PHP combined with MySQL are cross-platform (you can develop in Windows and serve on a Unix platform)
PHP Connect to the MySQL Server
Use the PHP mysqli_connect() function to open a new connection to the MySQL server.
Open a Connection to the MySQL Server
Before we can access data in a database, we must open a connection to the MySQL server.
In PHP, this is done with the mysqli_connect() function.
Syntax
mysqli_connect(host , username , password , dbname);
STEPS
1.CREATE A USER in PHPMyAdmin
2.CREATE A DATABASE
3.CONNECT TO DATABASE
4.DATA RETREIVAL/ MANIPULATION