phpMyAdmin 2.8.2.4 Documentation

SourceForge phpMyAdmin project page [ http://www.phpmyadmin.net/ ]
Local documents:
- Version history: ChangeLog
- General notes: README
- License: LICENSE
Documentation version: $Id: Documentation.html,v 2.205.2.21.2.5 2006/08/22 17:00:29 lem9 Exp $

Requirements

PHP
- You need PHP 4.1.0 or newer, with session support (*)
- You need GD2 support in PHP to display inline thumbnails of JPEGs ("image/jpeg: inline") with their original aspect ratio
- You need PHP 4.3.0 or newer to use the "text/plain: external" MIME-based transformation
MySQL 3.23.32 or newer (details);
Not really a requirement but a strong suggestion: if you are using the "cookie" authentication method, having the mcrypt PHP extension on your web server accelerates not only the login phase but every other action that you do in phpMyAdmin.
Web browser with cookies enabled.

Introduction

phpMyAdmin can manage a whole MySQL server (needs a super-user) as well as a single database. To accomplish the latter you'll need a properly set up MySQL user who can read/write only the desired database. It's up to you to look up the appropriate part in the MySQL manual.
Currently phpMyAdmin can:

easily browse through databases and tables
create, copy, rename, alter and drop databases
create, copy, rename, alter and drop tables
do table maintenance
add, edit and drop fields
execute any SQL-statement, even multiple queries
create, alter and drop indexes
load text files into tables
create (*) and read dumps of tables or databases
export (*) data to SQL, CSV, XML, Word, Excel, PDF and Latex formats
administer multiple servers
manage MySQL users and privileges
check server settings and runtime information with configuration hints
check referential integrity in MyISAM tables
using Query-by-example (QBE), create complex queries automatically connecting required tables
create PDF graphics of your Database layout
search globally in a database or a subset of it
transform stored data into any format using a set of predefined functions, like displaying BLOB-data as image or download-link
support InnoDB tables and foreign keys (see FAQ 3.6)
support mysqli, the improved MySQL extension (see FAQ 1.17)
communicate in 50 different languages

A word about users:

Many people have difficulty understanding the concept of user management with regards to phpMyAdmin. When a user logs in to phpMyAdmin, that username and password are passed directly to MySQL. phpMyAdmin does no account management on its own (other than allowing one to manipulate the MySQL user account information); all users must be valid MySQL users.

¹⁾ phpMyAdmin can compress (Zip, GZip -RFC 1952- or Bzip2 formats) dumps and CSV exports if you use PHP with Zlib support (--with-zlib) and/or Bzip2 support (--with-bz2). Proper support may also need changes in php.ini.

Installation

NOTE: phpMyAdmin does not apply any special security methods to the MySQL database server. It is still the system administrator's job to grant permissions on the MySQL databases properly. phpMyAdmin's "Privileges" page can be used for this.

Warning for Mac users:if you are on a MacOS version before OS X, StuffIt unstuffs with Mac formats.
So you'll have to resave as in BBEdit to Unix style ALL phpMyAdmin scripts before uploading them to your server, as PHP seems not to like Mac-style end of lines character ("\r").

Quick Install

Untar or unzip the distribution (be sure to unzip the subdirectories): tar -xzvf phpMyAdmin_x.x.x.tar.gz in your webserver's document root. If you don't have direct access to your document root, put the files in a directory on your local machine, and, after step 3, transfer the directory on your web server using, for example, ftp.
Ensure that all the scripts have the appropriate owner (if PHP is running in safe mode, having some scripts with an owner different from the owner of other scripts will be a problem). See FAQ 4.2 and FAQ 1.26 for suggestions.
Now you must configure your installation. There are two methods that can be used. Traditionally, users have hand-edited a copy of config.inc.php, but now a wizard-style setup script is provided for those who prefer a graphical installation. Creating a config.inc.php is still a quick way to get started and needed for some advanced features.
- To manually create the file, simply use your text editor to create the file config.inc.php in the main (top-level) phpMyAdmin directory (the one that contains index.php). phpMyAdmin first loads libraries/config.default.php and then overrides those values with anything found in config.inc.php. If the default value is okay for a particular setting, there is no need to include it in config.inc.php. You'll need a few directives to get going, a simple configuration may look like this:
```
<?php
$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = 'ba17c1ec07d65003';  // use here a value of your choice

$i=0;
$i++;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type']     = 'cookie';
?>
```
  Or, if you prefer to not be prompted every time you log in:
```
<?php

$i=0;
$i++;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user']          = 'root';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password']      = 'cbb74bc'; // use here your password
?>
```
  For a full explanation of possible configuration values, see the Configuration Section of this document.
- Instead of manually editing config.inc.php, you can use the Setup Script. First you must manually create a folder config in the phpMyAdmin directory. This is a security measure. On a Linux/Unix system you can use the following commands:
```
cd phpMyAdmin
mkdir config                        # create directory for saving
chmod o+rw config                   # give it world writable permissions
```
  And to edit an existing configuration, copy it over first:
```
cp config.inc.php config/           # copy current configuration for editing
chmod o+w config/config.inc.php     # give it world writable permissions
```
  On other platforms, simply create the folder and ensure that your web server has read and write access to it. FAQ 1.26 can help with this.
  
  Next, open scripts/setup.phpin your browser. Note that changes are not saved to disk until explicitly choose Save from the Configuration area of the screen. Normally the script saves the new config.inc.php to the config/ directory, but if the webserver does not have the proper permissions you may see the error "Cannot load or save configuration." Ensure that the config/ directory exists and has the proper permissions - or use the Download link to save the config file locally and upload (via FTP or some similar means) to the proper location.
  
  Once the file has been saved, it must be moved out of the config/ directory and the permissions must be reset, again as a security measure:
```
mv config/config.inc.php .         # move file to current directory
chmod o-rw config.inc.php          # remove world read and write permissions
```
  Now the file is ready to be used. You can choose to review or edit the file with your favorite editor, if you prefer to set some advanced options which the setup script does not provide.
If you are using the auth_type configuration directive, it is suggested that you protect the phpMyAdmin installation directory, for example with HTTP–AUTH in a .htaccess file. See the multi–user sub–section of this FAQ for additional information, especially FAQ 4.4.
Open the main phpMyAdmin directory in your browser. phpMyAdmin should now display a welcome screen and your databases, or a login dialog if using HTTP or cookie authentication mode.
You should deny access to the libraries subfolder in your webserver configuration. For Apache you can use supplied .htaccess file in that folder, for other webservers, you should configure this yourself. Such configuration prevents from possible path exposure and cross side scripting vulnerabilities that might happen to be found in that code.

Linked-tables infrastructure

For a whole set of new features (bookmarks, comments, SQL-history, PDF-generation, field contents transformation, etc.) you need to create a set of special tables. Those tables can be located in your own database, or in a central database for a multi-user installation (this database would then be accessed by the controluser, so no other user should have rights to it).

Please look at your scripts/ directory, where you should find a file called create_tables.sql. (If you are using a Windows server, pay special attention to FAQ 1.23).

If your MySQL server's version is 4.1.2 or later, please use create_tables_mysql_4_1_2+.sql instead, for a new installation.

If you already had this infrastructure and upgraded to MySQL 4.1.2 or later, please use upgrade_tables_mysql_4_1_2+.sql.

You can use your phpMyAdmin to create the tables for you. Please be aware that you may need special (administrator) privileges to create the database and tables, and that the script may need some tuning, depending on the database name.

After having imported the create_tables.sql file, you should specify the table names in your config.inc.php file. The directives used for that can be found in the Configuration section. You will also need to have a controluser with the proper rights to those tables (see section Using authentication modes below).

Upgrading from an older version

Simply copy ./config.inc.php from your previous installation into the newly unpacked one. Configuration files from very old versions (2.3.0 or older) may require some tweaking as some options have been changed or removed.

You should not copy libraries/config.default.php over config.inc.php because the default configuration file is version-specific.

If you have upgraded your MySQL server from a version older than 4.1.2 to version 4.1.2 or newer and if you use the pmadb/linked table infrastructure, you should run the SQL script found in scripts/upgrade_tables_mysql_4_1_2+.sql.

Using authentication modes

HTTP and cookie authentication modes are recommended in a multi-user environment where you want to give users access to their own database and don't want them to play around with others.
Nevertheless be aware that MS Internet Explorer seems to be really buggy about cookies, at least till version 6. And PHP 4.1.1 is also a bit buggy in this area!
Even in a single-user environment, you might prefer to use HTTP or cookie mode so that your user/password pair are not in clear in the configuration file.
HTTP and cookie authentication modes are more secure: the MySQL login information does not need to be set in the phpMyAdmin configuration file (except possibly for the controluser).
However, keep in mind that the password travels in plain text, unless you are using the HTTPS protocol.
In cookie mode, the password is stored, encrypted with the blowfish algorithm, in a temporary cookie.
Note: starting with phpMyAdmin 2.6.1, this section is only applicable if your MySQL server is older than 4.1.2, or is running with --skip-show-database.

For 'HTTP' and 'cookie' modes, phpMyAdmin needs a controluser that has only the SELECT privilege on the mysql.user (all columns except "Password"), mysql.db (all columns), mysql.host (all columns) and mysql.tables_priv (all columns except "Grantor" & "Timestamp") tables.
You must specify the details for the controluser in the config.inc.php file under the $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser']& $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass'] settings.
The following example assumes you want to use pma as the controluser and pmapass as the controlpass, but this is only an example: use something else in your file!
Of course you have to replace localhost by the webserver's host if it's not the same as the MySQL server's one.
```
GRANT USAGE ON mysql.* TO 'pma'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'pmapass';
GRANT SELECT (
    Host, User, Select_priv, Insert_priv, Update_priv, Delete_priv,
    Create_priv, Drop_priv, Reload_priv, Shutdown_priv, Process_priv,
    File_priv, Grant_priv, References_priv, Index_priv, Alter_priv,
    Show_db_priv, Super_priv, Create_tmp_table_priv, Lock_tables_priv,
    Execute_priv, Repl_slave_priv, Repl_client_priv
    ) ON mysql.user TO 'pma'@'localhost';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.db TO 'pma'@'localhost';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.host TO 'pma'@'localhost';
GRANT SELECT (Host, Db, User, Table_name, Table_priv, Column_priv)
    ON mysql.tables_priv TO 'pma'@'localhost';
        
```
If you are using an old MySQL version (below 4.0.2), please replace the first GRANT SELECT query by this one:
```
GRANT SELECT (
    Host, User, Select_priv, Insert_priv, Update_priv, Delete_priv,
    Create_priv, Drop_priv, Reload_priv, Shutdown_priv, Process_priv,
    File_priv, Grant_priv, References_priv, Index_priv, Alter_priv
    ) ON mysql.user TO 'pma'@'localhost';
        
```
... and if you want to use the many new relation and bookmark features:
```
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON <pma_db>.* TO 'pma'@'localhost';
        
```
(this of course requires that your linked-tables infrastructure be set up).
Of course, the above queries only work if your MySQL version supports the GRANT command. This is the case since 3.22.11.
Then each of the true users should be granted a set of privileges on a set of particular databases. Normally you shouldn't give global privileges to an ordinary user, unless you understand the impact of those privileges (for example, you are creating a superuser).
For example, to grant the user real_user with all privileges on the database user_base:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON user_base.* TO 'real_user'@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'real_password';
What the user may now do is controlled entirely by the MySQL user management system.
With HTTP or cookie authentication mode, you don't need to fill the user/password fields inside the $cfg['Servers'] array.

'http' authentication mode

Was called 'advanced' in versions before 2.2.3.
Introduced in 1.3.0, it uses Basic HTTP authentication method and allows you to login as any valid MySQL user.
Is supported with most PHP configurations. For IIS (ISAPI) support using CGI PHP see FAQ 1.32, for using with Apache CGI see FAQ 1.35.
See also FAQ 4.4 about not using the .htaccess mechanism along with 'http' authentication mode.

'cookie' authentication mode

You can use this method as a replacement for the HTTP authentication (for example, if you're running IIS).
Obviously, the user must enable cookies in the browser.
With this mode, the user can truly logout of phpMyAdmin and login back with the same username.
If you want to login to arbitrary server see $cfg['AllowArbitraryServer'] directive.
As mentioned in the requirements section, having the mcrypt extension will speed up access considerably, but is not required.

'config' authentication mode

This mode is the less secure one because it requires you to fill the $cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] and $cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] fields (and as a result, anyone who can read your config.inc.php can discover your username and password).
But you don't need to setup a "controluser" here: using the $cfg['Servers'][$i]['only_db'] might be enough.
In the ISP FAQ section, there is an entry explaining how to protect your configuration file.
For additional security in this mode, you may wish to consider the Host authentication $cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['order'] and $cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['rules'] configuration directives.

Configuration

Warning for Mac users: PHP does not seem to like Mac end of lines character ("\r"). So ensure you choose the option that allows to use the *nix end of line character ("\n") in your text editor before saving a script you have modified.

Configuration note: Almost all configurable data is placed in config.inc.php. If this file does not exist, please refer to the Quick install section to create one. This file only needs to contain the parameters you want to change from their corresponding default value in libraries/config.default.php.

The parameters which relate to design (like colors) are placed in themes/themename/layout.inc.php. You might also want to create config.footer.inc.php and config.header.inc.php files to add your site specific code to be included on start and end of each page.

$cfg[PmaAbsoluteUri] string

Sets here the complete URL (with full path) to your phpMyAdmin installation's directory. E.g. http://www.your_web.net/path_to_your_phpMyAdmin_directory/. Note also that the URL on some web servers are case–sensitive. Don’t forget the trailing slash at the end.

Starting with version 2.3.0, it is advisable to try leaving this blank. In most cases phpMyAdmin automatically detects the proper setting. Users of port forwarding will need to set PmaAbsoluteUri (more info). A good test is to browse a table, edit a row and save it. There should be an error message if phpMyAdmin is having trouble auto–detecting the correct value. If you get an error that this must be set or if the autodetect code fails to detect your path, please post a bug report on our bug tracker so we can improve the code.

$cfg[PmaNoRelation_DisableWarning] boolean

Starting with version 2.3.0 phpMyAdmin offers a lot of features to work with master / foreign - tables (see $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb']).
If you tried to set this up and it does not work for you, have a look on the "Structure" page of one database where you would like to use it. You will find a link that will analyze why those features have been disabled.
If you do not want to use those features set this variable to TRUE to stop this message from appearing.

$cfg[blowfish_secret] string

Starting with version 2.5.2, the 'cookie' auth_type uses blowfish algorithm to encrypt the password.
If you are using the 'cookie' auth_type, enter here a random passphrase of your choice. It will be used internally by the blowfish algorithm: you won't be prompted for this passphrase. The maximum number of characters for this parameter seems to be 46.

$cfg[Servers] array

Since version 1.4.2, phpMyAdmin supports the administration of multiple MySQL servers. Therefore, a $cfg['Servers']-array has been added which contains the login information for the different servers. The first $cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] contains the hostname of the first server, the second $cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] the hostname of the second server, etc. In libraries/config.default.php, there is only one section for server definition, however you can put as many as you need in config.inc.php, copy that block or needed parts (you don't have to define all settings, just those you need to change).

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] string

The hostname or IP address of your $i-th MySQL-server. E.g. localhost.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['port'] string

The port-number of your $i-th MySQL-server. Default is 3306 (leave blank). If you use "localhost" as the hostname, MySQL ignores this port number and connects with the socket, so if you want to connect to a port different from the default port, use "127.0.0.1" or the real hostname in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'].

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['socket'] string

The path to the socket to use. Leave blank for default.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['connect_type'] string

What type connection to use with the MySQL server. Your options are 'socket' & 'tcp'. It defaults to 'tcp' as that is nearly guaranteed to be available on all MySQL servers, while sockets are not supported on some platforms.

To use the socket mode, your MySQL server must be on the same machine as the Web server.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['extension'] string

What php MySQL extension to use for the connection. Valid options are:

mysql : The classic MySQL extension. This is the recommended and default method at this time.

mysqli : The improved MySQL extension. This extension became available with php 5.0.0 and is the recommended way to connect to a server running MySQL 4.1.x.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['compress'] boolean

Whether to use a compressed protocol for the MySQL server connection or not (experimental).
This feature requires PHP >= 4.3.0.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser'] string
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass'] string

This special account is used for 2 distinct purposes: to make possible all relational features (see $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb']) and, for a MySQL server older than 4.1.2 or running with --skip-show-database, to enable a multi-user installation (http or cookie authentication mode).

When using HTTP or cookie authentication modes (or 'config' authentication mode since phpMyAdmin 2.2.1), you need to supply the details of a MySQL account that has SELECT privilege on the mysql.user (all columns except "Password"), mysql.db (all columns) & mysql.tables_priv (all columns except "Grantor" & "Timestamp") tables. This account is used to check what databases the user will see at login.
Please see the install section on "Using authentication modes" for more information.

In phpMyAdmin versions before 2.2.5, those were called "stduser/stdpass".

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] string ['http'|'cookie'|'config']

Whether config or cookie or http authentication should be used for this server.

'config' authentication ($auth_type = 'config') is the plain old way: username and password are stored in config.inc.php.
'cookie' authentication mode ($auth_type = 'cookie') as introduced in 2.2.3 allows you to log in as any valid MySQL user with the help of cookies. Username and password are stored in cookies during the session and password is deleted when it ends. This can also allow you to login in arbitrary server if $cfg['AllowArbitraryServer'] enabled.
'http' authentication (was called 'advanced' in older versions) ($auth_type = 'http') as introduced in 1.3.0 allows you to log in as any valid MySQL user via HTTP-Auth.

Please see the install section on "Using authentication modes" for more information.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] string
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] string

When using auth_type = 'config', this is the user/password-pair which phpMyAdmin will use to connect to the MySQL server. This user/password pair is not needed when HTTP or cookie authentication is used and should be empty.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['only_db'] string or array

If set to a (an array of) database name(s), only this (these) database(s) will be shown to the user. Since phpMyAdmin 2.2.1, this/these database(s) name(s) may contain MySQL wildcards characters ("_" and "%"): if you want to use literal instances of these characters, escape them (I.E. use 'my\_db' and not 'my_db').
This setting is an efficient way to lower the server load since the latter does not need to send MySQL requests to build the available database list. But it does not replace the privileges rules of the MySQL database server. If set, it just means only these databases will be displayed but not that all other databases can't be used.

An example of using more that one database: $cfg['Servers'][$i]['only_db'] = array('db1', 'db2');

As of phpMyAdmin 2.5.5 the order inside the array is used for sorting the databases in the left frame, so that you can individually arrange your databases.
If you want to have certain databases at the top, but don't care about the others, you do not need to specify all other databases. Use: $cfg['Servers'][$i]['only_db'] = array('db3', 'db4', '*'); instead to tell phpMyAdmin that it should display db3 and db4 on top, and the rest in alphabetic order.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['hide_db'] string

Regular expression for hiding some databases. This only hides them from listing, but user is still able to access them.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['verbose'] string

Only useful when using phpMyAdmin with multiple server entries. If set, this string will be displayed instead of the hostname in the pull-down menu on the main page. This can be useful if you want to show only certain databases on your system, for example.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] string

The name of the database containing the linked-tables infrastructure.

See the Linked-tables infrastructure section in this document to see the benefits of this infrastructure, and for a quick way of creating this database and the needed tables.

If you are the only user of this phpMyAdmin installation, you can use your current database to store those special tables; in this case, just put your current database name in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb']. For a multi-user installation, set this parameter to the name of your central database containing the linked-tables infrastructure.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable'] string

Since release 2.2.0 phpMyAdmin allows to bookmark queries. This can be useful for queries you often run.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

set up pmadb and the linked-tables infrastructure
enter the table name in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable']

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation'] string

Since release 2.2.4 you can describe, in a special 'relation' table, which field is a key in another table (a foreign key). phpMyAdmin currently uses this to

make clickable, when you browse the master table, the data values that point to the foreign table;
display in an optional tool-tip the "display field" when browsing the master table, if you move the mouse to a column containing a foreign key (use also the 'table_info' table);
(see FAQ 6.7)
in edit/insert mode, display a drop-down list of possible foreign keys (key value and "display field" are shown)
(see FAQ 6.21)
display links on the table properties page, to check referential integrity (display missing foreign keys) for each described key;
in query-by-example, create automatic joins (see FAQ 6.6)
enable you to get a PDF schema of your database (also uses the table_coords table).

The keys can be numeric or character.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

set up pmadb and the linked-tables infrastructure
put the relation table name in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation']
now as normal user open phpMyAdmin and for each one of your tables where you want to use this feature, click "Structure/Relation view/" and choose foreign fields.

Please note that in the current version, master_db must be the same as foreign_db. Those fields have been put in future development of the cross-db relations.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info'] string

Since release 2.3.0 you can describe, in a special 'table_info' table, which field is to be displayed as a tool-tip when moving the cursor over the corresponding key.
This configuration variable will hold the name of this special table. To allow the usage of this functionality:

set up pmadb and the linked-tables infrastructure
put the table name in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info']
then for each table where you want to use this feature, click "Structure/Relation view/Choose field to display" to choose the field.

Usage tip: Display field.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] string
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] string

Since release 2.3.0 you can have phpMyAdmin create PDF pages showing the relations between your tables. To do this it needs two tables "pdf_pages" (storing information about the available PDF pages) and "table_coords" (storing coordinates where each table will be placed on a PDF schema output).

You must be using the "relation" feature.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

set up pmadb and the linked-tables infrastructure
put the correct table names in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] and $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages']

Usage tips: PDF output.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] string

Since release 2.3.0 you can store comments to describe each column for each table. These will then be shown on the "printview".

Starting with release 2.5.0, comments are consequently used on the table property pages and table browse view, showing up as tool-tips above the column name (properties page) or embedded within the header of table in browse view. They can also be shown in a table dump. Please see the relevant configuration directives later on.

Also new in release 2.5.0 is a MIME-transformation system which is also based on the following table structure. See Transformations for further information. To use the MIME-transformation system, your column_info table has to have the three new fields 'mimetype', 'transformation', 'transformation_options'.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

set up pmadb and the linked-tables infrastructure
put the table name in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info']
to update your PRE-2.5.0 Column_comments Table use this:
ALTER TABLE `pma_column_comments` ADD `mimetype` VARCHAR( 255 ) NOT NULL , ADD `transformation` VARCHAR( 255 ) NOT NULL , ADD `transformation_options` VARCHAR( 255 ) NOT NULL ; and remember that the Variable in config.inc.php has been renamed from
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_comments'] to $cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info']

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['history'] string

Since release 2.5.0 you can store your SQL history, which means all queries you entered manually into the phpMyAdmin interface. If you don't want to use a table- based history, you can use the JavaScript-based history. Using that, all your history items are deleted when closing the window.

Using $cfg[QueryHistoryMax] you can specify an amount of history items you want to have on hold. On every login, this list gets cut to the maximum amount.

The query history is only available if JavaScript is enabled in your browser.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

set up pmadb and the linked-tables infrastructure
put the table name in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['history']

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['verbose_check'] boolean

Because release 2.5.0 introduced the new MIME-transformation support, the column_info table got enhanced with three new fields. If the above variable is set to TRUE (default) phpMyAdmin will check if you have the latest table structure available. If not, it will emit a warning to the superuser.

You can disable this checking behavior by setting the variable to false, which should offer a performance increase.

Recommended to set to FALSE, when you are sure, your table structure is up to date.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowRoot'] boolean

Whether to allow root access, This is just simplification of rules below.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['order'] string

If your rule order is empty, then IP authentication is disabled.

If your rule order is set to 'deny,allow' then the system applies all deny rules followed by allow rules. Access is allowed by default. Any client which does not match a Deny command or does match an Allow command will be allowed access to the server.

If your rule order is set to 'allow,deny' then the system applies all allow rules followed by deny rules. Access is denied by default. Any client which does not match an Allow directive or does match a Deny directive will be denied access to the server.

If your rule order is set to 'explicit', the authentication is performed in a similar fashion to rule order 'deny,allow', with the added restriction that your host/username combination must be listed in the allow rules, and not listed in the deny rules. This is the most secure means of using Allow/Deny rules, and was available in Apache by specifying allow and deny rules without setting any order.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['rules'] array of strings

The general format for the rules is as such:
<'allow' | 'deny'> <username> [from] <ipmask>

If you wish to match all users, it is possible to use a '%' as a wildcard in the username field.
There are a few shortcuts you can use in the ipmask field as well (please note that those containing SERVER_ADDRESS might not be available on all webservers):

'all' -> 0.0.0.0/0 'localhost' -> 127.0.0.1/8 'localnetA' -> SERVER_ADDRESS/8 'localnetB' -> SERVER_ADDRESS/16 'localnetC' -> SERVER_ADDRESS/24

Having an empty rule list is equivalent to either using 'allow % from all' if your rule order is set to 'deny,allow' or 'deny % from all' if your rule order is set to 'allow,deny' or 'explicit'.

For the IP matching system, the following work:
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (an exact IP address)
xxx.xxx.xxx.[yyy-zzz] (an IP address range)
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/nn (CIDR, Classless Inter-Domain Routing type IP addresses)
But the following does not work:
xxx.xxx.xxx.xx[yyy-zzz] (partial IP address range)

$cfg[ServerDefault] integer

If you have more than one server configured, you can set $cfg['ServerDefault'] to any one of them to autoconnect to that server when phpMyAdmin is started, or set it to 0 to be given a list of servers without logging in.
If you have only one server configured, $cfg['ServerDefault'] MUST be set to that server.

$cfg[OBGzip] string/boolean

Defines whether to use GZip output buffering for increased speed in HTTP transfers.
Set to true/false for enabling/disabling. When set to 'auto' (string), phpMyAdmin tries to enable output buffering and will automatically disable it, if your browser has some problems with buffering. IE6 with a certain patch is known to cause data corruption having enabled buffering.

$cfg[PersistentConnections] boolean

Whether persistent connections should be used or not (mysql_connect or mysql_pconnect).

$cfg[ForceSSL] boolean

Whether to force using https while accessing phpMyAdmin.

$cfg[ExecTimeLimit] integer [number of seconds]

Set the number of seconds a script is allowed to run. If seconds is set to zero, no time limit is imposed.
This setting is used while importing/exporting dump files but has no effect when PHP is running in safe mode.

$cfg[MemoryLimit] integer [number of bytes]

Set the number of bytes a script is allowed to allocate. If number set to zero, no limit is imposed.
This setting is used while importing/exporting dump files but has no effect when PHP is running in safe mode.
You can also use any string as in php.ini, eg. '16M'.

$cfg[SkipLockedTables] boolean

Mark used tables and make it possible to show databases with locked tables (since 3.23.30).

$cfg[ShowSQL] boolean

Defines whether SQL-queries generated by phpMyAdmin should be displayed or not.

$cfg[AllowUserDropDatabase] boolean

Defines whether normal users (non-administrator) are allowed to delete their own database or not. If set as FALSE, the link "Drop Database" will not be shown, and even a "DROP DATABASE mydatabase" will be rejected. Quite practical for ISP's with many customers.

$cfg[Confirm] boolean

Whether a warning ("Are your really sure...") should be displayed when you're about to lose data.

$cfg[LoginCookieRecall] boolean

Define whether the previous login should be recalled or not in cookie authentication mode.

$cfg[UseDbSearch] boolean

Define whether the "search string inside database" is enabled or not.

$cfg[IgnoreMultiSubmitErrors] boolean

Define whether phpMyAdmin will continue executing a multi-query statement if one of the queries fails. Default is to abort execution.

$cfg[VerboseMultiSubmit] boolean

Define whether phpMyAdmin will output the results of each query of a multi-query statement embedded into the SQL output as inline comments. Defaults to TRUE.

$cfg[AllowArbitraryServer] boolean

If enabled allows you to login to arbitrary server using cookie auth.

NOTE: Please use this carefully, as this may allow to access MySQL servers behind firewall where your http server is placed.

$cfg[LeftFrameLight] boolean

Defines whether to use select-based menu and display only the current tables in the left frame (smaller page). Only in Non-Lightmode you can use the feature to display nested folders using $cfg['LeftFrameTableSeparator']

$cfg[LeftFrameDBTree] boolean

In light mode, defines whether to display the names of databases (in the selector) using a tree, see also $cfg['LeftFrameDBSeparator'].

$cfg[LeftFrameDBSeparator] string

The string used to separate the parts of the database name when showing them in a tree.

$cfg[LeftFrameTableSeparator] string

Defines a string to be used to nest table spaces. Defaults to '__'. This means if you have tables like 'first__second__third' this will be shown as a three-level hierarchy like: first > second > third. If set to FALSE or empty, the feature is disabled. NOTE: You shall not use this Separator in a table name at the beginning or end of a table name, or multiple times after another without any other characters in between.

$cfg[LeftFrameTableLevel] string

Defines how many sublevels should be displayed when splitting up tables by the above Separator.

$cfg[ShowTooltip] boolean

Defines whether to display table comment as tool-tip in left frame or not.

$cfg[ShowTooltipAliasDB] boolean

If tool-tips are enabled and a DB comment is set, this will flip the comment and the real name. That means, if you have a table called 'user0001' and add the comment 'MyName' on it, you will see the name 'MyName' used consequently in the left frame and the tool-tip shows the real name of the DB.

$cfg[ShowTooltipAliasTB] boolean/string

Same as $cfg['ShowTooltipAliasDB'], except this works for table names. When setting this to 'nested', the Alias of the Tablename is only used to split/nest the tables according to the $cfg['LeftFrameTableSeparator'] directive. So only the folder is called like the Alias, the tablename itself stays the real tablename.

$cfg[LeftDisplayLogo] boolean

Defines whether to display the phpMyAdmin logo at the top of the left frame or not. Defaults to TRUE.

$cfg[LeftDisplayServers] boolean

Defines whether to display a server choice at the top of the left frame or not. Defaults to FALSE.

$cfg[DisplayServersList] boolean

Defines whether to display this server choice as links instead of in a drop-down. Defaults to FALSE (drop-down).

$cfg[ShowStats] boolean

Defines whether to display space usage and statistics about databases and tables or not.
Note that statistics requires at least MySQL 3.23.3 and that, at this date, MySQL doesn't return such information for Berkeley DB tables.

$cfg[ShowPhpInfo] boolean
$cfg[ShowChgPassword] boolean

Defines whether to display the "PHP information" and "Change password " links or not for simple users at the starting main (right) frame. This setting does not check MySQL commands entered directly.

Please note that to block the usage of phpinfo() in scripts, you have to put this in your php.ini:
disable_functions = phpinfo()

Also note that enabling the "Change password " link has no effect with "config" authentication mode: because of the hard coded password value in the configuration file, end users can't be allowed to change their passwords.

$cfg[SuggestDBName] boolean

Defines whether to suggest a database name on the "Create Database" form or to keep the textfield empty.

$cfg[ShowBlob] boolean

Defines whether BLOB fields are shown when browsing a table's content or not.

$cfg[NavigationBarIconic] string

Defines whether navigation bar buttons and the right panel top menu contain text or symbols only. A value of TRUE displays icons, FALSE displays text and 'both' displays both icons and text.

$cfg[ShowAll] boolean

Defines whether an user should be displayed a "show all (records)" button in browse mode or not.

$cfg[MaxRows] integer

Number of rows displayed when browsing a result set. If the result set contains more rows, Previous/Next links will be shown.

$cfg[Order] string [DESC|ASC|SMART]

Defines whether fields are displayed in ascending (ASC) order, in descending (DESC) order or in a "smart" (SMART) order - I.E. descending order for fields of type TIME, DATE, DATETIME & TIMESTAMP, ascending order else- by default.

$cfg[ProtectBinary] boolean or string

Defines whether BLOB or BINARY fields are protected from editing when browsing a table's content or not. Valid values are:

FALSE to allow editing of all fields;
'blob' to allow editing of all fields except BLOBS;
'all' to disallow editing of all BINARY or BLOB fields.

$cfg[ShowFunctionFields] boolean

Defines whether MySQL functions fields should be displayed or not in edit/insert mode.

$cfg[CharEditing] string

Defines which type of editing controls should be used for CHAR and VARCHAR fields. Possible values are:

input - this allows to limit size of text to size of field in MySQL, but has problems with newlines in fields
textarea - no problems with newlines in fields, but also no length limitations

Default is old behavior so input.

$cfg[InsertRows] integer

Defines the maximum number of concurrent entries for the Insert page.

$cfg[ForeignKeyMaxLimit] integer

If there are fewer items than this in the set of foreign keys, then a drop-down box of foreign keys is presented, in the style described by the $cfg[ForeignKeyDropdownOrder] setting.

$cfg[ForeignKeyDropdownOrder] array

For the foreign key drop-down fields, there are several methods of display, offering both the key and value data. The contents of the array should be one or both of the following strings: 'content-id', 'id-content'.

$cfg[ZipDump] boolean
$cfg[GZipDump] boolean
$cfg[BZipDump] boolean

Defines whether to allow the use of zip/GZip/BZip2 compression when creating a dump file or not.

$cfg[CompressOnFly] boolean

Defines whether to allow on the fly compression for GZip/BZip2 compressed exports. This doesn't affect smaller dumps and allows to create larger dumps, that won't fit otherwise in memory due to php memory limit. Produced files contain more GZip/BZip2 headers, but all normal programs handle this correctly.

$cfg[LightTabs] string

If set to True, use less graphically intense tabs on the top of the mainframe.

$cfg[PropertiesIconic] string

If set to TRUE, will display icons instead of text for db and table properties links (like 'Browse', 'Select', 'Insert', ...).
Can be set to 'both' if you want icons AND text.
When set to FALSE, will only show text.

$cfg[PropertiesNumColumns] integer

How many columns will be utilized to display the tables on the database property view? Default is 1 column. When setting this to a value larger than 1, the type of the database will be omitted for more display space.

$cfg[DefaultTabServer] string

Defines the tab displayed by default on server view. Possible values: "main.php" (recommended for multi-user setups), "server_databases.php", "server_status.php", "server_variables.php", "server_privileges.php" or "server_processlist.php".

$cfg[DefaultTabDatabase] string

Defines the tab displayed by default on database view. Possible values: "db_details_structure.php", "db_details.php" or "db_search.php".

$cfg[DefaultTabTable] string

Defines the tab displayed by default on table view. Possible values: "tbl_properties_structure.php", "tbl_properties.php", "tbl_select.php", "tbl_change.php" or "sql.php".

$cfg[MySQLManualBase] string

If set to an URL which points to the MySQL documentation (type depends on $cfg['MySQLManualType']), appropriate help links are generated.
See MySQL Documentation page for more information about MySQL manuals and their types.

$cfg[MySQLManualType] string

Type of MySQL documentation:

viewable - "viewable online", current one used on MySQL website
searchable - "Searchable, with user comments"
chapters - "HTML, one page per chapter"
big - "HTML, all on one page"
none - do not show documentation links

$cfg[DefaultLang] string

Defines the default language to use, if not browser-defined or user-defined.
See the select_lang.lib.php script to know the valid values for this setting.

$cfg[DefaultConnectionCollation] string

Defines the default connection collation to use, if not user-defined.
See the MySQL documentation for list of possible values.

$cfg[Lang] string

Force: always use this language (must be defined in the select_lang.lib.php script).

$cfg[FilterLanguages] string

Limit list of available languages to those matching the given regular expression. For example if you want only Czech and English, you should set filter to '^(cs|en)'.

$cfg[DefaultCharset] string

Default character set to use for recoding of MySQL queries. This must be enabled and it's described by $cfg['AllowAnywhereRecoding'] option.
You can give here any character set which is in $cfg['AvailableCharsets'] array and this is just default choice, user can select any of them.

$cfg[AllowAnywhereRecoding] boolean

Allow character set recoding of MySQL queries. You need recode or iconv support (compiled in or module) in PHP to allow MySQL queries recoding and used language file must have it enabled (by default only these which are in Unicode, just to avoid losing some characters).

Setting this to TRUE also activates a pull-down menu in the Export page, to choose the character set when exporting a file.

$cfg[RecodingEngine] string

You can select here which functions will be used for character set conversion. Possible values are:

auto - automatically use available one (first is tested iconv, then recode)
iconv - use iconv or libiconv functions
recode - use recode_string function

Default is auto.

$cfg[IconvExtraParams] string

Specify some parameters for iconv used in charset conversion. See iconv documentation for details. By default //TRANSLIT is used, so that invalid characters will be transliterated.

$cfg[AvailableCharsets] array

Available character sets for MySQL conversion. You can add your own (any of supported by recode/iconv) or remove these which you don't use. Character sets will be shown in same order as here listed, so if you frequently use some of these move them to the top.

$cfg[GD2Available] string

Specifies whether GD >= 2 is available. If yes it can be used for MIME transformations.
Possible values are:

auto - automatically detect, this is a bit expensive operation for php < 4.3.0 so it is preferred to change this according to your server real possibilities
yes - GD 2 functions can be used
no - GD 2 function cannot be used

Default is auto.

$cfg[LeftWidth] integer

Left frame width in pixel. See themes/themename/layout.inc.php.

$cfg[LeftBgColor] string [HTML color]
$cfg[RightBgColor] string [HTML color]

The background colors (HTML) used for both the frames. See themes/themename/layout.inc.php.

$cfg[RightBgImage] string

The URI of the background image used for the right frame. It must be an absolute URI. See themes/themename/layout.inc.php.

$cfg[LeftPointerColor] string [HTML color]

The color (HTML) used for the pointer in the left frame (does not work with Netscape 4). See themes/themename/layout.inc.php.

$cfg[LeftPointerEnable] boolean

A value of TRUE activates the left pointer (when LeftFrameLight is FALSE).

$cfg[Border] integer

The size of a table's border. See themes/themename/layout.inc.php.

$cfg[ThBgcolor] string [HTML color]

The color (HTML) used for table headers. See themes/themename/layout.inc.php.

$cfg[BgcolorOne] string [HTML color]

The color (HTML) #1 for table rows. See themes/themename/layout.inc.php.

$cfg[BgcolorTwo] string [HTML color]

The color (HTML) #2 for table rows. See themes/themename/layout.inc.php.

$cfg[BrowsePointerColor] string [HTML color]
$cfg[BrowseMarkerColor] string [HTML color]

The colors (HTML) uses for the pointer and the marker in browse mode (does not work with Netscape 4).
The former feature highlights the row over which your mouse is passing and the latter lets you visually mark/unmark rows by clicking on them.
See themes/themename/layout.inc.php.

$cfg[BrowsePointerEnable] boolean

Whether to activate the browse pointer or not.

$cfg[BrowseMarkerEnable] boolean

Whether to activate the browse marker or not.

$cfg[TextareaCols] integer
$cfg[TextareaRows] integer
$cfg[CharTextareaCols] integer
$cfg[CharTextareaRows] integer

Number of columns and rows for the textareas.
This value will be emphasized (*2) for SQL query textareas and (*1.25) for SQL textareas inside the query window.
The Char* values are used for CHAR and VARCHAR editing (if configured via $cfg['CharEditing']).

$cfg[LongtextDoubleTextarea] boolean

Defines whether textarea for LONGTEXT fields should have double size.

$cfg[TextareaAutoSelect] boolean

Defines if the whole textarea of the query box will be selected on click.

$cfg[CtrlArrowsMoving] boolean

Enable Ctrl+Arrows (Option+Arrows in Safari) moving between fields when editing.

$cfg[LimitChars] integer

Maximal number of Chars showed in any non-numeric field on browse view. Can be turned off by a toggle button on the browse page.

$cfg[ModifyDeleteAtLeft] boolean $cfg[ModifyDeleteAtRight] boolean

Defines the place where modify and delete links would be put when tables contents are displayed (you may have them displayed both at the left and at the right). "Left" and "right" are parsed as "top" and "bottom" with vertical display mode.

$cfg[DefaultDisplay] string $cfg[HeaderFlipType] string

There are 3 display modes: horizontal, horizontalflipped and vertical. Define which one is displayed by default. The first mode displays each row on a horizontal line, the second rotates the headers by 90 degrees, so you can use descriptive headers even though fields only contain small values and still print them out. The vertical mode sorts each row on a vertical lineup.

The HeaderFlipType can be set to 'css' or 'faked'. When using 'css' the rotation of the header for horizontalflipped is done via CSS. If set to 'faked' PHP does the transformation for you, but of course this does not look as good as CSS.

$cfg[DefaultPropDisplay] string

When editing/creating new columns in a table all fields normally get lined up one field a line. (default: 'horizontal'). If you set this to 'vertical' you can have each field lined up vertically beneath each other. You can save up a lot of place on the horizontal direction and no longer have to scroll.

$cfg[ShowBrowseComments] boolean
$cfg[ShowPropertyComments] boolean

By setting the corresponding variable to TRUE you can enable the display of column comments in Browse or Property display. In browse mode, the comments are show inside the header. In property mode, comments are displayed using a CSS-formatted dashed-line below the name of the field. The comment is shown as a tool-tip for that field.

$cfg[UploadDir] string

The name of the directory where SQL files have been uploaded by other means than phpMyAdmin (for example, ftp). Those files are available under a drop-down box when you click the database name, then the SQL tab.

If you want different directory for each user, %u will be replaced with username.

Please note that the file names must have the suffix ".sql" (or ".sql.bz2" or ".sql.gz" if support for compressed formats is enabled).

This feature is useful when your file is too big to be uploaded via HTTP, or when file uploads are disabled in PHP.

Please note that if PHP is running in safe mode, this directory must be owned by the same user as the owner of the phpMyAdmin scripts.

See also FAQ 1.16 for alternatives.

$cfg[docSQLDir] string

The name of the directory where docSQL files can be uploaded for import into phpMyAdmin.

Please note that if PHP is running in safe mode, this directory must be owned by the same user as the owner of the phpMyAdmin scripts.

$cfg[SaveDir] string

The name of the directory where dumps can be saved.

If you want different directory for each user, %u will be replaced with username.

Please note that the directory has to be writable for user running webserver.

Please note that if PHP is running in safe mode, this directory must be owned by the same user as the owner of the phpMyAdmin scripts.

$cfg[TempDir] string

The name of the directory, where temporary files can be stored.

This is needed for native MS Excel export, see FAQ 6.23

$cfg[Export] array

In this array are defined default parameters for export, names of items are similar to texts seen on export page, so you can easily identify what they mean.

$cfg[Import] array

In this array are defined default parameters for import, names of items are similar to texts seen on import page, so you can easily identify what they mean.

$cfg[RepeatCells] integer

Repeat the headers every X cells, or 0 to deactivate.

$cfg[EditInWindow] boolean
$cfg[QueryWindowWidth] integer
$cfg[QueryWindowHeight] integer
$cfg[QueryHistoryDB] boolean
$cfg[QueryWindowDefTab] string
$cfg[QueryHistoryMax] integer

All those variables affect the query window feature. A SQL link or icon is always displayed on the left panel. If JavaScript is enabled in your browser, a click on this opens a distinct query window, which is a direct interface to enter SQL queries. Otherwise, the right panel changes to display a query box.

The size of this query window can be customized with $cfg['QueryWindowWidth'] and $cfg['QueryWindowWidth'] - both integers for the size in pixels. Note that normally, those parameters will be modified in layout.inc.php for the theme you are using.

If $cfg['EditInWindow'] is set to true, a click on [Edit] from the results page (in the "Showing Rows" section) opens the query window and puts the current query inside it. If set to false, clicking on the link puts the SQL query in the right panel's query box.

The usage of the JavaScript query window is recommended if you have a JavaScript enabled browser. Basic functions are used to exchange quite a few variables, so most 4th generation browsers should be capable to use that feature. It currently is only tested with Internet Explorer 6 and Mozilla 1.x.

If $cfg['QueryHistoryDB'] is set to TRUE, all your Queries are logged to a table, which has to be created by you (see $cfg['Servers'][$i]['history']). If set to FALSE, all your queries will be appended to the form, but only as long as your window is opened they remain saved.

When using the JavaScript based query window, it will always get updated when you click on a new table/db to browse and will focus if you click on "Edit SQL" after using a query. You can suppress updating the query window by checking the box "Do not overwrite this query from outside the window" below the query textarea. Then you can browse tables/databases in the background without losing the contents of the textarea, so this is especially useful when composing a query with tables you first have to look in. The checkbox will get automatically checked whenever you change the contents of the textarea. Please uncheck the button whenever you definitely want the query window to get updated even though you have made alterations.

If $cfg['QueryHistoryDB'] is set to TRUE you can specify the amount of saved history items using $cfg['QueryHistoryMax'].

The query window also has a custom tabbed look to group the features. Using the variable $cfg['QueryWindowDefTab'] you can specify the default tab to be used when opening the query window. It can be set to either 'sql', 'files', 'history' or 'full'.

$cfg[BrowseMIME] boolean

Enable MIME-transformations.

$cfg[MaxExactCount] integer

For InnoDB tables, determines for how large tables phpMyAdmin should get the exact row count using SELECT COUNT. If the approximate row count as returned by SHOW TABLE STATUS is smaller than this value, SELECT COUNT will be used, otherwise the approximate count will be used.
For VIEWs, since obtaining the exact count could have an impact on performance, this value is the maximum to be displayed.

$cfg[WYSIWYG-PDF] boolean

Utilizes a WYSIWYG editing control to easily place elements of a PDF page. By clicking on the button 'toggle scratchboard' on the page where you edit x/y coordinates of those elements you can activate a scratchboard where all your elements are placed. By clicking on an element, you can move them around in the pre-defined area and the x/y coordinates will get updated dynamically. Likewise, when entering a new position directly into the input field, the new position in the scratchboard changes after your cursor leaves the input field.
You have to click on the 'OK'-button below the tables to save the new positions. If you want to place a new element, first add it to the table of elements and then you can drag the new element around.
By changing the paper size and the orientation you can change the size of the scratchboard as well. You can do so by just changing the dropdown field below, and the scratchboard will resize automatically, without interfering with the current placement of the elements.
If ever an element gets out of range you can either enlarge the paper size or click on the 'reset' button to place all elements below each other.
NOTE: You have to use a recent browser like IE6 or Mozilla to get this control to work. The basic Drag&Drop script functionality was kindly borrowed from www.youngpup.net and is underlying so specific license.

$cfg[NaturalOrder] boolean

Sorts database and table names according to natural order (for example, t1, t2, t10). Currently implemented in the left panel (Light mode) and in Database view, for the table list.

$cfg[ShowHttpHostTitle] boolean

Shows the HTTP host name in window's title bar.

$cfg[SetHttpHostTitle] string

If $cfg['ShowHttpHostTitle'] is TRUE, it shows the real HTTP host name, unless an alternate name is set here.

$cfg[ErrorIconic] boolean

Uses icons for warnings, errors and informations.

$cfg[MainPageIconic] boolean

Uses icons on main page in lists and menu tabs.

$cfg[ReplaceHelpImg] boolean

Shows a help button instead of the "Documentation" message.

$cfg[ThemePath] string

If theme manager is active, use this as the path of the subdirectory containing all the themes.

$cfg[ThemeManager] boolean

Enables user-selectable themes. See FAQ 2.7.

$cfg[ThemeDefault] string

The default theme (a subdirectory under cfg['ThemePath']).

$cfg[ThemePerServer] boolean

Whether to allow different theme for each server.

$cfg[DefaultQueryTable] string
$cfg[DefaultQueryDatabase] string

Default queries that will be displayed in query boxes when user didn't specify any. Use %d for database name, %t for table name and %f for a comma separated list of field names. Note that %t and %f are only applicable to $cfg['DefaultQueryTable'].

$cfg[SQP]['fmtType'] string [html|none]

The main use of the new SQL Parser is to pretty-print SQL queries. By default we use HTML to format the query, but you can disable this by setting this variable to 'none'.

$cfg[SQP]['fmtInd'] float
$cfg[SQP]['fmtIndUnit'] string [em|px|pt|ex]

For the pretty-printing of SQL queries, under some cases the part of a query inside a bracket is indented. By changing $cfg['SQP']['fmtInd'] you can change the amount of this indent.
Related in purpose is $cfg['SQP']['fmtIndUnit'] which specifies the units of the indent amount that you specified. This is used via stylesheets.

$cfg[SQP]['fmtColor'] array of string tuples

This array is used to define the colours for each type of element of the pretty-printed SQL queries. The tuple format is
class => [HTML colour code | empty string]
If you specify an empty string for the color of a class, it is ignored in creating the stylesheet. You should not alter the class names, only the colour strings.
Class name key:

comment Applies to all comment sub-classes
comment_mysql Comments as "#...\n"
comment_ansi Comments as "-- ...\n"
comment_c Comments as "/*...*/"
digit Applies to all digit sub-classes
digit_hex Hexadecimal numbers
digit_integer Integer numbers
digit_float Floating point numbers
punct Applies to all punctuation sub-classes
punct_bracket_open_round Opening brackets"("
punct_bracket_close_round Closing brackets ")"
punct_listsep List item Separator ","
punct_qualifier Table/Column Qualifier "."
punct_queryend End of query marker ";"
alpha Applies to all alphabetic classes
alpha_columnType Identifiers matching a column type
alpha_columnAttrib Identifiers matching a database/table/column attribute
alpha_functionName Identifiers matching a MySQL function name
alpha_reservedWord Identifiers matching any other reserved word
alpha_variable Identifiers matching a SQL variable "@foo"
alpha_identifier All other identifiers
quote Applies to all quotation mark classes
quote_double Double quotes "
quote_single Single quotes '
quote_backtick Backtick quotes `

$cfg[SQLValidator]['use'] boolean

phpMyAdmin now supports use of the Mimer SQL Validator service, as originally published on Slashdot.
For help in setting up your system to use the service, see the FAQ #6.14.

$cfg[SQLValidator]['username'] string
$cfg[SQLValidator]['password'] string

The SOAP service allows you to login with anonymous and any password, so we use those by default. Instead, if you have an account with them, you can put your login details here, and it will be used in place of the anonymous login.

$cfg[DBG]['enable'] boolean

DEVELOPERS ONLY!
Enable the DBG extension for debugging phpMyAdmin. Required for profiling the code.
For help in setting up your system to this, see the Developers section.

$cfg[DBG]['profile']['enable'] boolean

DEVELOPERS ONLY!
Enable profiling support for phpMyAdmin. This will append a chunk of data to the end of every page displayed in the main window with profiling statistics for that page.
You may need to increase the maximum execution time for this to complete successfully.

$cfg[DBG]['profile']['threshold'] float (units in milliseconds)

DEVELOPERS ONLY!
When profiling data is displayed, this variable controls the threshold of display for any profiling data, based on the average time each time has taken. If it is over the threshold it is displayed, otherwise it is not displayed. This takes a value in milliseconds. In most cases you don't need to edit this.

$cfg[ColumnTypes] array

All possible types of a MySQL column. In most cases you don't need to edit this.

$cfg[AttributeTypes] array

Possible attributes for fields. In most cases you don't need to edit this.

$cfg[Functions] array

A list of functions MySQL supports. In most cases you don't need to edit this.

$cfg[RestrictColumnTypes] array

Mapping of column types to meta types used for preferring displayed functions. In most cases you don't need to edit this.

$cfg[RestrictFunctions] array

Functions preferred for column meta types as defined in $cfg['RestrictColumnTypes']. In most cases you don't need to edit this.

$cfg[DefaultFunctions] array

Functions selected by default when inserting/changing row, Functions are defined for meta types from $cfg['RestrictColumnTypes'] and for first_timestamp, which is used for first timestamp column in table.

$cfg[NumOperators] array

Operators available for search operations on numeric and date fields.

$cfg[TextOperators] array

Operators available for search operations on character fields. Note that we put LIKE by default instead of LIKE %...%, to avoid unintended performance problems in case of huge tables.

$cfg[EnumOperators] array

Operators available for search operations on enum fields.

$cfg[NullOperators] array

Additional operators available for search operations when the field can be null.

Transformations

Introduction - Usage - File structure

[1. Introduction]

To enable transformations, you have to setup the column_info table and the proper directives. Please see the Configuration section on how to do so.

You can apply different transformations to the contents of each field. The transformation will take the content of each field and transform it with certain rules defined in the selected transformation.

Say you have a field 'filename' which contains a filename. Normally you would see in phpMyAdmin only this filename. Using transformations you can transform that filename into a HTML link, so you can click inside of the phpMyAdmin structure on the field's link and will see the file displayed in a new browser window. Using transformation options you can also specify strings to append/prepend to a string or the format you want the output stored in.

For a general overview of all available transformations and their options, you can consult your <www.your-host.com>/<your-install-dir>/transformation_overview.php installation.

For a tutorial on how to effectively use transformations, see our Link section on the official phpMyAdmin homepage.

[2. Usage]

Go to your tbl_properties_structure.php page (i.e. reached through clicking on the 'Structure' link for a table). There click on "Change" (or change icon) and there you will see three new fields at the end of the line. They are called 'MIME-type', 'Browser transformation' and 'Transformation options'.

The field 'MIME-type' is a dropdown field. You have the options to leave that field empty or to use 'auto' [this feature is not yet available]. Please note that transformations are inactive as long as no MIME-type is selected.
The field 'Browser transformation' is a drop-down field. You can choose from a hopefully growing amount of pre-defined transformations. See below for information on how to build your own transformation.
There are global transformations and mimetype-bound transformations. Global transformations can be used for any mimetype. They will take the mimetype, if necessary, into regard. Mimetype-bound transformations usually only operate on a certain mimetype. There are transformations which operate on the main mimetype (like 'image'), which will most likely take the subtype into regard, and those who only operate on a specific subtype (like 'image/jpeg').
You can use transformations on mimetypes for which the function was not defined for. There is no security check for you selected the right transformation, so take care of what the output will be like.
The field 'Transformation options' is a free-type textfield. You have to enter transform-function specific options here. Usually the transforms can operate with default options, but it is generally a good idea to look up the overview to see which options are necessary.
Much like the ENUM/SET-Fields, you have to split up several options using the format 'a','b','c',...(NOTE THE MISSING BLANKS). This is because internally the options will be parsed as an array, leaving the first value the first element in the array, and so forth.
If you want to specify a MIME character set you can define it in the transformation_options. You have to put that outside of the pre-defined options of the specific mime-transform, as the last value of the set. Use the format "'; charset=XXX'". If you use a transform, for which you can specify 2 options and you want to append a character set, enter "'first parameter','second parameter','charset=us-ascii'". You can, however use the defaults for the parameters: "'','','charset=us-ascii'".

[3. File structure]

All mimetypes and their transformations are defined through single files in the directory 'libraries/transformations/'.

They are stored in files to ease up customization and easy adding of new transformations.

Because the user cannot enter own mimetypes, it is kept sure that transformations always work. It makes no sense to apply a transformation to a mimetype, the transform-function doesn't know to handle.

One can, however, use empty mime-types and global transformations which should work for many mimetypes. You can also use transforms on a different mimetype they where built for, but pay attention to option usage as well as what the transformation does to your field.

There is a basic file called 'global.inc.php'. This function can be included by any other transform function and provides some basic functions.

There are 5 possible file names:

A mimetype+subtype transform:

[mimetype]_[subtype]__[transform].inc.php

Please not that mimetype and subtype are separated via '_', which shall not be contained in their names. The transform function/filename may contain only characters which cause no problems in the file system as well as the PHP function naming convention.

The transform function will the be called 'PMA_transform_[mimetype]_[subtype]__[transform]()'.

Example:

text_html__formatted.inc.php
PMA_transform_text_html__formatted()
A mimetype (w/o subtype) transform:

[mimetype]__[transform].inc.php

Please note that there are no single '_' characters. The transform function/filename may contain only characters which cause no problems in the file system as well as the PHP function naming convention.

The transform function will the be called 'PMA_transform_[mimetype]__[transform]()'.

Example:

text__formatted.inc.php
PMA_transform_text__formatted()
A mimetype+subtype without specific transform function

[mimetype]_[subtype].inc.php

Please note that there are no '__' characters in the filename. Do not use special characters in the filename causing problems with the file system.

No transformation function is defined in the file itself.

Example:

text_plain.inc.php
(No function)
A mimetype (w/o subtype) without specific transform function

[mimetype].inc.php

Please note that there are no '_' characters in the filename. Do not use special characters in the filename causing problems with the file system.

No transformation function is defined in the file itself.

Example:

text.inc.php
(No function)
A global transform function with no specific mimetype

global__[transform].inc.php

The transform function will the be called 'PMA_transform_global__[transform]()'.

Example:

global__formatted
PMA_transform_global__formatted()

So generally use '_' to split up mimetype and subtype, and '__' to provide a transform function.

All filenames containing no '__' in themselves are not shown as valid transform functions in the dropdown.

Please see the libraries/transformations/TEMPLATE file for adding your own transform function. See the libraries/transformations/TEMPLATE_MIMETYPE for adding a mimetype without a transform function. Also note the introduction of a function description in the language files. For each function a $strTransformation_[filename without .inc.php] has to exist.

You can use the template generator to generate new functions and entries in the language file.

To create a new transform function please see libraries/transformations/template_generator.sh. To create a new, empty mimetype please see libraries/transformations/template_generator_mimetype.sh.

A transform function always gets passed three variables:

$buffer - Contains the text inside of the column. This is the text, you want to transform.
$options - Contains any user-passed options to a transform function as an array.
$meta - Contains an object with field information to your column. The data is drawn from the output of the mysql_fetch_field() function. This means, all object properties described on the manual page are available in this variable and can be used to transform a field accordingly to unsigned/zerofill/not_null/... properties.
The $meta->mimetype variable contains the original MIME-type of the field (i.e. 'text/plain', 'image/jpeg' etc.)

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Server - Configuration - Limitations - Multi-user - Browsers - Usage tips - Project - Security

Please have a look at our Link section on the official phpMyAdmin homepage for in-depth coverage of phpMyAdmin's features and/or interface.

[1. Server]

[1.1] I'm running PHP 4+ and my server is crashing each time a specific action is required or phpMyAdmin sends a blank page or a page full of cryptic characters to my browser, what can I do?

There are some known PHP bugs with output buffering and compression.
Try to set the $cfg['OBGzip'] directive to FALSE in your config.inc.php file and the zlib.output_compression directive to Off in your php configuration file.
Furthermore, we know about such problems connected to the release candidates of PHP 4.2.0 (tested with PHP 4.2.0 RC1 to RC4) together with MS Internet Explorer. Please upgrade to the release version PHP 4.2.0.

[1.2] My Apache server crashes when using phpMyAdmin.

You should first try the latest versions of Apache (and possibly MySQL).
See also the FAQ 1.1 entry about PHP bugs with output buffering.
If your server keeps crashing, please ask for help in the various Apache support groups.

[1.3] I'm running phpMyAdmin with "cookie" authentication mode under PHP 4.2.0 or 4.2.1 loaded as an Apache 2+ module but can't enter the script: I'm always displayed the login screen.

This is a known PHP bug (see this bug report) from the official PHP bug database. It means there is and won't be any phpMyAdmin fix against it because there is no way to code a fix.

[1.4] Using phpMyAdmin on IIS, I'm displayed the error message: "The specified CGI application misbehaved by not returning a complete set of HTTP headers...".

You just forgot to read the install.txt file from the php distribution. Have a look at the last message in this bug report from the official PHP bug database.

[1.5] Using phpMyAdmin on IIS, I'm facing crashes and/or many error messages with the HTTP or advanced authentication mode.

This is a known problem with the PHP ISAPI filter: it's not so stable. Please use instead the cookie authentication mode.

[1.6] I can't use phpMyAdmin on PWS: nothing is displayed!

This seems to be a PWS bug. Filippo Simoncini found a workaround (at this time there is no better fix): remove or comment the DOCTYPE declarations (2 lines) from the scripts libraries/header.inc.php, libraries/header_printview.inc.php, index.php, left.php and libraries/common.lib.php.

[1.7] How can I GZip or Bzip a dump or a CSV export? It does not seem to work.

These features are based on the gzencode() and bzcompress() PHP functions to be more independent of the platform (Unix/Windows, Safe Mode or not, and so on). So, you must have PHP4 >= 4.0.4 and Zlib/Bzip2 support (--with-zlib and --with-bz2).
We faced PHP crashes when trying to download a dump with MS Internet Explorer when phpMyAdmin is run with a release candidate of PHP 4.2.0. In this case you should switch to the release version of PHP 4.2.0.

[1.8] I cannot insert a text file in a table, and I get an error about safe mode being in effect.

Your uploaded file is saved by PHP in the "upload dir", as defined in php.ini by the variable upload_tmp_dir (usually the system default is /tmp).
We recommend the following setup for Apache servers running in safe mode, to enable uploads of files while being reasonably secure:

create a separate directory for uploads: mkdir /tmp/php
give ownership to the Apache server's user.group: chown apache.apache /tmp/php
give proper permission: chmod 600 /tmp/php
put upload_tmp_dir = /tmp/php in php.ini
restart Apache

[1.9] I'm having troubles when uploading files. In general file uploads don't work on my system and uploaded files have a `Content-Type:` header in the first line.

It's not really phpMyAdmin related but RedHat 7.0. You have a RedHat 7.0 and you updated your PHP RPM to php-4.0.4pl1-3.i386.rpm, didn't you?
So the problem is that this package has a serious bug that was corrected ages ago in PHP (2001-01-28: see PHP's bug tracking system for more details). The problem is that the bugged package is still available though it was corrected (see RedHat's BugZilla for more details).
So please download the fixed package (4.0.4pl1-9) and the problem should go away.
And that fixes the \r\n problem with file uploads!

[1.10] I'm having troubles when uploading files with phpMyAdmin running on a secure server. My browser is Internet Explorer and I'm using the Apache server.

As suggested by "Rob M" in the phpWizard forum, add this line to your httpd.conf:
SetEnvIf User-Agent ".*MSIE.*" nokeepalive ssl-unclean-shutdown
It seems to clear up many problems between Internet Explorer and SSL.

[1.11] I get an 'open_basedir restriction' while uploading a file from the query box.

Since version 2.2.4, phpMyAdmin supports servers with open_basedir restrictions. Assuming that the restriction allows you to open files in the current directory ('.'), all you have to do is create a 'tmp' directory under the phpMyAdmin install directory, with permissions 777 and the same owner as the owner of your phpMyAdmin directory. The uploaded files will be moved there, and after execution of your SQL commands, removed.

[1.12] I have lost my MySQL root password, what can I do?

The MySQL manual explains how to reset the permissions.

[1.13] I get an error 'No SQL query' when trying to execute a bookmark.

If PHP does not have read/write access to its upload_tmp_dir, it cannot access the uploaded query.

[1.14] I get an error 'No SQL query' when trying to submit a query from the convenient text area.

Check the post_max_size directive from your PHP configuration file and try to increase it.

[1.15] I have problems with mysql.user field names.

In older MySQL versions, the User and Password fields were named user and password. Please modify your field names to align with current standards.

[1.16] I cannot upload big dump files (memory, http or timeout problems).

Starting with version 2.7.0, the import engine has been re–written and these problems should not occur. If possible, upgrade your phpMyAdmin to the latest version to take advantage of the new import features.

The first things to check (or ask your host provider to check) are the values of upload_max_filesize, memory_limit and post_max_size in the php.ini configuration file. All of these three settings limit the maximum size of data that can be submitted and handled by PHP. One user also said that post_max_size and memory_limit need to be larger than upload_max_filesize.

There exist several workarounds if your upload is too big or your hosting provider is unwilling to change the settings:

Look at the $cfg['UploadDir'] feature. This allows one to upload a file to the server via scp, ftp, or your favorite file transfer method. PhpMyAdmin is then able to import the files from the temporary directory. More information is available in the Configuration section of this document.
Using a utility (such as BigDump) to split the files before uploading. We cannot support this or any third party applications, but are aware of users having success with it.
If you have shell (command line) access, use MySQL to import the files directly. You can do this by issuing the "source" command from within MySQL: source filename.sql.

[1.17] Which MySQL versions does phpMyAdmin support?

All MySQL versions from 3.23.32 till 5.0 (except for 4.1.0 and 4.1.1) are fully supported. Please note that the older your MySQL version is, the more limitations you will have to face.
phpMyAdmin may connect to your MySQL server using php's classic MySQL extension as well as the improved MySQL extension (MySQLi) that is available in php 5.0.
Either way, the developers of both extensions recommend to use the classic extension for MySQL 4.0 and below and MySQLi for MySQL 4.1 and newer.
When compiling php, we strongly recommend that you manually link the MySQL extension of your choice to a MySQL client library of at least the same minor version since the one that is bundled with some php distributions is rather old and might cause problems (see also FAQ 1.17a). If your webserver is running on a windows system, you might want to try MySQL's Connector/PHP instead of the MySQL / MySQLi extensions that are bundled with the official php Win32 builds.
MySQL 5.1 is not yet supported.

[1.17a] I cannot connect to the MySQL server. It always returns the error message, "Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client"

You tried to access MySQL with an old MySQL client library. The version of your MySQL client library can be checked in your phpinfo() output. In general, it should have at least the same minor version as your server - as mentioned in FAQ 1.17.

This problem is generally caused by using MySQL version 4.1 or newer. MySQL changed the authentication hash and your PHP is trying to use the old method. The proper solution is to use the mysqli extension with the proper client library to match your MySQL installation. Your chosen extension is specified in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['extension']. More information (and several workarounds) are located in the MySQL Documentation.

[1.18] I'm running MySQL <= 4.0.1 having `lower_case_table_names` set to 1. If I create a new table with a capital letter in its name it is changed to lowercase as it should. But if I try to DROP this table MySQL is unable to find the corresponding file.

This is a bug of MySQL <= 4.0.1. Please upgrade to at least MySQL 4.0.2 or turn off your lower_case_table_names directive.

[1.19] I can't run the "display relations" feature because the script seems not to know the font face I'm using!

The "FPDF" library we're using for this feature requires some special files to use font faces.
Please refers to the FPDF manual to build these files.

[1.20] I receive the error "cannot load MySQL extension, please check PHP Configuration".

To connect to a MySQL server, PHP needs a set of MySQL functions called "MySQL extension". This extension may be part of the PHP distribution (compiled-in), otherwise it needs to be loaded dynamically. Its name is probably mysql.so or php_mysql.dll. phpMyAdmin tried to load the extension but failed.

Usually, the problem is solved by installing a software package called "PHP-MySQL" or something similar.

[1.21] I am running the CGI version of PHP under Unix, and I cannot login using cookie auth.

In php.ini, set mysql.max_links higher than 1.

[1.22] I don't see the "Location of text file" field, so I cannot upload.

This is most likely because in php.ini, your file_uploads parameter is not set to "on".

[1.23] I'm running MySQL on a Win32 machine. Each time I create a new table the table and field names are changed to lowercase!

This happens because the MySQL directive lower_case_table_names defaults to 1 (ON) in the Win32 version of MySQL. You can change this behavior by simply changing the directive to 0 (OFF):
Just edit your my.ini file that should be located in your Windows directory and add the following line to the group [mysqld]:
set-variable = lower_case_table_names=0
Next, save the file and restart the MySQL service. You can always check the value of this directive using the query
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'lower_case_table_names';

[1.24] Some characters are being truncated in my queries, or I get characters randomly added. I am running PHP 4.2.3.

This is a PHP 4.2.3 bug.

[1.25] I am running Apache with mod_gzip-1.3.26.1a on Windows XP, and I get problems, such as undefined variables when I run a SQL query.

A tip from Jose Fandos: put a comment on the following two lines in httpd.conf, like this:
# mod_gzip_item_include file \.php$
# mod_gzip_item_include mime "application/x-httpd-php.*"
as this version of mod_gzip on Apache (Windows) has problems handling PHP scripts. Of course you have to restart Apache.

[1.26] I just installed phpMyAdmin in my document root of IIS but I get the error "No input file specified" when trying to run phpMyAdmin.

This is a permission problem. Right-click on the phpmyadmin folder and choose properties. Under the tab Security, click on "Add" and select the user "IUSR_machine" from the list. Now set his permissions and it should work.

[1.27] I get empty page when I want to view huge page (eg. db_details_structure.php with plenty of tables).

This is a PHP bug that occur when GZIP output buffering is enabled. If you turn off it (by $cfg['OBGzip'] = FALSE in config.inc.php), it should work. This bug will be fixed in PHP 5.0.0.

[1.28] My MySQL server sometimes refuses queries and returns the message 'Errorcode: 13'. What does this mean?

This can happen due to a MySQL bug when having database / table names with upper case characters although lower_case_table_names is set to 1. To fix this, turn off this directive, convert all database and table names to lower case and turn it on again. Alternatively, there's a bug-fix available starting with MySQL 3.23.56 / 4.0.11-gamma.

[1.29] When I create a table or modify a field, I get an error and the fields are duplicated.

It is possible to configure Apache in such a way that PHP has problems interpreting .php files.

The problems occur when two different (and conflicting) set of directives are used:

SetOutputFilter PHP SetInputFilter PHP &
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

In the case we saw, one set of directives was in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf, while the other set was in /etc/httpd/conf/addon-modules/php.conf.
The recommended way is with AddType, so just comment out the first set of lines and restart Apache:

#SetOutputFilter PHP #SetInputFilter PHP

[1.30] I get the error "left.php: Missing hash".

This problem is known to happen when the server is running Turck MMCache but upgrading MMCache to version 2.3.21 solves the problem.

[1.31] Does phpMyAdmin support php5?

Yes.
However, phpMyAdmin needs to be backwards compatible to php4. This is why phpMyAdmin disables the E_STRICT error_level in error_reporting settings.

[1.32] Can I use HTTP authentication with IIS?

Yes. This procedure was tested with phpMyAdmin 2.6.1, PHP 4.3.9 in ISAPI mode under IIS 5.1.

In your php.ini file, set cgi.rfc2616_headers = 0
In Web Site Properties -> File/Directory Security -> Anonymous Access dialog box, check the Anonymous access checkbox and uncheck any other checkboxes (i.e. uncheck Basic authentication, Integrated Windows authentication, and Digest if it's enabled.) Click OK.
In Custom Errors, select the range of 401;1 through 401;5 and click the Set to Default button.

[1.33] Is there a problem with the mysqli extension when running PHP 5.0.4 on 64-bit systems?

Yes. This problem affects phpMyAdmin ("Call to undefined function pma_reloadnavigation"), so upgrade your PHP to the next version.

[1.34] Can I access directly to database or table pages?

Yes. Out of the box, you can use URLs like http://server/phpMyAdmin/index.php?db=database&table=table&target=script. Table and script parts are optional. If you want http://server/phpMyAdmin/database[/table][/script] URLs, you need to do some configuration. Following lines apply only for Apache web server. First make sure, that you have enabled some features within global configuration. You need Options FollowSymLinks and AllowOverride FileInfo enabled for directory where phpMyAdmin is installed and you need mod_rewrite to be enabled. Then you just need to create following .htaccess file in root folder of phpMyAdmin installation (don't forget to change directory name inside of it):

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /path_to_phpMyAdmin
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/([a-z_]+\.php)$ index.php?db=$1&table=$2&target=$3 [R]
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/([a-z_]+\.php)$ index.php?db=$1&target=$2 [R]
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)$ index.php?db=$1&table=$2 [R]
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)$ index.php?db=$1 [R]

[1.35] Can I use HTTP authentication with Apache CGI?

Yes. However you need to pass authentication variable to CGI using following rewrite rule:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=REMOTE_USER:%{HTTP:Authorization},L]

[1.36] I get an error "500 Internal Server Error".

There can be many explanations to this and a look at your server's error log file might give a clue.

[2. Configuration]

[2.1] The error message "Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent by ..." is displayed, what's the problem?

Edit your config.inc.php file and ensure there is nothing (I.E. no blank lines, no spaces, no characters...) neither before the <?php tag at the beginning, neither after the ?> tag at the end.

[2.2] phpMyAdmin can't connect to MySQL. What's wrong?

Either there is an error with your PHP setup or your username/password is wrong. Try to make a small script which uses mysql_connect and see if it works. If it doesn't, it may be you haven't even compiled MySQL support into PHP.

[2.3] The error message "Warning: MySQL Connection Failed: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (111)..." is displayed. What can I do?

For RedHat users, Harald Legner suggests this on the mailing list:

On my RedHat-Box the socket of MySQL is /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock. In your php.ini you will find a line
mysql.default_socket = /tmp/mysql.sock
change it to
mysql.default_socket = /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
Then restart apache and it will work.

Here is a fix suggested by Brad Ummer:

First, you need to determine what socket is being used by MySQL.
To do this, telnet to your server and go to the MySQL bin directory. In this directory there should be a file named mysqladmin. Type ./mysqladmin variables, and this should give you a bunch of info about your MySQL server, including the socket (/tmp/mysql.sock, for example).
Then, you need to tell PHP to use this socket.
To do this in phpMyAdmin, you need to complete the socket information in the config.inc.php.
For example: $cfg['Servers'][$i]['socket'] = '/tmp/mysql.sock';

Please also make sure that the permissions of this file allow to be readable by your webserver (i.e. '0755').

Have also a look at the <