp/ccFKsdPa.o(.text+0xb): undefined reference to `mysql_init'
/tmp/ccFKsdPa.o(.text+0x31): undefined reference to `mysql_real_connect'
/tmp/ccFKsdPa.o(.text+0x69): undefined reference to `mysql_error'
/tmp/ccFKsdPa.o(.text+0x9a): undefined reference to `mysql_close'

You should be able to solve this problem by adding -Ldir_path -lmysqlclient at the end of your link command, where dir_path represents the path name of the directory where the client library is located. To determine the correct directory, try this command:

shell> mysql_config --libs

The output from mysql_config might indicate other libraries that should be specified on the link command as well. You can include mysql_config output directly in your compile or link command using backticks. For example:

shell> gcc -o progname progname.o `mysql_config --libs`

If an error occurs at link time that the floor symbol is undefined, link to the math library by adding -lm to the end of the compile/link line. Similarly, if you get undefined-reference errors for other functions that should exist on your system, such as connect(), check the manual page for the function in question to determine which libraries you should add to the link command.

If you get undefined-reference errors such as the following for functions that do not exist on your system, it usually means that your MySQL client library was compiled on a system that is not 100% compatible with yours:

mf_format.o(.text+0x201): undefined reference to `__lxstat'

In this case, you should download the latest MySQL or Connector/C source distribution and compile the MySQL client library yourself. See Section 2.9, “Installing MySQL from Source”, and MySQL Connector/C Developer Guide.

The client library is almost thread-safe. The biggest problem is that the subroutines in sql/net_serv.cc that read from sockets are not interrupt-safe. This was done with the thought that you might want to have your own alarm that can break a long read to a server. If you install interrupt handlers for the SIGPIPE interrupt, socket handling should be thread-safe.

To avoid aborting the program when a connection terminates, MySQL blocks SIGPIPE on the first call to mysql_library_init(), mysql_init(), or mysql_connect(). To use your own SIGPIPE handler, first call mysql_library_init(), then install your handler.

If “undefined symbol” errors occur when linking against the libmysqlclient client library, in most cases this is because you have not included the thread libraries on the link/compile command.

The client library is thread-safe per connection. You can let two threads share the same connection with the following caveats:

You need to know the following if you have a thread that did not create the connection to the MySQL database but is calling MySQL functions:

When you call mysql_init(), MySQL creates a thread-specific variable for the thread that is used by the debug library (among other things). If you call a MySQL function before the thread has called mysql_init(), the thread does not have the necessary thread-specific variables in place and you are likely to end up with a core dump sooner or later. To avoid problems, you must do the following:

The preceding notes regarding mysql_init() also apply to mysql_connect(), which calls mysql_init().

If, after an upgrade, you experience problems with compiled client programs, such as Commands out of sync or unexpected core dumps, the programs were probably compiled using old header or library files. In this case, check the date of the mysql.h file and libmysqlclient.a library used for compilation to verify that they are from the new MySQL distribution. If not, recompile the programs with the new headers and libraries. Recompilation might also be necessary for programs compiled against the shared client library if the library major version number has changed (for example, from libmysqlclient.so.17 to libmysqlclient.so.18).

The major client library version determines compatibility. (For example, for libmysqlclient.so.18.1.0, the major version is 18.) For this reason, the libraries shipped with newer versions of MySQL are drop-in replacements for older versions that have the same major number. As long as the major library version is the same, you can upgrade the library and old applications should continue to work with it.

Undefined-reference errors might occur at runtime when you try to execute a MySQL program. If these errors specify symbols that start with mysql_ or indicate that the libmysqlclient library cannot be found, it means that your system cannot find the shared libmysqlclient.so library. The solution to this problem is to tell your system to search for shared libraries in the directory where that library is located. Use whichever of the following methods is appropriate for your system:

If the application is linked to the embedded server library, runtime error messages will indicate the libmysqld rather than libmysqlclient library, but the solution to the problem is the same as just described.

The string and numeric forms of the MySQL server version are available at compile time as the values of the MYSQL_SERVER_VERSION and MYSQL_VERSION_ID macros, and at runtime as the values of the mysql_get_server_info() and mysql_get_server_version() functions.

The client library version is the MySQL version. For Connector/C, this is the MySQL version on which the Connector/C distribution is based. The string and numeric forms of this version are available at compile time as the values of the MYSQL_SERVER_VERSION and MYSQL_VERSION_ID macros, and at runtime as the values of the mysql_get_client_info() and mysql_get_client_version() functions.

my_ulonglong mysql_affected_rows(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

mysql_affected_rows() may be called immediately after executing a statement with mysql_query() or mysql_real_query(). It returns the number of rows changed, deleted, or inserted by the last statement if it was an UPDATE, DELETE, or INSERT. For SELECT statements, mysql_affected_rows() works like mysql_num_rows().

For UPDATE statements, the affected-rows value by default is the number of rows actually changed. If you specify the CLIENT_FOUND_ROWS flag to mysql_real_connect() when connecting to mysqld, the affected-rows value is the number of rows “found”; that is, matched by the WHERE clause.

For REPLACE statements, the affected-rows value is 2 if the new row replaced an old row, because in this case, one row was inserted after the duplicate was deleted.

For INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE statements, the affected-rows value per row is 1 if the row is inserted as a new row, 2 if an existing row is updated, and 0 if an existing row is set to its current values. If you specify the CLIENT_FOUND_ROWS flag, the affected-rows value is 1 (not 0) if an existing row is set to its current values.

Following a CALL statement for a stored procedure, mysql_affected_rows() returns the value that it would return for the last statement executed within the procedure, or 0 if that statement would return -1. Within the procedure, you can use ROW_COUNT() at the SQL level to obtain the affected-rows value for individual statements.

As of MySQL 5.5.5, mysql_affected_rows() returns a meaningful value for a wider range of statements. For details, see the description for ROW_COUNT() in Section 12.14, “Information Functions”.

Return Values

An integer greater than zero indicates the number of rows affected or retrieved. Zero indicates that no records were updated for an UPDATE statement, no rows matched the WHERE clause in the query or that no query has yet been executed. -1 indicates that the query returned an error or that, for a SELECT query, mysql_affected_rows() was called prior to calling mysql_store_result().

Because mysql_affected_rows() returns an unsigned value, you can check for -1 by comparing the return value to (my_ulonglong)-1 (or to (my_ulonglong)~0, which is equivalent).

Errors

None.

Example

char *stmt = "UPDATE products SET cost=cost*1.25
              WHERE group=10";
mysql_query(&mysql,stmt);
printf("%ld products updated",
       (long) mysql_affected_rows(&mysql));

my_bool mysql_autocommit(MYSQL *mysql, my_bool mode)

Description

Sets autocommit mode on if mode is 1, off if mode is 0.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

None.

my_bool mysql_change_user(MYSQL *mysql, const char *user, const char *password, const char *db)

Description

Changes the user and causes the database specified by db to become the default (current) database on the connection specified by mysql. In subsequent queries, this database is the default for table references that include no explicit database specifier.

mysql_change_user() fails if the connected user cannot be authenticated or does not have permission to use the database. In this case, the user and database are not changed.

Pass a db parameter of NULL if you do not want to have a default database.

This function resets the session state as if one had done a new connect and reauthenticated. (See Section 23.8.16, “Controlling Automatic Reconnection Behavior”.) It always performs a ROLLBACK of any active transactions, closes and drops all temporary tables, and unlocks all locked tables. Session system variables are reset to the values of the corresponding global system variables. Prepared statements are released and HANDLER variables are closed. Locks acquired with GET_LOCK() are released. These effects occur even if the user did not change.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

The same that you can get from mysql_real_connect(), plus:

Example

if (mysql_change_user(&mysql, "user", "password", "new_database"))
{
   fprintf(stderr, "Failed to change user.  Error: %s\n",
           mysql_error(&mysql));
}

const char *mysql_character_set_name(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns the default character set name for the current connection.

Return Values

The default character set name

Errors

None.

void mysql_close(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Closes a previously opened connection. mysql_close() also deallocates the connection handle pointed to by mysql if the handle was allocated automatically by mysql_init() or mysql_connect().

Return Values

None.

Errors

None.

my_bool mysql_commit(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Commits the current transaction.

The action of this function is subject to the value of the completion_type system variable. In particular, if the value of completion_type is RELEASE (or 2), the server performs a release after terminating a transaction and closes the client connection. Call mysql_close() from the client program to close the connection from the client side.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

None.

MYSQL *mysql_connect(MYSQL *mysql, const char *host, const char *user, const char *passwd)

Description

This function is deprecated. Use mysql_real_connect() instead.

mysql_connect() attempts to establish a connection to a MySQL database engine running on host. mysql_connect() must complete successfully before you can execute any of the other API functions, with the exception of mysql_get_client_info().

The meanings of the parameters are the same as for the corresponding parameters for mysql_real_connect() with the difference that the connection parameter may be NULL. In this case, the C API allocates memory for the connection structure automatically and frees it when you call mysql_close(). The disadvantage of this approach is that you cannot retrieve an error message if the connection fails. (To get error information from mysql_errno() or mysql_error(), you must provide a valid MYSQL pointer.)

Return Values

Same as for mysql_real_connect().

Errors

Same as for mysql_real_connect().

int mysql_create_db(MYSQL *mysql, const char *db)

Description

Creates the database named by the db parameter.

This function is deprecated. It is preferable to use mysql_query() to issue an SQL CREATE DATABASE statement instead.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

Example

if(mysql_create_db(&mysql, "my_database"))
{
   fprintf(stderr, "Failed to create new database.  Error: %s\n",
           mysql_error(&mysql));
}

void mysql_data_seek(MYSQL_RES *result, my_ulonglong offset)

Description

Seeks to an arbitrary row in a query result set. The offset value is a row number. Specify a value in the range from 0 to mysql_num_rows(result)-1.

This function requires that the result set structure contains the entire result of the query, so mysql_data_seek() may be used only in conjunction with mysql_store_result(), not with mysql_use_result().

Return Values

None.

Errors

None.

void mysql_debug(const char *debug)

Description

Does a DBUG_PUSH with the given string. mysql_debug() uses the Fred Fish debug library. To use this function, you must compile the client library to support debugging. See Section 24.5.3, “The DBUG Package”.

Return Values

None.

Errors

None.

Example

The call shown here causes the client library to generate a trace file in /tmp/client.trace on the client machine:

mysql_debug("d:t:O,/tmp/client.trace");

int mysql_drop_db(MYSQL *mysql, const char *db)

Description

Drops the database named by the db parameter.

This function is deprecated. It is preferable to use mysql_query() to issue an SQL DROP DATABASE statement instead.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

Example

if(mysql_drop_db(&mysql, "my_database"))
  fprintf(stderr, "Failed to drop the database: Error: %s\n",
          mysql_error(&mysql));

int mysql_dump_debug_info(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Instructs the server to write debugging information to the error log. The connected user must have the SUPER privilege.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

my_bool mysql_eof(MYSQL_RES *result)

Description

This function is deprecated. mysql_errno() or mysql_error() may be used instead.

mysql_eof() determines whether the last row of a result set has been read.

If you acquire a result set from a successful call to mysql_store_result(), the client receives the entire set in one operation. In this case, a NULL return from mysql_fetch_row() always means the end of the result set has been reached and it is unnecessary to call mysql_eof(). When used with mysql_store_result(), mysql_eof() always returns true.

On the other hand, if you use mysql_use_result() to initiate a result set retrieval, the rows of the set are obtained from the server one by one as you call mysql_fetch_row() repeatedly. Because an error may occur on the connection during this process, a NULL return value from mysql_fetch_row() does not necessarily mean the end of the result set was reached normally. In this case, you can use mysql_eof() to determine what happened. mysql_eof() returns a nonzero value if the end of the result set was reached and zero if an error occurred.

Historically, mysql_eof() predates the standard MySQL error functions mysql_errno() and mysql_error(). Because those error functions provide the same information, their use is preferred over mysql_eof(), which is deprecated. (In fact, they provide more information, because mysql_eof() returns only a boolean value whereas the error functions indicate a reason for the error when one occurs.)

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if the end of the result set has been reached.

Errors

None.

Example

The following example shows how you might use mysql_eof():

mysql_query(&mysql,"SELECT * FROM some_table");
result = mysql_use_result(&mysql);
while((row = mysql_fetch_row(result)))
{
    // do something with data
}
if(!mysql_eof(result))  // mysql_fetch_row() failed due to an error
{
    fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
}

However, you can achieve the same effect with the standard MySQL error functions:

mysql_query(&mysql,"SELECT * FROM some_table");
result = mysql_use_result(&mysql);
while((row = mysql_fetch_row(result)))
{
    // do something with data
}
if(mysql_errno(&mysql))  // mysql_fetch_row() failed due to an error
{
    fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
}

unsigned int mysql_errno(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

For the connection specified by mysql, mysql_errno() returns the error code for the most recently invoked API function that can succeed or fail. A return value of zero means that no error occurred. Client error message numbers are listed in the MySQL errmsg.h header file. Server error message numbers are listed in mysqld_error.h. Errors also are listed at Appendix B, Errors, Error Codes, and Common Problems.

MySQL-specific error numbers returned by mysql_errno() differ from SQLSTATE values returned by mysql_sqlstate(). For example, the mysql client program displays errors using the following format, where 1146 is the mysql_errno() value and '42S02' is the corresponding mysql_sqlstate() value:

shell> SELECT * FROM no_such_table;
ERROR 1146 (42S02): Table 'test.no_such_table' doesn't exist

Return Values

An error code value for the last mysql_xxx() call, if it failed. zero means no error occurred.

Errors

None.

const char *mysql_error(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

For the connection specified by mysql, mysql_error() returns a null-terminated string containing the error message for the most recently invoked API function that failed. If a function did not fail, the return value of mysql_error() may be the previous error or an empty string to indicate no error.

A rule of thumb is that all functions that have to ask the server for information reset mysql_error() if they succeed.

For functions that reset mysql_error(), either of these two tests can be used to check for an error:

if(*mysql_error(&mysql))
{
  // an error occurred
}

if(mysql_error(&mysql)[0])
{
  // an error occurred
}

The language of the client error messages may be changed by recompiling the MySQL client library. You can choose error messages in several different languages. See Section 10.2, “Setting the Error Message Language”.

Return Values

A null-terminated character string that describes the error. An empty string if no error occurred.

Errors

None.

mysql_escape_string() is identical to mysql_real_escape_string() except that mysql_real_escape_string() takes a connection handler as its first argument and escapes the string according to the current character set. mysql_escape_string() does not take a connection argument and does not respect the current character set.

MYSQL_FIELD *mysql_fetch_field(MYSQL_RES *result)

Description

Returns the definition of one column of a result set as a MYSQL_FIELD structure. Call this function repeatedly to retrieve information about all columns in the result set. mysql_fetch_field() returns NULL when no more fields are left.

mysql_fetch_field() is reset to return information about the first field each time you execute a new SELECT query. The field returned by mysql_fetch_field() is also affected by calls to mysql_field_seek().

If you've called mysql_query() to perform a SELECT on a table but have not called mysql_store_result(), MySQL returns the default blob length (8KB) if you call mysql_fetch_field() to ask for the length of a BLOB field. (The 8KB size is chosen because MySQL does not know the maximum length for the BLOB. This should be made configurable sometime.) Once you've retrieved the result set, field->max_length contains the length of the largest value for this column in the specific query.

Return Values

The MYSQL_FIELD structure for the current column. NULL if no columns are left.

Errors

None.

Example

MYSQL_FIELD *field;

while((field = mysql_fetch_field(result)))
{
    printf("field name %s\n", field->name);
}

MYSQL_FIELD *mysql_fetch_field_direct(MYSQL_RES *result, unsigned int fieldnr)

Description

Given a field number fieldnr for a column within a result set, returns that column's field definition as a MYSQL_FIELD structure. Use this function to retrieve the definition for an arbitrary column. Specify a value for fieldnr in the range from 0 to mysql_num_fields(result)-1.

Return Values

The MYSQL_FIELD structure for the specified column.

Errors

None.

Example

unsigned int num_fields;
unsigned int i;
MYSQL_FIELD *field;

num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
{
    field = mysql_fetch_field_direct(result, i);
    printf("Field %u is %s\n", i, field->name);
}

MYSQL_FIELD *mysql_fetch_fields(MYSQL_RES *result)

Description

Returns an array of all MYSQL_FIELD structures for a result set. Each structure provides the field definition for one column of the result set.

Return Values

An array of MYSQL_FIELD structures for all columns of a result set.

Errors

None.

Example

unsigned int num_fields;
unsigned int i;
MYSQL_FIELD *fields;

num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
fields = mysql_fetch_fields(result);
for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
{
   printf("Field %u is %s\n", i, fields[i].name);
}

unsigned long *mysql_fetch_lengths(MYSQL_RES *result)

Description

Returns the lengths of the columns of the current row within a result set. If you plan to copy field values, this length information is also useful for optimization, because you can avoid calling strlen(). In addition, if the result set contains binary data, you must use this function to determine the size of the data, because strlen() returns incorrect results for any field containing null characters.

The length for empty columns and for columns containing NULL values is zero. To see how to distinguish these two cases, see the description for mysql_fetch_row().

Return Values

An array of unsigned long integers representing the size of each column (not including any terminating null bytes). NULL if an error occurred.

Errors

mysql_fetch_lengths() is valid only for the current row of the result set. It returns NULL if you call it before calling mysql_fetch_row() or after retrieving all rows in the result.

Example

MYSQL_ROW row;
unsigned long *lengths;
unsigned int num_fields;
unsigned int i;

row = mysql_fetch_row(result);
if (row)
{
    num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
    lengths = mysql_fetch_lengths(result);
    for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
    {
         printf("Column %u is %lu bytes in length.\n",
                i, lengths[i]);
    }
}

MYSQL_ROW mysql_fetch_row(MYSQL_RES *result)

Description

Retrieves the next row of a result set. When used after mysql_store_result(), mysql_fetch_row() returns NULL when there are no more rows to retrieve. When used after mysql_use_result(), mysql_fetch_row() returns NULL when there are no more rows to retrieve or if an error occurred.

The number of values in the row is given by mysql_num_fields(result). If row holds the return value from a call to mysql_fetch_row(), pointers to the values are accessed as row[0] to row[mysql_num_fields(result)-1]. NULL values in the row are indicated by NULL pointers.

The lengths of the field values in the row may be obtained by calling mysql_fetch_lengths(). Empty fields and fields containing NULL both have length 0; you can distinguish these by checking the pointer for the field value. If the pointer is NULL, the field is NULL; otherwise, the field is empty.

Return Values

A MYSQL_ROW structure for the next row. NULL if there are no more rows to retrieve or if an error occurred.

Errors

Errors are not reset between calls to mysql_fetch_row()

Example

MYSQL_ROW row;
unsigned int num_fields;
unsigned int i;

num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
while ((row = mysql_fetch_row(result)))
{
   unsigned long *lengths;
   lengths = mysql_fetch_lengths(result);
   for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
   {
       printf("[%.*s] ", (int) lengths[i],
              row[i] ? row[i] : "NULL");
   }
   printf("\n");
}

unsigned int mysql_field_count(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns the number of columns for the most recent query on the connection.

The normal use of this function is when mysql_store_result() returned NULL (and thus you have no result set pointer). In this case, you can call mysql_field_count() to determine whether mysql_store_result() should have produced a nonempty result. This enables the client program to take proper action without knowing whether the query was a SELECT (or SELECT-like) statement. The example shown here illustrates how this may be done.

See Section 23.8.15.1, “Why mysql_store_result() Sometimes Returns NULL After mysql_query() Returns Success”.

Return Values

An unsigned integer representing the number of columns in a result set.

Errors

None.

Example

MYSQL_RES *result;
unsigned int num_fields;
unsigned int num_rows;

if (mysql_query(&mysql,query_string))
{
    // error
}
else // query succeeded, process any data returned by it
{
    result = mysql_store_result(&mysql);
    if (result)  // there are rows
    {
        num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
        // retrieve rows, then call mysql_free_result(result)
    }
    else  // mysql_store_result() returned nothing; should it have?
    {
        if(mysql_field_count(&mysql) == 0)
        {
            // query does not return data
            // (it was not a SELECT)
            num_rows = mysql_affected_rows(&mysql);
        }
        else // mysql_store_result() should have returned data
        {
            fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
        }
    }
}

An alternative is to replace the mysql_field_count(&mysql) call with mysql_errno(&mysql). In this case, you are checking directly for an error from mysql_store_result() rather than inferring from the value of mysql_field_count() whether the statement was a SELECT.

MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET mysql_field_seek(MYSQL_RES *result, MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET offset)

Description

Sets the field cursor to the given offset. The next call to mysql_fetch_field() retrieves the field definition of the column associated with that offset.

To seek to the beginning of a row, pass an offset value of zero.

Return Values

The previous value of the field cursor.

Errors

None.

MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET mysql_field_tell(MYSQL_RES *result)

Description

Returns the position of the field cursor used for the last mysql_fetch_field(). This value can be used as an argument to mysql_field_seek().

Return Values

The current offset of the field cursor.

Errors

None.

void mysql_free_result(MYSQL_RES *result)

Description

Frees the memory allocated for a result set by mysql_store_result(), mysql_use_result(), mysql_list_dbs(), and so forth. When you are done with a result set, you must free the memory it uses by calling mysql_free_result().

Do not attempt to access a result set after freeing it.

Return Values

None.

Errors

None.

void mysql_get_character_set_info(MYSQL *mysql, MY_CHARSET_INFO *cs)

Description

This function provides information about the default client character set. The default character set may be changed with the mysql_set_character_set() function.

Example

This example shows the fields that are available in the MY_CHARSET_INFO structure:

if (!mysql_set_character_set(&mysql, "utf8"))
{
    MY_CHARSET_INFO cs;
    mysql_get_character_set_info(&mysql, &cs);
    printf("character set information:\n");
    printf("character set+collation number: %d\n", cs.number);
    printf("character set name: %s\n", cs.name);
    printf("collation name: %s\n", cs.csname);
    printf("comment: %s\n", cs.comment);
    printf("directory: %s\n", cs.dir);
    printf("multi byte character min. length: %d\n", cs.mbminlen);
    printf("multi byte character max. length: %d\n", cs.mbmaxlen);
}

const char *mysql_get_client_info(void)

Description

Returns a string that represents the MySQL client library version; for example, "5.5.53".

The function value is the MySQL version. For Connector/C, this is the MySQL version on which the Connector/C distribution is based. For more information, see Section 23.8.4.4, “C API Server and Client Library Versions”.

Return Values

A character string that represents the MySQL client library version.

Errors

None.

unsigned long mysql_get_client_version(void)

Description

Returns an integer that represents the MySQL client library version. The value has the format XYYZZ where X is the major version, YY is the release level (or minor version), and ZZ is the sub-version within the release level:

major_version*10000 + release_level*100 + sub_version

For example, "5.5.53" is returned as 50553.

The function value is the MySQL version. For Connector/C, this is the MySQL version on which the Connector/C distribution is based. For more information, see Section 23.8.4.4, “C API Server and Client Library Versions”.

Return Values

An integer that represents the MySQL client library version.

Errors

None.

const char *mysql_get_host_info(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns a string describing the type of connection in use, including the server host name.

Return Values

A character string representing the server host name and the connection type.

Errors

None.

unsigned int mysql_get_proto_info(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns the protocol version used by current connection.

Return Values

An unsigned integer representing the protocol version used by the current connection.

Errors

None.

const char *mysql_get_server_info(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns a string that represents the MySQL server version; for example, "5.5.53".

Return Values

A character string that represents the MySQL server version.

Errors

None.

unsigned long mysql_get_server_version(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns an integer that represents the MySQL server version. The value has the format XYYZZ where X is the major version, YY is the release level (or minor version), and ZZ is the sub-version within the release level:

major_version*10000 + release_level*100 + sub_version

For example, "5.5.53" is returned as 50553.

This function is useful in client programs for determining whether some version-specific server capability exists.

Return Values

An integer that represents the MySQL server version.

Errors

None.

const char *mysql_get_ssl_cipher(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

mysql_get_ssl_cipher() returns the encryption cipher used for the given connection to the server. mysql is the connection handler returned from mysql_init().

Return Values

A string naming the encryption cipher used for the connection, or NULL if no cipher is being used.

unsigned long mysql_hex_string(char *to, const char *from, unsigned long length)

Description

This function creates a legal SQL string for use in an SQL statement. See Section 9.1.1, “String Literals”.

The string in the from argument is encoded in hexadecimal format, with each character encoded as two hexadecimal digits. The result is placed in the to argument, followed by a terminating null byte.

The string pointed to by from must be length bytes long. You must allocate the to buffer to be at least length*2+1 bytes long. When mysql_hex_string() returns, the contents of to is a null-terminated string. The return value is the length of the encoded string, not including the terminating null byte.

The return value can be placed into an SQL statement using either X'value' or 0xvalue format. However, the return value does not include the X'...' or 0x. The caller must supply whichever of those is desired.

Example

char query[1000],*end;

end = strmov(query,"INSERT INTO test_table values(");
end = strmov(end,"X'");
end += mysql_hex_string(end,"What is this",12);
end = strmov(end,"',X'");
end += mysql_hex_string(end,"binary data: \0\r\n",16);
end = strmov(end,"')");

if (mysql_real_query(&mysql,query,(unsigned int) (end - query)))
{
   fprintf(stderr, "Failed to insert row, Error: %s\n",
           mysql_error(&mysql));
}

The strmov() function used in the example is included in the libmysqlclient library and works like strcpy() but returns a pointer to the terminating null of the first parameter.

Return Values

The length of the encoded string that is placed into to, not including the terminating null character.

Errors

None.

const char *mysql_info(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Retrieves a string providing information about the most recently executed statement, but only for the statements listed here. For other statements, mysql_info() returns NULL. The format of the string varies depending on the type of statement, as described here. The numbers are illustrative only; the string contains values appropriate for the statement.

mysql_info() returns a non-NULL value for INSERT ... VALUES only for the multiple-row form of the statement (that is, only if multiple value lists are specified).

Return Values

A character string representing additional information about the most recently executed statement. NULL if no information is available for the statement.

Errors

None.

MYSQL *mysql_init(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Allocates or initializes a MYSQL object suitable for mysql_real_connect(). If mysql is a NULL pointer, the function allocates, initializes, and returns a new object. Otherwise, the object is initialized and the address of the object is returned. If mysql_init() allocates a new object, it is freed when mysql_close() is called to close the connection.

In a nonmulti-threaded environment, mysql_init() invokes mysql_library_init() automatically as necessary. However, mysql_library_init() is not thread-safe in a multi-threaded environment, and thus neither is mysql_init(). Before calling mysql_init(), either call mysql_library_init() prior to spawning any threads, or use a mutex to protect the mysql_library_init() call. This should be done prior to any other client library call.

Return Values

An initialized MYSQL* handle. NULL if there was insufficient memory to allocate a new object.

Errors

In case of insufficient memory, NULL is returned.

my_ulonglong mysql_insert_id(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns the value generated for an AUTO_INCREMENT column by the previous INSERT or UPDATE statement. Use this function after you have performed an INSERT statement into a table that contains an AUTO_INCREMENT field, or have used INSERT or UPDATE to set a column value with LAST_INSERT_ID(expr).

The return value of mysql_insert_id() is always zero unless explicitly updated under one of the following conditions:

The return value of mysql_insert_id() can be simplified to the following sequence:

mysql_insert_id() returns 0 if the previous statement does not use an AUTO_INCREMENT value. If you need to save the value for later, be sure to call mysql_insert_id() immediately after the statement that generates the value.

The value of mysql_insert_id() is affected only by statements issued within the current client connection. It is not affected by statements issued by other clients.

The LAST_INSERT_ID() SQL function will contain the value of the first automatically generated value that was successfully inserted. LAST_INSERT_ID() is not reset between statements because the value of that function is maintained in the server. Another difference from mysql_insert_id() is that LAST_INSERT_ID() is not updated if you set an AUTO_INCREMENT column to a specific nonspecial value. See Section 12.14, “Information Functions”.

mysql_insert_id() returns 0 following a CALL statement for a stored procedure that generates an AUTO_INCREMENT value because in this case mysql_insert_id() applies to CALL and not the statement within the procedure. Within the procedure, you can use LAST_INSERT_ID() at the SQL level to obtain the AUTO_INCREMENT value.

The reason for the differences between LAST_INSERT_ID() and mysql_insert_id() is that LAST_INSERT_ID() is made easy to use in scripts while mysql_insert_id() tries to provide more exact information about what happens to the AUTO_INCREMENT column.

Return Values

Described in the preceding discussion.

Errors

None.

int mysql_kill(MYSQL *mysql, unsigned long pid)

Description

Asks the server to kill the thread specified by pid.

This function is deprecated. It is preferable to use mysql_query() to issue an SQL KILL statement instead.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

void mysql_library_end(void)

Description

This function finalizes the MySQL library. Call it when you are done using the library (for example, after disconnecting from the server). The action taken by the call depends on whether your application is linked to the MySQL client library or the MySQL embedded server library. For a client program linked against the libmysqlclient library by using the -lmysqlclient flag, mysql_library_end() performs some memory management to clean up. For an embedded server application linked against the libmysqld library by using the -lmysqld flag, mysql_library_end() shuts down the embedded server and then cleans up.

For usage information, see Section 23.8.6, “C API Function Overview”, and Section 23.8.7.40, “mysql_library_init()”.

int mysql_library_init(int argc, char **argv, char **groups)

Description

Call this function to initialize the MySQL library before you call any other MySQL function, whether your application is a regular client program or uses the embedded server. If the application uses the embedded server, this call starts the server and initializes any subsystems (mysys, InnoDB, and so forth) that the server uses.

After your application is done using the MySQL library, call mysql_library_end() to clean up. See Section 23.8.7.39, “mysql_library_end()”.

The choice of whether the application operates as a regular client or uses the embedded server depends on whether you use the libmysqlclient or libmysqld library at link time to produce the final executable. For additional information, see Section 23.8.6, “C API Function Overview”.

In a nonmulti-threaded environment, the call to mysql_library_init() may be omitted, because mysql_init() will invoke it automatically as necessary. However, mysql_library_init() is not thread-safe in a multi-threaded environment, and thus neither is mysql_init(), which calls mysql_library_init(). You must either call mysql_library_init() prior to spawning any threads, or else use a mutex to protect the call, whether you invoke mysql_library_init() or indirectly through mysql_init(). Do this prior to any other client library call.

The argc and argv arguments are analogous to the arguments to main(), and enable passing of options to the embedded server. For convenience, argc may be 0 (zero) if there are no command-line arguments for the server. This is the usual case for applications intended for use only as regular (nonembedded) clients, and the call typically is written as mysql_library_init(0, NULL, NULL).

#include <mysql.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(void) {
  if (mysql_library_init(0, NULL, NULL)) {
    fprintf(stderr, "could not initialize MySQL library\n");
    exit(1);
  }

  /* Use any MySQL API functions here */

  mysql_library_end();

  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

When arguments are to be passed (argc is greater than 0), the first element of argv is ignored (it typically contains the program name). mysql_library_init() makes a copy of the arguments so it is safe to destroy argv or groups after the call.

For embedded applications, if you want to connect to an external server without starting the embedded server, you have to specify a negative value for argc.

The groups argument is an array of strings that indicate the groups in option files from which to read options. See Section 4.2.6, “Using Option Files”. Make the final entry in the array NULL. For convenience, if the groups argument itself is NULL, the [server] and [embedded] groups are used by default.

#include <mysql.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

static char *server_args[] = {
  "this_program",       /* this string is not used */
  "--datadir=.",
  "--key_buffer_size=32M"
};
static char *server_groups[] = {
  "embedded",
  "server",
  "this_program_SERVER",
  (char *)NULL
};

int main(void) {
  if (mysql_library_init(sizeof(server_args) / sizeof(char *),
                        server_args, server_groups)) {
    fprintf(stderr, "could not initialize MySQL library\n");
    exit(1);
  }

  /* Use any MySQL API functions here */

  mysql_library_end();

  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_dbs(MYSQL *mysql, const char *wild)

Description

Returns a result set consisting of database names on the server that match the simple regular expression specified by the wild parameter. wild may contain the wildcard characters % or _, or may be a NULL pointer to match all databases. Calling mysql_list_dbs() is similar to executing the query SHOW DATABASES [LIKE wild].

You must free the result set with mysql_free_result().

Return Values

A MYSQL_RES result set for success. NULL if an error occurred.

Errors

MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_fields(MYSQL *mysql, const char *table, const char *wild)

Description

Returns an empty result set for which the metadata provides information about the columns in the given table that match the simple regular expression specified by the wild parameter. wild may contain the wildcard characters % or _, or may be a NULL pointer to match all fields. Calling mysql_list_fields() is similar to executing the query SHOW COLUMNS FROM tbl_name [LIKE wild].

It is preferable to use SHOW COLUMNS FROM tbl_name instead of mysql_list_fields().

You must free the result set with mysql_free_result().

Return Values

A MYSQL_RES result set for success. NULL if an error occurred.

Errors

Example

int i;
MYSQL_RES *tbl_cols = mysql_list_fields(mysql, "mytbl", "f%");

unsigned int field_cnt = mysql_num_fields(tbl_cols);
printf("Number of columns: %d\n", field_cnt);

for (i=0; i < field_cnt; ++i)
{
  /* col describes i-th column of the table */
  MYSQL_FIELD *col = mysql_fetch_field_direct(tbl_cols, i);
  printf ("Column %d: %s\n", i, col->name);
}
mysql_free_result(tbl_cols);

MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_processes(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns a result set describing the current server threads. This is the same kind of information as that reported by mysqladmin processlist or a SHOW PROCESSLIST query.

You must free the result set with mysql_free_result().

Return Values

A MYSQL_RES result set for success. NULL if an error occurred.

Errors

MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_tables(MYSQL *mysql, const char *wild)

Description

Returns a result set consisting of table names in the current database that match the simple regular expression specified by the wild parameter. wild may contain the wildcard characters % or _, or may be a NULL pointer to match all tables. Calling mysql_list_tables() is similar to executing the query SHOW TABLES [LIKE wild].

You must free the result set with mysql_free_result().

Return Values

A MYSQL_RES result set for success. NULL if an error occurred.

Errors

my_bool mysql_more_results(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

This function is used when you execute multiple statements specified as a single statement string, or when you execute CALL statements, which can return multiple result sets.

mysql_more_results() true if more results exist from the currently executed statement, in which case the application must call mysql_next_result() to fetch the results.

Return Values

TRUE (1) if more results exist. FALSE (0) if no more results exist.

In most cases, you can call mysql_next_result() instead to test whether more results exist and initiate retrieval if so.

See Section 23.8.17, “C API Support for Multiple Statement Execution”, and Section 23.8.7.46, “mysql_next_result()”.

Errors

None.

int mysql_next_result(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

This function is used when you execute multiple statements specified as a single statement string, or when you use CALL statements to execute stored procedures, which can return multiple result sets.

mysql_next_result() reads the next statement result and returns a status to indicate whether more results exist. If mysql_next_result() returns an error, there are no more results.

Before each call to mysql_next_result(), you must call mysql_free_result() for the current statement if it is a statement that returned a result set (rather than just a result status).

After calling mysql_next_result() the state of the connection is as if you had called mysql_real_query() or mysql_query() for the next statement. This means that you can call mysql_store_result(), mysql_warning_count(), mysql_affected_rows(), and so forth.

If your program uses CALL statements to execute stored procedures, the CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS flag must be enabled. This is because each CALL returns a result to indicate the call status, in addition to any result sets that might be returned by statements executed within the procedure. Because CALL can return multiple results, process them using a loop that calls mysql_next_result() to determine whether there are more results.

CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS can be enabled when you call mysql_real_connect(), either explicitly by passing the CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS flag itself, or implicitly by passing CLIENT_MULTI_STATEMENTS (which also enables CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS). As of MySQL 5.5.3, CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS is enabled by default.

It is also possible to test whether there are more results by calling mysql_more_results(). However, this function does not change the connection state, so if it returns true, you must still call mysql_next_result() to advance to the next result.

For an example that shows how to use mysql_next_result(), see Section 23.8.17, “C API Support for Multiple Statement Execution”.

Return Values

Errors

unsigned int mysql_num_fields(MYSQL_RES *result)

To pass a MYSQL* argument instead, use unsigned int mysql_field_count(MYSQL *mysql).

Description

Returns the number of columns in a result set.

You can get the number of columns either from a pointer to a result set or to a connection handle. You would use the connection handle if mysql_store_result() or mysql_use_result() returned NULL (and thus you have no result set pointer). In this case, you can call mysql_field_count() to determine whether mysql_store_result() should have produced a nonempty result. This enables the client program to take proper action without knowing whether the query was a SELECT (or SELECT-like) statement. The example shown here illustrates how this may be done.

See Section 23.8.15.1, “Why mysql_store_result() Sometimes Returns NULL After mysql_query() Returns Success”.

Return Values

An unsigned integer representing the number of columns in a result set.

Errors

None.

Example

MYSQL_RES *result;
unsigned int num_fields;
unsigned int num_rows;

if (mysql_query(&mysql,query_string))
{
    // error
}
else // query succeeded, process any data returned by it
{
    result = mysql_store_result(&mysql);
    if (result)  // there are rows
    {
        num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
        // retrieve rows, then call mysql_free_result(result)
    }
    else  // mysql_store_result() returned nothing; should it have?
    {
        if (mysql_errno(&mysql))
        {
           fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
        }
        else if (mysql_field_count(&mysql) == 0)
        {
            // query does not return data
            // (it was not a SELECT)
            num_rows = mysql_affected_rows(&mysql);
        }
    }
}

An alternative (if you know that your query should have returned a result set) is to replace the mysql_errno(&mysql) call with a check whether mysql_field_count(&mysql) returns 0. This happens only if something went wrong.

my_ulonglong mysql_num_rows(MYSQL_RES *result)

Description

Returns the number of rows in the result set.

The use of mysql_num_rows() depends on whether you use mysql_store_result() or mysql_use_result() to return the result set. If you use mysql_store_result(), mysql_num_rows() may be called immediately. If you use mysql_use_result(), mysql_num_rows() does not return the correct value until all the rows in the result set have been retrieved.

mysql_num_rows() is intended for use with statements that return a result set, such as SELECT. For statements such as INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE, the number of affected rows can be obtained with mysql_affected_rows().

Return Values

The number of rows in the result set.

Errors

None.

int mysql_options(MYSQL *mysql, enum mysql_option option, const void *arg)

Description

Can be used to set extra connect options and affect behavior for a connection. This function may be called multiple times to set several options.

Call mysql_options() after mysql_init() and before mysql_connect() or mysql_real_connect().

The option argument is the option that you want to set; the arg argument is the value for the option. If the option is an integer, specify a pointer to the value of the integer as the arg argument.

The following list describes the possible options, their effect, and how arg is used for each option. Several of the options apply only when the application is linked against the libmysqld embedded server library and are unused for applications linked against the libmysqlclient client library. For option descriptions that indicate arg is unused, its value is irrelevant; it is conventional to pass 0.

The client group is always read if you use MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_FILE or MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP.

The specified group in the option file may contain the following options.

timeout has been replaced by connect-timeout, but timeout is still supported for backward compatibility.

For more information about option files used by MySQL programs, see Section 4.2.6, “Using Option Files”.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if you specify an unknown option.

Example

The following mysql_options() calls request the use of compression in the client/server protocol, cause options to be read from the [odbc] group of option files, and disable transaction autocommit mode:

MYSQL mysql;

mysql_init(&mysql);
mysql_options(&mysql,MYSQL_OPT_COMPRESS,0);
mysql_options(&mysql,MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP,"odbc");
mysql_options(&mysql,MYSQL_INIT_COMMAND,"SET autocommit=0");
if (!mysql_real_connect(&mysql,"host","user","passwd","database",0,NULL,0))
{
    fprintf(stderr, "Failed to connect to database: Error: %s\n",
          mysql_error(&mysql));
}

This code requests that the client use the compressed client/server protocol and read the additional options from the odbc section in the my.cnf file.

int mysql_ping(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Checks whether the connection to the server is working. If the connection has gone down and auto-reconnect is enabled an attempt to reconnect is made. If the connection is down and auto-reconnect is disabled, mysql_ping() returns an error.

Auto-reconnect is disabled by default. To enable it, call mysql_options() with the MYSQL_OPT_RECONNECT option. For details, see Section 23.8.7.49, “mysql_options()”.

mysql_ping() can be used by clients that remain idle for a long while, to check whether the server has closed the connection and reconnect if necessary.

If mysql_ping()) does cause a reconnect, there is no explicit indication of it. To determine whether a reconnect occurs, call mysql_thread_id() to get the original connection identifier before calling mysql_ping(), then call mysql_thread_id() again to see whether the identifier has changed.

If reconnect occurs, some characteristics of the connection will have been reset. For details about these characteristics, see Section 23.8.16, “Controlling Automatic Reconnection Behavior”.

Return Values

Zero if the connection to the server is active. Nonzero if an error occurred. A nonzero return does not indicate whether the MySQL server itself is down; the connection might be broken for other reasons such as network problems.

Errors

int mysql_query(MYSQL *mysql, const char *stmt_str)

Description

Executes the SQL statement pointed to by the null-terminated string stmt_str. Normally, the string must consist of a single SQL statement without a terminating semicolon (;) or \g. If multiple-statement execution has been enabled, the string can contain several statements separated by semicolons. See Section 23.8.17, “C API Support for Multiple Statement Execution”.

mysql_query() cannot be used for statements that contain binary data; you must use mysql_real_query() instead. (Binary data may contain the \0 character, which mysql_query() interprets as the end of the statement string.)

If you want to know whether the statement should return a result set, you can use mysql_field_count() to check for this. See Section 23.8.7.22, “mysql_field_count()”.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

MYSQL *mysql_real_connect(MYSQL *mysql, const char *host, const char *user, const char *passwd, const char *db, unsigned int port, const char *unix_socket, unsigned long client_flag)

Description

mysql_real_connect() attempts to establish a connection to a MySQL database engine running on host. mysql_real_connect() must complete successfully before you can execute any other API functions that require a valid MYSQL connection handle structure.

The parameters are specified as follows:

If your program uses CALL statements to execute stored procedures, the CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS flag must be enabled. This is because each CALL returns a result to indicate the call status, in addition to any result sets that might be returned by statements executed within the procedure. Because CALL can return multiple results, process them using a loop that calls mysql_next_result() to determine whether there are more results.

CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS can be enabled when you call mysql_real_connect(), either explicitly by passing the CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS flag itself, or implicitly by passing CLIENT_MULTI_STATEMENTS (which also enables CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS). As of MySQL 5.5.3, CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS is enabled by default.

If you enable CLIENT_MULTI_STATEMENTS or CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS, you should process the result for every call to mysql_query() or mysql_real_query() by using a loop that calls mysql_next_result() to determine whether there are more results. For an example, see Section 23.8.17, “C API Support for Multiple Statement Execution”.

For some parameters, it is possible to have the value taken from an option file rather than from an explicit value in the mysql_real_connect() call. To do this, call mysql_options() with the MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_FILE or MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP option before calling mysql_real_connect(). Then, in the mysql_real_connect() call, specify the “no-value” value for each parameter to be read from an option file:

If no value is found in an option file for a parameter, its default value is used as indicated in the descriptions given earlier in this section.

Return Values

A MYSQL* connection handle if the connection was successful, NULL if the connection was unsuccessful. For a successful connection, the return value is the same as the value of the first parameter.

Errors

Example

MYSQL mysql;

mysql_init(&mysql);
mysql_options(&mysql,MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP,"your_prog_name");
if (!mysql_real_connect(&mysql,"host","user","passwd","database",0,NULL,0))
{
    fprintf(stderr, "Failed to connect to database: Error: %s\n",
          mysql_error(&mysql));
}

By using mysql_options() the MySQL library reads the [client] and [your_prog_name] sections in the my.cnf file which ensures that your program works, even if someone has set up MySQL in some nonstandard way.

Upon connection, mysql_real_connect() sets the reconnect flag (part of the MYSQL structure) to a value of 1 in versions of the API older than 5.0.3, or 0 in newer versions. A value of 1 for this flag indicates that if a statement cannot be performed because of a lost connection, to try reconnecting to the server before giving up. You can use the MYSQL_OPT_RECONNECT option to mysql_options() to control reconnection behavior.

unsigned long mysql_real_escape_string(MYSQL *mysql, char *to, const char *from, unsigned long length)

Description

This function creates a legal SQL string for use in an SQL statement. See Section 9.1.1, “String Literals”.

The mysql argument must be a valid, open connection because character escaping depends on the character set in use by the server.

The string in the from argument is encoded to produce an escaped SQL string, taking into account the current character set of the connection. The result is placed in the to argument, followed by a terminating null byte.

Characters encoded are \, ', ", NUL (ASCII 0), \n, \r, and Control+Z. Strictly speaking, MySQL requires only that backslash and the quote character used to quote the string in the query be escaped. mysql_real_escape_string() quotes the other characters to make them easier to read in log files. For comparison, see the quoting rules for literal strings and the QUOTE() SQL function in Section 9.1.1, “String Literals”, and Section 12.5, “String Functions”.

The string pointed to by from must be length bytes long. You must allocate the to buffer to be at least length*2+1 bytes long. (In the worst case, each character may need to be encoded as using two bytes, and there must be room for the terminating null byte.) When mysql_real_escape_string() returns, the contents of to is a null-terminated string. The return value is the length of the encoded string, not including the terminating null byte.

If you must change the character set of the connection, use the mysql_set_character_set() function rather than executing a SET NAMES (or SET CHARACTER SET) statement. mysql_set_character_set() works like SET NAMES but also affects the character set used by mysql_real_escape_string(), which SET NAMES does not.

Example

The following example inserts two escaped strings into an INSERT statement, each within single quote characters:

char query[1000],*end;

end = strmov(query,"INSERT INTO test_table VALUES(");
*end++ = '\'';
end += mysql_real_escape_string(&mysql,end,"What is this",12);
*end++ = '\'';
*end++ = ',';
*end++ = '\'';
end += mysql_real_escape_string(&mysql,end,"binary data: \0\r\n",16);
*end++ = '\'';
*end++ = ')';

if (mysql_real_query(&mysql,query,(unsigned int) (end - query)))
{
   fprintf(stderr, "Failed to insert row, Error: %s\n",
           mysql_error(&mysql));
}

The strmov() function used in the example is included in the libmysqlclient library and works like strcpy() but returns a pointer to the terminating null of the first parameter.

Return Values

The length of the encoded string that is placed into the to argument, not including the terminating null character.

Errors

None.

int mysql_real_query(MYSQL *mysql, const char *stmt_str, unsigned long length)

Description

Executes the SQL statement pointed to by stmt_str, a string length bytes long. Normally, the string must consist of a single SQL statement without a terminating semicolon (;) or \g. If multiple-statement execution has been enabled, the string can contain several statements separated by semicolons. See Section 23.8.17, “C API Support for Multiple Statement Execution”.

mysql_query() cannot be used for statements that contain binary data; you must use mysql_real_query() instead. (Binary data may contain the \0 character, which mysql_query() interprets as the end of the statement string.) In addition, mysql_real_query() is faster than mysql_query() because it does not call strlen() on the statement string.

If you want to know whether the statement should return a result set, you can use mysql_field_count() to check for this. See Section 23.8.7.22, “mysql_field_count()”.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

int mysql_refresh(MYSQL *mysql, unsigned int options)

Description

This function flushes tables or caches, or resets replication server information. The connected user must have the RELOAD privilege.

The options argument is a bit mask composed from any combination of the following values. Multiple values can be OR'ed together to perform multiple operations with a single call.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

int mysql_reload(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Asks the MySQL server to reload the grant tables. The connected user must have the RELOAD privilege.

This function is deprecated. It is preferable to use mysql_query() to issue an SQL FLUSH PRIVILEGES statement instead.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

my_bool mysql_rollback(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Rolls back the current transaction.

The action of this function is subject to the value of the completion_type system variable. In particular, if the value of completion_type is RELEASE (or 2), the server performs a release after terminating a transaction and closes the client connection. Call mysql_close() from the client program to close the connection from the client side.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

None.

MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET mysql_row_seek(MYSQL_RES *result, MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET offset)

Description

Sets the row cursor to an arbitrary row in a query result set. The offset value is a row offset, typically a value returned from mysql_row_tell() or from mysql_row_seek(). This value is not a row number; to seek to a row within a result set by number, use mysql_data_seek() instead.

This function requires that the result set structure contains the entire result of the query, so mysql_row_seek() may be used only in conjunction with mysql_store_result(), not with mysql_use_result().

Return Values

The previous value of the row cursor. This value may be passed to a subsequent call to mysql_row_seek().

Errors

None.

MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET mysql_row_tell(MYSQL_RES *result)

Description

Returns the current position of the row cursor for the last mysql_fetch_row(). This value can be used as an argument to mysql_row_seek().

Use mysql_row_tell() only after mysql_store_result(), not after mysql_use_result().

Return Values

The current offset of the row cursor.

Errors

None.

int mysql_select_db(MYSQL *mysql, const char *db)

Description

Causes the database specified by db to become the default (current) database on the connection specified by mysql. In subsequent queries, this database is the default for table references that include no explicit database specifier.

mysql_select_db() fails unless the connected user can be authenticated as having permission to use the database.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

int mysql_set_character_set(MYSQL *mysql, const char *csname)

Description

This function is used to set the default character set for the current connection. The string csname specifies a valid character set name. The connection collation becomes the default collation of the character set. This function works like the SET NAMES statement, but also sets the value of mysql->charset, and thus affects the character set used by mysql_real_escape_string()

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Example

MYSQL mysql;

mysql_init(&mysql);
if (!mysql_real_connect(&mysql,"host","user","passwd","database",0,NULL,0))
{
    fprintf(stderr, "Failed to connect to database: Error: %s\n",
          mysql_error(&mysql));
}

if (!mysql_set_character_set(&mysql, "utf8"))
{
    printf("New client character set: %s\n",
           mysql_character_set_name(&mysql));
}

void mysql_set_local_infile_default(MYSQL *mysql);

Description

Sets the LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE callback functions to the defaults used internally by the C client library. The library calls this function automatically if mysql_set_local_infile_handler() has not been called or does not supply valid functions for each of its callbacks.

Return Values

None.

Errors

None.

void mysql_set_local_infile_handler(MYSQL *mysql, int (*local_infile_init)(void **, const char *, void *), int (*local_infile_read)(void *, char *, unsigned int), void (*local_infile_end)(void *), int (*local_infile_error)(void *, char*, unsigned int), void *userdata);

Description

This function installs callbacks to be used during the execution of LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE statements. It enables application programs to exert control over local (client-side) data file reading. The arguments are the connection handler, a set of pointers to callback functions, and a pointer to a data area that the callbacks can use to share information.

To use mysql_set_local_infile_handler(), you must write the following callback functions:

int
local_infile_init(void **ptr, const char *filename, void *userdata);

The initialization function. This is called once to do any setup necessary, open the data file, allocate data structures, and so forth. The first void** argument is a pointer to a pointer. You can set the pointer (that is, *ptr) to a value that will be passed to each of the other callbacks (as a void*). The callbacks can use this pointed-to value to maintain state information. The userdata argument is the same value that is passed to mysql_set_local_infile_handler().

The initialization function should return zero for success, nonzero for an error.

int
local_infile_read(void *ptr, char *buf, unsigned int buf_len);

The data-reading function. This is called repeatedly to read the data file. buf points to the buffer where the read data is stored, and buf_len is the maximum number of bytes that the callback can read and store in the buffer. (It can read fewer bytes, but should not read more.)

The return value is the number of bytes read, or zero when no more data could be read (this indicates EOF). Return a value less than zero if an error occurs.

void
local_infile_end(void *ptr)

The termination function. This is called once after local_infile_read() has returned zero (EOF) or an error. Within this function, deallocate any memory allocated by local_infile_init() and perform any other cleanup necessary. It is invoked even if the initialization function returns an error.

int
local_infile_error(void *ptr,
                   char *error_msg,
                   unsigned int error_msg_len);

The error-handling function. This is called to get a textual error message to return to the user in case any of your other functions returns an error. error_msg points to the buffer into which the message is written, and error_msg_len is the length of the buffer. Write the message as a null-terminated string, at most error_msg_len−1 bytes long.

The return value is the error number.

Typically, the other callbacks store the error message in the data structure pointed to by ptr, so that local_infile_error() can copy the message from there into error_msg.

After calling mysql_set_local_infile_handler() in your C code and passing pointers to your callback functions, you can then issue a LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE statement (for example, by using mysql_query()). The client library automatically invokes your callbacks. The file name specified in LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE will be passed as the second parameter to the local_infile_init() callback.

Return Values

None.

Errors

None.

int mysql_set_server_option(MYSQL *mysql, enum enum_mysql_set_option option)

Description

Enables or disables an option for the connection. option can have one of the following values.

If you enable multiple-statement support, you should retrieve results from calls to mysql_query() or mysql_real_query() by using a loop that calls mysql_next_result() to determine whether there are more results. For an example, see Section 23.8.17, “C API Support for Multiple Statement Execution”.

Enabling multiple-statement support with MYSQL_OPTION_MULTI_STATEMENTS_ON does not have quite the same effect as enabling it by passing the CLIENT_MULTI_STATEMENTS flag to mysql_real_connect(): CLIENT_MULTI_STATEMENTS also enables CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS. If you are using the CALL SQL statement in your programs, multiple-result support must be enabled; this means that MYSQL_OPTION_MULTI_STATEMENTS_ON by itself is insufficient to permit the use of CALL.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

int mysql_shutdown(MYSQL *mysql, enum mysql_enum_shutdown_level shutdown_level)

Description

Asks the database server to shut down. The connected user must have the SHUTDOWN privilege. MySQL servers support only one type of shutdown; shutdown_level must be equal to SHUTDOWN_DEFAULT. Dynamically linked executables which have been compiled with older versions of the libmysqlclient headers and call mysql_shutdown() need to be used with the old libmysqlclient dynamic library.

The shutdown process is described in Section 5.1.11, “The Server Shutdown Process”.

Return Values

Zero for success. Nonzero if an error occurred.

Errors

const char *mysql_sqlstate(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns a null-terminated string containing the SQLSTATE error code for the most recently executed SQL statement. The error code consists of five characters. '00000' means “no error.” The values are specified by ANSI SQL and ODBC. For a list of possible values, see Appendix B, Errors, Error Codes, and Common Problems.

SQLSTATE values returned by mysql_sqlstate() differ from MySQL-specific error numbers returned by mysql_errno(). For example, the mysql client program displays errors using the following format, where 1146 is the mysql_errno() value and '42S02' is the corresponding mysql_sqlstate() value:

shell> SELECT * FROM no_such_table;
ERROR 1146 (42S02): Table 'test.no_such_table' doesn't exist

Not all MySQL error numbers are mapped to SQLSTATE error codes. The value 'HY000' (general error) is used for unmapped error numbers.

If you call mysql_sqlstate() after mysql_real_connect() fails, mysql_sqlstate() might not return a useful value. For example, this happens if a host is blocked by the server and the connection is closed without any SQLSTATE value being sent to the client.

Return Values

A null-terminated character string containing the SQLSTATE error code.

See Also

See Section 23.8.7.14, “mysql_errno()”, Section 23.8.7.15, “mysql_error()”, and Section 23.8.11.27, “mysql_stmt_sqlstate()”.

my_bool mysql_ssl_set(MYSQL *mysql, const char *key, const char *cert, const char *ca, const char *capath, const char *cipher)

Description

mysql_ssl_set() is used for establishing secure connections using SSL. It must be called before mysql_real_connect().

mysql_ssl_set() does nothing unless SSL support is enabled in the client library.

mysql is the connection handler returned from mysql_init(). The other parameters are specified as follows:

Any unused SSL parameters may be given as NULL.

Return Values

This function always returns 0. If SSL setup is incorrect, mysql_real_connect() returns an error when you attempt to connect.

const char *mysql_stat(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns a character string containing information similar to that provided by the mysqladmin status command. This includes uptime in seconds and the number of running threads, questions, reloads, and open tables.

Return Values

A character string describing the server status. NULL if an error occurred.

Errors

MYSQL_RES *mysql_store_result(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

After invoking mysql_query() or mysql_real_query(), you must call mysql_store_result() or mysql_use_result() for every statement that successfully produces a result set (SELECT, SHOW, DESCRIBE, EXPLAIN, CHECK TABLE, and so forth). You must also call mysql_free_result() after you are done with the result set.

You need not call mysql_store_result() or mysql_use_result() for other statements, but it does not do any harm or cause any notable performance degradation if you call mysql_store_result() in all cases. You can detect whether the statement has a result set by checking whether mysql_store_result() returns a nonzero value (more about this later).

If you enable multiple-statement support, you should retrieve results from calls to mysql_query() or mysql_real_query() by using a loop that calls mysql_next_result() to determine whether there are more results. For an example, see Section 23.8.17, “C API Support for Multiple Statement Execution”.

If you want to know whether a statement should return a result set, you can use mysql_field_count() to check for this. See Section 23.8.7.22, “mysql_field_count()”.

mysql_store_result() reads the entire result of a query to the client, allocates a MYSQL_RES structure, and places the result into this structure.

mysql_store_result() returns a null pointer if the statement did not return a result set (for example, if it was an INSERT statement).

mysql_store_result() also returns a null pointer if reading of the result set failed. You can check whether an error occurred by checking whether mysql_error() returns a nonempty string, mysql_errno() returns nonzero, or mysql_field_count() returns zero.

An empty result set is returned if there are no rows returned. (An empty result set differs from a null pointer as a return value.)

After you have called mysql_store_result() and gotten back a result that is not a null pointer, you can call mysql_num_rows() to find out how many rows are in the result set.

You can call mysql_fetch_row() to fetch rows from the result set, or mysql_row_seek() and mysql_row_tell() to obtain or set the current row position within the result set.

See Section 23.8.15.1, “Why mysql_store_result() Sometimes Returns NULL After mysql_query() Returns Success”.

Return Values

A MYSQL_RES result structure with the results. NULL (0) if an error occurred.

Errors

mysql_store_result() resets mysql_error() and mysql_errno() if it succeeds.

unsigned long mysql_thread_id(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns the thread ID of the current connection. This value can be used as an argument to mysql_kill() to kill the thread.

If the connection is lost and you reconnect with mysql_ping(), the thread ID changes. This means you should not get the thread ID and store it for later. You should get it when you need it.

Return Values

The thread ID of the current connection.

Errors

None.

MYSQL_RES *mysql_use_result(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

After invoking mysql_query() or mysql_real_query(), you must call mysql_store_result() or mysql_use_result() for every statement that successfully produces a result set (SELECT, SHOW, DESCRIBE, EXPLAIN, CHECK TABLE, and so forth). You must also call mysql_free_result() after you are done with the result set.

mysql_use_result() initiates a result set retrieval but does not actually read the result set into the client like mysql_store_result() does. Instead, each row must be retrieved individually by making calls to mysql_fetch_row(). This reads the result of a query directly from the server without storing it in a temporary table or local buffer, which is somewhat faster and uses much less memory than mysql_store_result(). The client allocates memory only for the current row and a communication buffer that may grow up to max_allowed_packet bytes.

On the other hand, you should not use mysql_use_result() for locking reads if you are doing a lot of processing for each row on the client side, or if the output is sent to a screen on which the user may type a ^S (stop scroll). This ties up the server and prevent other threads from updating any tables from which the data is being fetched.

When using mysql_use_result(), you must execute mysql_fetch_row() until a NULL value is returned, otherwise, the unfetched rows are returned as part of the result set for your next query. The C API gives the error Commands out of sync; you can't run this command now if you forget to do this!

You may not use mysql_data_seek(), mysql_row_seek(), mysql_row_tell(), mysql_num_rows(), or mysql_affected_rows() with a result returned from mysql_use_result(), nor may you issue other queries until mysql_use_result() has finished. (However, after you have fetched all the rows, mysql_num_rows() accurately returns the number of rows fetched.)

You must call mysql_free_result() once you are done with the result set.

When using the libmysqld embedded server, the memory benefits are essentially lost because memory usage incrementally increases with each row retrieved until mysql_free_result() is called.

Return Values

A MYSQL_RES result structure. NULL if an error occurred.

Errors

mysql_use_result() resets mysql_error() and mysql_errno() if it succeeds.

unsigned int mysql_warning_count(MYSQL *mysql)

Description

Returns the number of errors, warnings, and notes generated during execution of the previous SQL statement.

Return Values

The warning count.

Errors

None.

The buffer_type member of MYSQL_BIND structures indicates the data type of the C language variable bound to a statement parameter or result set column. For input, buffer_type indicates the type of the variable containing the value to be sent to the server. For output, it indicates the type of the variable into which a value received from the server should be stored.

The following table shows the permissible values for the buffer_type member of MYSQL_BIND structures for input values sent to the server. The table shows the C variable types that you can use, the corresponding type codes, and the SQL data types for which the supplied value can be used without conversion. Choose the buffer_type value according to the data type of the C language variable that you are binding. For the integer types, you should also set the is_unsigned member to indicate whether the variable is signed or unsigned.

Use MYSQL_TYPE_NULL as indicated in the description for the is_null member in Section 23.8.9, “C API Prepared Statement Data Structures”.

For input string data, use MYSQL_TYPE_STRING or MYSQL_TYPE_BLOB depending on whether the value is a character (nonbinary) or binary string:

The following table shows the permissible values for the buffer_type member of MYSQL_BIND structures for output values received from the server. The table shows the SQL types of received values, the corresponding type codes that such values have in result set metadata, and the recommended C language data types to bind to the MYSQL_BIND structure to receive the SQL values without conversion. Choose the buffer_type value according to the data type of the C language variable that you are binding. For the integer types, you should also set the is_unsigned member to indicate whether the variable is signed or unsigned.

Prepared statements transmit data between the client and server using C language variables on the client side that correspond to SQL values on the server side. If there is a mismatch between the C variable type on the client side and the corresponding SQL value type on the server side, MySQL performs implicit type conversions in both directions.

MySQL knows the type code for the SQL value on the server side. The buffer_type value in the MYSQL_BIND structure indicates the type code of the C variable that holds the value on the client side. The two codes together tell MySQL what conversion must be performed, if any. Here are some examples:

Before binding variables to the MYSQL_BIND structures that are to be used for fetching column values, you can check the type codes for each column of the result set. This might be desirable if you want to determine which variable types would be best to use to avoid type conversions. To get the type codes, call mysql_stmt_result_metadata() after executing the prepared statement with mysql_stmt_execute(). The metadata provides access to the type codes for the result set as described in Section 23.8.11.23, “mysql_stmt_result_metadata()”, and Section 23.8.5, “C API Data Structures”.

To determine whether output string values in a result set returned from the server contain binary or nonbinary data, check whether the charsetnr value of the result set metadata is 63 (see Section 23.8.5, “C API Data Structures”). If so, the character set is binary, which indicates binary rather than nonbinary data. This enables you to distinguish BINARY from CHAR, VARBINARY from VARCHAR, and the BLOB types from the TEXT types.

If you cause the max_length member of the MYSQL_FIELD column metadata structures to be set (by calling mysql_stmt_attr_set()), be aware that the max_length values for the result set indicate the lengths of the longest string representation of the result values, not the lengths of the binary representation. That is, max_length does not necessarily correspond to the size of the buffers needed to fetch the values with the binary protocol used for prepared statements. Choose the size of the buffers according to the types of the variables into which you fetch the values. For example, a TINYINT column containing the value -128 might have a max_length value of 4. But the binary representation of any TINYINT value requires only 1 byte for storage, so you can supply a signed char variable in which to store the value and set is_unsigned to indicate that values are signed.

Metadata changes to tables or views referred to by prepared statements are detected and cause automatic repreparation of the statement when it is next executed. For more information, see Section 13.5.4, “Automatic Prepared Statement Repreparation”.