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Comment by jscheel | Hacker News Reader

I too can hate on phpmyadmin and suggest superior alternatives. However, just let it sink in for one second how incredibly successful this tool has been, regardless of its detriments. Most of us would kill for this kind of household name recognition. It was at the right place at the right time, for sure, but I think there's probably something we can still learn from them.

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Do tell about the superior alternative, I still have to use phpmyadmin sometimes.

MySQL workbench is a good alternative. I wish there was one similar to it for postgresql that was also native.

http://www.mysql.com/products/workbench/

workbench is not a script ,it is a desktop software , so not really an alternative for most phpmyadmin use cases.

I like SQL Buddy (http://sqlbuddy.com/) or Chive (http://www.chive-project.com/)

I use Sequel Pro, but it's an OSX app, not a php alternative to PhpMyAdmin.

If it's not your first time touching database, I would recommend Adminer (http://www.adminer.org/). No installation, single PHP file.

The mysql command line client is a superior alternative IMO. Like most things on the command line you are able to more much faster instead of having to deal navigate the GUI. Don't get me wrong phpMyAdmin is definitely easier to use for the average user and if you are just so blessed with having to work on a project that's on shared hosting it might be your only option, but even then I'm usually on the SQL tab.

>The mysql command line client is a superior alternative IMO.

He asked for a real superior alternative. In the same vain. Not something completely different.

>Like most things on the command line you are able to more much faster instead of having to deal navigate the GUI.

Not really. Between limitations of the readline lib and terminals, it's a pretty shitty experience. There's a limited stuff you can do faster in the command line.

Eh, depends on the type of work you're doing and your command line skills. For maintenance work and administrative tasks, a GUI tool really shines, but during development the cli runs circles around every GUI tool available (for an experienced terminal user).

edit: Also, GUI tools are very useful when you want to familiarize yourself with a large or complex database you haven't previously worked on.

One of the main advantages of phpMyAdmin is the ability to work on the database without the need of a command line. Not all website maintainers have access to that level of control.

Sometimes I want to run one-off queries from an administration interface. Output from the MySQL CLI is unreadable if the columns extend beyond the width of the terminal. Horizontal scrolling alone makes this an unacceptable replacement for phpMyAdmin.

Try ending your queries with '\G' to display results vertically.

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