How to Connect to MySQL from Go

Use the github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql driver with the database/sql package to connect.

package main

import (
	"database/sql"
	"fmt"
	"log"

	_ "github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql"
)

func main() {
	dsn := "user:password@tcp(127.0.0.1:3306)/dbname"
	db, err := sql.Open("mysql", dsn)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	defer db.Close()

	if err = db.Ping(); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	fmt.Println("Connected!")
}

Connecting to MySQL from Go links your program to a database using a standard driver. Think of it like plugging a USB cable into your computer; the driver is the adapter that lets your code talk to the database. You need this to store or retrieve data from your application.