# USE \[DATABASE]

## Syntax

```sql
USE db_name
```

## Description

The `'USE db_name'` statement tells MariaDB to use the `db_name` database as the default (current) database for subsequent statements. The database remains the default until the end of the session, or until another `USE` statement is issued:

```sql
USE db1;
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM mytable;   # selects FROM db1.mytable
USE db2;
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM mytable;   # selects FROM db2.mytable
```

The [DATABASE()](/docs/server/reference/sql-functions/secondary-functions/information-functions/database.md) function ([SCHEMA()](/docs/server/reference/sql-functions/secondary-functions/information-functions/schema.md) is a synonym) returns the default database.

Another way to set the default database is by specifying its name when starting the [mariadb](/docs/server/clients-and-utilities/mariadb-client/mariadb-command-line-client.md) command line client:

```
mariadb db1    # starts the mariadb command-line client with db1 as the current database
```

One cannot use `USE` to a database one has no privileges to. The reason is that a user with no privileges to a database should not be able to know if a database exists or not.

## See Also

* [Identifier Qualifiers](/docs/server/reference/sql-structure/sql-language-structure/identifier-qualifiers.md)
* [USE CATALOG](/docs/server/security/user-account-management/catalogs/use-catalog.md)

<sub>*This page is licensed: GPLv2, originally from*</sub> [<sub>*fill\_help\_tables.sql*</sub>](https://github.com/MariaDB/server/blob/main/scripts/fill_help_tables.sql)

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