Head over to the downloads page of the XAMPP. Scroll down to section for OS X and click on the blue Download (64-bit) button. I would suggest if you could download one of versions highlighted in the image above which says “7.2.X / PHP 7.2.X” or “7.3.X / PHP 7.3.X” and not the XAMPP-VM ones. Download XAMPP for free. An easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP, and Perl. XAMPP is a very easy to install Apache Distribution for Linux, Solaris, Windows, and Mac OS X. The package includes the Apache web server, MySQL, PHP, Perl, a FTP server and phpMyAdmin.
Description
XAMPP is a software distribution which providesthe Apache web server, MySQL database (actually MariaDB),Php and Perl (as command-line executables and Apache modules)all in one package. It is available for Windows, MAC andLinux systems.No configuration is necessary to integrate Php with MySQL.It is a great fit for this course and provides a relativelypainless installation and way to manage the configuration changes. Also provided is PhpMyadmin which gives a GUI tool for managingyour MySQL databases.I would highly recommend installing this for Windows or MAC. It doesn'texclude you from other competing software installations, it justgives an easy way to get going. For Ubuntu Linux systems, I still would recommend installing Apache/MySQL/Php/PhpMyadminthrough Ubuntu packages.The XAMPP download site which I use is:The installation I'm describing uses Php 7.3.For MAC, use the non-vm version
For the MAC, we use the non-vm versionwhich you can find in the Downloads menu link of the site.In particular avoid the version with '-vm' as part of the file name.Windows
The installation file I used is:xampp-win32-7.3.0-0-VC15-installer.exe
Install in the usual way. It gives some notification messages for which you can just click OK.Close whatever installation brings upon completion.It installs intoAt some point the Windows Firewall may invoke notifications; just click Allow access and then 
Finish.Run XAMPP Control Panel as administrator
What you want to run is the XAMPP Control Panelfound under XAMPP in the Start menu. Right-clickand run this as administrator
.Start both MySQL and Apache (unless you have an alternative Apache installation).I do not recommend messing with the Modules service column.When you start MySQL, you should see it running on port 3306.The Apache service gives you access tothe Admin buttons next to the services.For Apache Admin, you get:For MySQL Admin you get PhpMyadmin:The MySQL clients
The MySQL Client executables are located in the directoryThe most important one is the client program mysql.exe.From a command shell you can run:This accesses the MariaDB database as the empty (or default) user with emptypassword. You can go into a specific database, say test, by doing:This test database already exists in the XAMPP MariaDB installation.It is accessible by the empty user. You can also go directlyinto the test database from the command line by:You can also go in as an unknown user, e.g.:What's happening here is that the unknown user is gettingreplaced by the empty user.If you want to create other databases, or users, or alterpasswords, you have to be the root user. To do so:The XAMPP installation also sets up the empty password to the root user.Easy access to mysql
Although it is probably OK to use mysql as:You might want to make it usable simply as mysql.Here are two ways to do so.- The best solution is to put the directory into your PATH.Start from Control Panel ⇾ System and Security and access:System ⇾ Advanced System Settings ⇾ Advanced ⇾ Environment VariablesFind the Path variable in the System Variables. Select it and click Edit. It's best to prepend thenew Path component with this addition:The Home button on a Microsoft keyboard is a good way to get to the beginning of the Path expression. Alternatively, you can append the new Path component as:Then 'OK' your way out.
- Another way is to make a convenience batch executable in the directorywhere your shell opens up into (it should be your home directory).Go to your homedirectory C:UsersYOUR_LOGIN (or wherever your shell opens into)and create the fileMake sure file extensions are shown.Create an empty text file (New Text Document.txt) and rename the whole file to mysql.bat (Windows will complain!).Make the contents be:
Other mysql accesses
Run the actual command client programthrough a command shell (cmd) by simply using mysql with various arguments.For example, try each of these (quit to leave MySQL):Using Cygwin MySQL Client executable
If, like me, you prefer the Cygwin shell, you can still get access to the XAMPP MySQL database throughthe Cygwin mysql client. Install the mysql client package in Cygwin, but don't install the mysql server package. Then you will be able to access the XAMPP (or any other) MySQL database with an added option like this:To simplify this usage, create an alias by adding this line to your ~/.bashrc file:Open a new Cygwin shell and my can now use the mysql client directly.MAC
The installation file I used isOn the XAMPP site itself, use the Downloads menu link to find this version.In particular avoid the version most readily downloaded which has '-vm' aspart of the file name. This is very different from the version we are describing here.Install in the usual way. The installation location isand all executables are inStarting /Applications/XAMPP will automatically start the Control Panel and you'll need to give your password so that the application can run as root and start services on protected ports. Use the Manage Servers tab in the Control Panel to start upMySQL (on port 3306) and/or Apache (on ports 80,443).Initially we only need MySQL.There doesn't appear to be any automatic way to invoke the 'dashboard' and 'phpmyadmin' URLs, but these are still available when both MySQL and Apache are running.http://localhost/dashboard
http://localhost/phpmyadmin
http://localhost/phpmyadmin
Access to the XAMPP Client Executables
The most important executable at this point is the mysql client,which is the file:You should be able to execute this as is, butthe best way is to execute it (as well as other XAMPP executables)is to augment the system PATH. To do so,edit the bash shell startup file:The simplest way to edit it might be:Add the one line into the file to augument theXampp On Mac
PATH:~/.profile
Be careful to have no spaces around the equals sign!Then start up another terminal shell. Test theeffectiveness of what you've done by typing this in the shell:You should see the 
/Applications/XAMPP/bin component as thefirst component in the PATH variable.