How To List All Users In A MySQL Database?

Updated: 28 September 2026 · Applies to: Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12, AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9

MariaDB and MySQL store accounts in the mysql.user table. These queries work on MariaDB 10.x/11.x and MySQL 8.x.

Log in

sudo mariadb          # or: mysql -u root -p

List users

SELECT User, Host FROM mysql.user;
SELECT User, Host, plugin FROM mysql.user;       -- also the login method
SELECT DISTINCT User FROM mysql.user;            -- names only

A user is the combination of name and host: 'shop'@'localhost' and 'shop'@'%' are two different accounts.

See what a user may do

SHOW GRANTS FOR 'shop'@'localhost';
SELECT CURRENT_USER();                          -- who you are logged in as

Create and remove users

CREATE USER 'shop'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'Strong-Password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON shopdb.* TO 'shop'@'localhost';
DROP USER 'olduser'@'localhost';

Note: On cPanel hosting, manage databases in cPanel with Databases › MySQL® Databases and phpMyAdmin; server-level changes are made by the server administrator.

Change a password or remove access

ALTER USER 'shop'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'New-Strong-Password';
REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES ON shopdb.* FROM 'shop'@'localhost';

Find accounts that can connect from any host (%) with SELECT User, Host FROM mysql.user WHERE Host = '%'; and check that each one really needs remote access.