WordPress: Cannot establish connection to database

I used the following script to locally test php access to mysql:

<?php
$dbname = 'wordpress_db';
$dbuser = 'wordpress_user';
$dbpass = 'my password';
$dbhost = "localhost";

try
{
    if ($db = mysqli_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass, $dbname))
    {
        echo ("successfully connected to database \n");
   }
    else
    {
        throw new Exception('Unable to connect');
    }
}
catch(Exception $e)
{
    echo $e->getMessage();
}
?>

When I ran the script from the cli, it produced the following message:

PHP Warning:  mysqli_connect(): (HY000/1045): Access denied for
user 'wordpress_user'@'localhost' (using password: YES) in
/var/www/wordpress/mysql-test.php on line 13
Unable to connect

However, when I connect to mysql with user “wordpress_user” and enter the correct password (which is also given in my actual script), I have no problems. Querying all available databases also shows that database “wordpress_db” is available.

Why can’t I connect when running a local php script?

Hi @karx11erx,

Following your question and after that the information in the answer you gave, I take it, you are able to connect to mysql using the following command:

mysql -u wordpress_user -p wordpress_db -h localhost

correct?

Can you please try using the above command and see if it works as it’s supposed to?

From the error you are receiving it seems like your database user does not have the permissions to access your website’s database. The above command should provide it that’s the case.

Another solution might be a special character you might have in your password. Be careful with quotes or double quotes - ’ and ", they might cause issues as well.

Regards, KFSys