Configuration?

All configurable data is placed in config.inc.php in phpMyAdmin’s toplevel directory. If this file does not exist, please refer to the Installation section to create one. This file only needs to contain the parameters you want to change from their corresponding default value in libraries/config.default.php (this file is not intended for changes).

See also

Examples for examples of configurations

If a directive is missing from your file, you can just add another line with the file. This file is for over-writing the defaults; if you wish to use the default value there’s no need to add a line here.

The parameters which relate to design (like colors) are placed in themes/themename/scss/_variables.scss. You might also want to create config.footer.inc.php and config.header.inc.php files to add your site specific code to be included on start and end of each page.

Note

Some distributions (eg. Debian or Ubuntu) store config.inc.php in /etc/phpmyadmin instead of within phpMyAdmin sources.

Basic settings?

$cfg['PmaAbsoluteUri']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Changed in version 4.6.5: This setting was not available in phpMyAdmin 4.6.0 - 4.6.4.

Sets here the complete URL (with full path) to your phpMyAdmin installation’s directory. E.g. https://www.example.net/path_to_your_phpMyAdmin_directory/. Note also that the URL on most of web servers are case sensitive (even on Windows). Don’t forget the trailing slash at the end.

Starting with version 2.3.0, it is advisable to try leaving this blank. In most cases phpMyAdmin automatically detects the proper setting. Users of port forwarding or complex reverse proxy setup might need to set this.

A good test is to browse a table, edit a row and save it. There should be an error message if phpMyAdmin is having trouble auto–detecting the correct value. If you get an error that this must be set or if the autodetect code fails to detect your path, please post a bug report on our bug tracker so we can improve the code.

$cfg['PmaNoRelation_DisableWarning']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Starting with version 2.3.0 phpMyAdmin offers a lot of features to work with master / foreign – tables (see $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb']).

If you tried to set this up and it does not work for you, have a look on the Structure page of one database where you would like to use it. You will find a link that will analyze why those features have been disabled.

If you do not want to use those features set this variable to true to stop this message from appearing.

$cfg['AuthLog']?
Type

string

Default value

'auto'

New in version 4.8.0: This is supported since phpMyAdmin 4.8.0.

Configure authentication logging destination. Failed (or all, depending on $cfg['AuthLogSuccess']) authentication attempts will be logged according to this directive:

auto

Let phpMyAdmin automatically choose between syslog and php.

syslog

Log using syslog, using AUTH facility, on most systems this ends up in /var/log/auth.log.

php

Log into PHP error log.

sapi

Log into PHP SAPI logging.

/path/to/file

Any other value is treated as a filename and log entries are written there.

Note

When logging to a file, make sure its permissions are correctly set for a web server user, the setup should closely match instructions described in $cfg['TempDir']:

$cfg['AuthLogSuccess']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

New in version 4.8.0: This is supported since phpMyAdmin 4.8.0.

Whether to log successful authentication attempts into $cfg['AuthLog'].

$cfg['SuhosinDisableWarning']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

A warning is displayed on the main page if Suhosin is detected.

You can set this parameter to true to stop this message from appearing.

$cfg['LoginCookieValidityDisableWarning']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

A warning is displayed on the main page if the PHP parameter session.gc_maxlifetime is lower than cookie validity configured in phpMyAdmin.

You can set this parameter to true to stop this message from appearing.

$cfg['ServerLibraryDifference_DisableWarning']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Deprecated since version 4.7.0: This setting was removed as the warning has been removed as well.

A warning is displayed on the main page if there is a difference between the MySQL library and server version.

You can set this parameter to true to stop this message from appearing.

$cfg['ReservedWordDisableWarning']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

This warning is displayed on the Structure page of a table if one or more column names match with words which are MySQL reserved.

If you want to turn off this warning, you can set it to true and warning will no longer be displayed.

$cfg['TranslationWarningThreshold']?
Type

integer

Default value

80

Show warning about incomplete translations on certain threshold.

$cfg['SendErrorReports']?
Type

string

Default value

'ask'

Valid values are:

  • ask

  • always

  • never

Sets the default behavior for JavaScript error reporting.

Whenever an error is detected in the JavaScript execution, an error report may be sent to the phpMyAdmin team if the user agrees.

The default setting of 'ask' will ask the user everytime there is a new error report. However you can set this parameter to 'always' to send error reports without asking for confirmation or you can set it to 'never' to never send error reports.

This directive is available both in the configuration file and in users preferences. If the person in charge of a multi-user installation prefers to disable this feature for all users, a value of 'never' should be set, and the $cfg['UserprefsDisallow'] directive should contain 'SendErrorReports' in one of its array values.

$cfg['ConsoleEnterExecutes']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Setting this to true allows the user to execute queries by pressing Enter instead of Ctrl+Enter. A new line can be inserted by pressing Shift+Enter.

The behaviour of the console can be temporarily changed using console’s settings interface.

$cfg['AllowThirdPartyFraming']?
Type

boolean|string

Default value

false

Setting this to true allows phpMyAdmin to be included inside a frame, and is a potential security hole allowing cross-frame scripting attacks or clickjacking. Setting this to ‘sameorigin’ prevents phpMyAdmin to be included from another document in a frame, unless that document belongs to the same domain.

Server connection settings?

$cfg['Servers']?
Type

array

Default value

one server array with settings listed below

Since version 1.4.2, phpMyAdmin supports the administration of multiple MySQL servers. Therefore, a $cfg['Servers']-array has been added which contains the login information for the different servers. The first $cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] contains the hostname of the first server, the second $cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] the hostname of the second server, etc. In libraries/config.default.php, there is only one section for server definition, however you can put as many as you need in config.inc.php, copy that block or needed parts (you don’t have to define all settings, just those you need to change).

Note

The $cfg['Servers'] array starts with $cfg[‘Servers’][1]. Do not use $cfg[‘Servers’][0]. If you want more than one server, just copy following section (including $i increment) several times. There is no need to define full server array, just define values you need to change.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host']?
Type

string

Default value

'localhost'

The hostname or IP address of your $i-th MySQL-server. E.g. localhost.

Possible values are:

  • hostname, e.g., 'localhost' or 'mydb.example.org'

  • IP address, e.g., '127.0.0.1' or '192.168.10.1'

  • IPv6 address, e.g. 2001:cdba:0000:0000:0000:0000:3257:9652

  • dot - '.', i.e., use named pipes on windows systems

  • empty - '', disables this server

Note

The hostname localhost is handled specially by MySQL and it uses the socket based connection protocol. To use TCP/IP networking, use an IP address or hostname such as 127.0.0.1 or db.example.com. You can configure the path to the socket with $cfg['Servers'][$i]['socket'].

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['port']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The port-number of your $i-th MySQL-server. Default is 3306 (leave blank).

Note

If you use localhost as the hostname, MySQL ignores this port number and connects with the socket, so if you want to connect to a port different from the default port, use 127.0.0.1 or the real hostname in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'].

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['socket']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The path to the socket to use. Leave blank for default. To determine the correct socket, check your MySQL configuration or, using the mysql command–line client, issue the status command. Among the resulting information displayed will be the socket used.

Note

This takes effect only if $cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] is set to localhost.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Whether to enable SSL for the connection between phpMyAdmin and the MySQL server to secure the connection.

When using the 'mysql' extension, none of the remaining 'ssl...' configuration options apply.

We strongly recommend the 'mysqli' extension when using this option.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_key']?
Type

string

Default value

NULL

Path to the client key file when using SSL for connecting to the MySQL server. This is used to authenticate the client to the server.

For example:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_key'] = '/etc/mysql/server-key.pem';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_cert']?
Type

string

Default value

NULL

Path to the client certificate file when using SSL for connecting to the MySQL server. This is used to authenticate the client to the server.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_ca']?
Type

string

Default value

NULL

Path to the CA file when using SSL for connecting to the MySQL server.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_ca_path']?
Type

string

Default value

NULL

Directory containing trusted SSL CA certificates in PEM format.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_ciphers']?
Type

string

Default value

NULL

List of allowable ciphers for SSL connections to the MySQL server.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_verify']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

New in version 4.6.0: This is supported since phpMyAdmin 4.6.0.

If your PHP install uses the MySQL Native Driver (mysqlnd), your MySQL server is 5.6 or later, and your SSL certificate is self-signed, there is a chance your SSL connection will fail due to validation. Setting this to false will disable the validation check.

Since PHP 5.6.0 it also verifies whether server name matches CN of its certificate. There is currently no way to disable just this check without disabling complete SSL verification.

Warning

Disabling the certificate verification defeats purpose of using SSL. This will make the connection vulnerable to man in the middle attacks.

Note

This flag only works with PHP 5.6.16 or later.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['connect_type']?
Type

string

Default value

'tcp'

Deprecated since version 4.7.0: This setting is no longer used as of 4.7.0, since MySQL decides the connection type based on host, so it could lead to unexpected results. Please set $cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] accordingly instead.

What type connection to use with the MySQL server. Your options are 'socket' and 'tcp'. It defaults to tcp as that is nearly guaranteed to be available on all MySQL servers, while sockets are not supported on some platforms. To use the socket mode, your MySQL server must be on the same machine as the Web server.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['compress']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Whether to use a compressed protocol for the MySQL server connection or not (experimental).

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlhost']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Permits to use an alternate host to hold the configuration storage data.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlport']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Permits to use an alternate port to connect to the host that holds the configuration storage.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser']?
Type

string

Default value

''

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass']?
Type

string

Default value

''

This special account is used to access phpMyAdmin configuration storage. You don’t need it in single user case, but if phpMyAdmin is shared it is recommended to give access to phpMyAdmin configuration storage only to this user and configure phpMyAdmin to use it. All users will then be able to use the features without need to have direct access to phpMyAdmin configuration storage.

Changed in version 2.2.5: those were called stduser and stdpass

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['control_*']?
Type

mixed

New in version 4.7.0.

You can change any MySQL connection setting for control link (used to access phpMyAdmin configuration storage) using configuration prefixed with control_.

This can be used to change any aspect of the control connection, which by default uses same parameters as the user one.

For example you can configure SSL for the control connection:

// Enable SSL
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['control_ssl'] = true;
// Client secret key
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['control_ssl_key'] = '../client-key.pem';
// Client certificate
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['control_ssl_cert'] = '../client-cert.pem';
// Server certification authority
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['control_ssl_ca'] = '../server-ca.pem';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type']?
Type

string

Default value

'cookie'

Whether config or cookie or HTTP or signon authentication should be used for this server.

  • ‘config’ authentication ($auth_type = 'config') is the plain old way: username and password are stored in config.inc.php.

  • ‘cookie’ authentication mode ($auth_type = 'cookie') allows you to log in as any valid MySQL user with the help of cookies.

  • ‘http’ authentication allows you to log in as any valid MySQL user via HTTP-Auth.

  • ‘signon’ authentication mode ($auth_type = 'signon') allows you to log in from prepared PHP session data or using supplied PHP script.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_http_realm']?
Type

string

Default value

''

When using auth_type = http, this field allows to define a custom HTTP Basic Auth Realm which will be displayed to the user. If not explicitly specified in your configuration, a string combined of “phpMyAdmin ” and either $cfg['Servers'][$i]['verbose'] or $cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] will be used.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_swekey_config']?
Type

string

Default value

''

New in version 3.0.0.0: This setting was named $cfg[‘Servers’][$i][‘auth_feebee_config’] and was renamed before the 3.0.0.0 release.

Deprecated since version 4.6.4: This setting was removed because their servers are no longer working and it was not working correctly.

Deprecated since version 4.0.10.17: This setting was removed in a maintenance release because their servers are no longer working and it was not working correctly.

The name of the file containing swekey ids and login names for hardware authentication. Leave empty to deactivate this feature.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user']?
Type

string

Default value

'root'

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password']?
Type

string

Default value

''

When using $cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] set to ‘config’, this is the user/password-pair which phpMyAdmin will use to connect to the MySQL server. This user/password pair is not needed when HTTP or cookie authentication is used and should be empty.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['nopassword']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Deprecated since version 4.7.0: This setting was removed as it can produce unexpected results.

Allow attempt to log in without password when a login with password fails. This can be used together with http authentication, when authentication is done some other way and phpMyAdmin gets user name from auth and uses empty password for connecting to MySQL. Password login is still tried first, but as fallback, no password method is tried.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['only_db']?
Type

string or array

Default value

''

If set to a (an array of) database name(s), only this (these) database(s) will be shown to the user. Since phpMyAdmin 2.2.1, this/these database(s) name(s) may contain MySQL wildcards characters (“_” and “%”): if you want to use literal instances of these characters, escape them (I.E. use 'my\_db' and not 'my_db').

This setting is an efficient way to lower the server load since the latter does not need to send MySQL requests to build the available database list. But it does not replace the privileges rules of the MySQL database server. If set, it just means only these databases will be displayed but not that all other databases can’t be used.

An example of using more that one database:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['only_db'] = ['db1', 'db2'];

Changed in version 4.0.0: Previous versions permitted to specify the display order of the database names via this directive.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['hide_db']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Regular expression for hiding some databases from unprivileged users. This only hides them from listing, but a user is still able to access them (using, for example, the SQL query area). To limit access, use the MySQL privilege system. For example, to hide all databases starting with the letter “a”, use

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['hide_db'] = '^a';

and to hide both “db1” and “db2” use

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['hide_db'] = '^(db1|db2)$';

More information on regular expressions can be found in the PCRE pattern syntax portion of the PHP reference manual.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['verbose']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Only useful when using phpMyAdmin with multiple server entries. If set, this string will be displayed instead of the hostname in the pull-down menu on the main page. This can be useful if you want to show only certain databases on your system, for example. For HTTP auth, all non-US-ASCII characters will be stripped.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['extension']?
Type

string

Default value

'mysqli'

Deprecated since version 4.2.0: This setting was removed. The mysql extension will only be used when the mysqli extension is not available. As of 5.0.0, only the mysqli extension can be used.

The PHP MySQL extension to use (mysql or mysqli).

It is recommended to use mysqli in all installations.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The name of the database containing the phpMyAdmin configuration storage.

See the phpMyAdmin configuration storage section in this document to see the benefits of this feature, and for a quick way of creating this database and the needed tables.

If you are the only user of this phpMyAdmin installation, you can use your current database to store those special tables; in this case, just put your current database name in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb']. For a multi-user installation, set this parameter to the name of your central database containing the phpMyAdmin configuration storage.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 2.2.0.

Since release 2.2.0 phpMyAdmin allows users to bookmark queries. This can be useful for queries you often run. To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 2.2.4.

Since release 2.2.4 you can describe, in a special ‘relation’ table, which column is a key in another table (a foreign key). phpMyAdmin currently uses this to:

The keys can be numeric or character.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

  • set up $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] and the phpMyAdmin configuration storage

  • put the relation table name in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation']

  • now as normal user open phpMyAdmin and for each one of your tables where you want to use this feature, click Structure/Relation view/ and choose foreign columns.

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

Note

In the current version, master_db must be the same as foreign_db. Those columns have been put in future development of the cross-db relations.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 2.3.0.

Since release 2.3.0 you can describe, in a special ‘table_info’ table, which column is to be displayed as a tool-tip when moving the cursor over the corresponding key. This configuration variable will hold the name of this special table. To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

The designer feature can save your page layout; by pressing the “Save page” or “Save page as” button in the expanding designer menu, you can customize the layout and have it loaded the next time you use the designer. That layout is stored in this table. Furthermore, this table is also required for using the PDF relation export feature, see $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] for additional details.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 2.3.0.

Since release 2.3.0 you can have phpMyAdmin create PDF pages showing the relations between your tables. Further, the designer interface permits visually managing the relations. To do this it needs two tables “pdf_pages” (storing information about the available PDF pages) and “table_coords” (storing coordinates where each table will be placed on a PDF schema output). You must be using the “relation” feature.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting either of the configurations to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_coords']?
Type

string

Default value

''

New in version 2.10.0: Since release 2.10.0 a Designer interface is available; it permits to visually manage the relations.

Deprecated since version 4.3.0: This setting was removed and the Designer table positioning data is now stored into $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'].

Note

You can now delete the table pma__designer_coords from your phpMyAdmin configuration storage database and remove $cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_coords'] from your configuration file.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 2.3.0.

This part requires a content update! Since release 2.3.0 you can store comments to describe each column for each table. These will then be shown on the “printview”.

Starting with release 2.5.0, comments are consequently used on the table property pages and table browse view, showing up as tool-tips above the column name (properties page) or embedded within the header of table in browse view. They can also be shown in a table dump. Please see the relevant configuration directives later on.

Also new in release 2.5.0 is a MIME- transformation system which is also based on the following table structure. See Transformations for further information. To use the MIME- transformation system, your column_info table has to have the three new columns ‘mimetype’, ‘transformation’, ‘transformation_options’.

Starting with release 4.3.0, a new input-oriented transformation system has been introduced. Also, backward compatibility code used in the old transformations system was removed. As a result, an update to column_info table is necessary for previous transformations and the new input-oriented transformation system to work. phpMyAdmin will upgrade it automatically for you by analyzing your current column_info table structure. However, if something goes wrong with the auto-upgrade then you can use the SQL script found in ./sql/upgrade_column_info_4_3_0+.sql to upgrade it manually.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

  • set up $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] and the phpMyAdmin configuration storage

  • put the table name in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] (e.g. pma__column_info)

  • to update your PRE-2.5.0 Column_comments table use this: and remember that the Variable in config.inc.php has been renamed from $cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_comments'] to $cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info']

    ALTER TABLE `pma__column_comments`
ADD `mimetype` VARCHAR( 255 ) NOT NULL,
ADD `transformation` VARCHAR( 255 ) NOT NULL,
ADD `transformation_options` VARCHAR( 255 ) NOT NULL;

  • to update your PRE-4.3.0 Column_info table manually use this ./sql/upgrade_column_info_4_3_0+.sql SQL script.

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

Note

For auto-upgrade functionality to work, your $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser'] must have ALTER privilege on phpmyadmin database. See the MySQL documentation for GRANT on how to GRANT privileges to a user.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['history']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 2.5.0.

Since release 2.5.0 you can store your SQL history, which means all queries you entered manually into the phpMyAdmin interface. If you don’t want to use a table-based history, you can use the JavaScript-based history.

Using that, all your history items are deleted when closing the window. Using $cfg['QueryHistoryMax'] you can specify an amount of history items you want to have on hold. On every login, this list gets cut to the maximum amount.

The query history is only available if JavaScript is enabled in your browser.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['recent']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 3.5.0.

Since release 3.5.0 you can show recently used tables in the navigation panel. It helps you to jump across table directly, without the need to select the database, and then select the table. Using $cfg['NumRecentTables'] you can configure the maximum number of recent tables shown. When you select a table from the list, it will jump to the page specified in $cfg['NavigationTreeDefaultTabTable'].

Without configuring the storage, you can still access the recently used tables, but it will disappear after you logout.

To allow the usage of this functionality persistently:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['favorite']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 4.2.0.

Since release 4.2.0 you can show a list of selected tables in the navigation panel. It helps you to jump to the table directly, without the need to select the database, and then select the table. When you select a table from the list, it will jump to the page specified in $cfg['NavigationTreeDefaultTabTable'].

You can add tables to this list or remove tables from it in database structure page by clicking on the star icons next to table names. Using $cfg['NumFavoriteTables'] you can configure the maximum number of favorite tables shown.

Without configuring the storage, you can still access the favorite tables, but it will disappear after you logout.

To allow the usage of this functionality persistently:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_uiprefs']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 3.5.0.

Since release 3.5.0 phpMyAdmin can be configured to remember several things (sorted column $cfg['RememberSorting'], column order, and column visibility from a database table) for browsing tables. Without configuring the storage, these features still can be used, but the values will disappear after you logout.

To allow the usage of these functionality persistently:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['users']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

The table used by phpMyAdmin to store user name information for associating with user groups. See the next entry on $cfg['Servers'][$i]['usergroups'] for more details and the suggested settings.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['usergroups']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 4.1.0.

Since release 4.1.0 you can create different user groups with menu items attached to them. Users can be assigned to these groups and the logged in user would only see menu items configured to the usergroup they are assigned to. To do this it needs two tables “usergroups” (storing allowed menu items for each user group) and “users” (storing users and their assignments to user groups).

To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting either of the configurations to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['navigationhiding']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 4.1.0.

Since release 4.1.0 you can hide/show items in the navigation tree.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['central_columns']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 4.3.0.

Since release 4.3.0 you can have a central list of columns per database. You can add/remove columns to the list as per your requirement. These columns in the central list will be available to use while you create a new column for a table or create a table itself. You can select a column from central list while creating a new column, it will save you from writing the same column definition over again or from writing different names for similar column.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_settings']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 4.5.0.

Since release 4.5.0 your designer settings can be remembered. Your choice regarding ‘Angular/Direct Links’, ‘Snap to Grid’, ‘Toggle Relation Lines’, ‘Small/Big All’, ‘Move Menu’ and ‘Pin Text’ can be remembered persistently.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['savedsearches']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 4.2.0.

Since release 4.2.0 you can save and load query-by-example searches from the Database > Query panel.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['export_templates']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 4.5.0.

Since release 4.5.0 you can save and load export templates.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 3.3.x.

Since release 3.3.x a tracking mechanism is available. It helps you to track every SQL command which is executed by phpMyAdmin. The mechanism supports logging of data manipulation and data definition statements. After enabling it you can create versions of tables.

The creation of a version has two effects:

  • phpMyAdmin saves a snapshot of the table, including structure and indexes.

  • phpMyAdmin logs all commands which change the structure and/or data of the table and links these commands with the version number.

Of course you can view the tracked changes. On the Tracking page a complete report is available for every version. For the report you can use filters, for example you can get a list of statements within a date range. When you want to filter usernames you can enter * for all names or you enter a list of names separated by ‘,’. In addition you can export the (filtered) report to a file or to a temporary database.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking_version_auto_create']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Whether the tracking mechanism creates versions for tables and views automatically.

If this is set to true and you create a table or view with

  • CREATE TABLE …

  • CREATE VIEW …

and no version exists for it, the mechanism will create a version for you automatically.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking_default_statements']?
Type

string

Default value

'CREATE TABLE,ALTER TABLE,DROP TABLE,RENAME TABLE,CREATE INDEX,DROP INDEX,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,TRUNCATE,REPLACE,CREATE VIEW,ALTER VIEW,DROP VIEW,CREATE DATABASE,ALTER DATABASE,DROP DATABASE'

Defines the list of statements the auto-creation uses for new versions.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking_add_drop_view']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether a DROP VIEW IF EXISTS statement will be added as first line to the log when creating a view.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking_add_drop_table']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether a DROP TABLE IF EXISTS statement will be added as first line to the log when creating a table.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking_add_drop_database']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether a DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS statement will be added as first line to the log when creating a database.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['userconfig']?
Type

string or false

Default value

''

New in version 3.4.x.

Since release 3.4.x phpMyAdmin allows users to set most preferences by themselves and store them in the database.

If you don’t allow for storing preferences in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'], users can still personalize phpMyAdmin, but settings will be saved in browser’s local storage, or, it is is unavailable, until the end of session.

To allow the usage of this functionality:

This feature can be disabled by setting the configuration to false.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['MaxTableUiprefs']?
Type

integer

Default value

100

Maximum number of rows saved in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_uiprefs'] table.

When tables are dropped or renamed, $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_uiprefs'] may contain invalid data (referring to tables which no longer exist). We only keep this number of newest rows in $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_uiprefs'] and automatically delete older rows.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['SessionTimeZone']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Sets the time zone used by phpMyAdmin. Leave blank to use the time zone of your database server. Possible values are explained at https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/time-zone-support.html

This is useful when your database server uses a time zone which is different from the time zone you want to use in phpMyAdmin.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowRoot']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to allow root access. This is just a shortcut for the $cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['rules'] below.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPassword']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Whether to allow logins without a password. The default value of false for this parameter prevents unintended access to a MySQL server with was left with an empty password for root or on which an anonymous (blank) user is defined.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['order']?
Type

string

Default value

''

If your rule order is empty, then IP authorization is disabled.

If your rule order is set to 'deny,allow' then the system applies all deny rules followed by allow rules. Access is allowed by default. Any client which does not match a Deny command or does match an Allow command will be allowed access to the server.

If your rule order is set to 'allow,deny' then the system applies all allow rules followed by deny rules. Access is denied by default. Any client which does not match an Allow directive or does match a Deny directive will be denied access to the server.

If your rule order is set to 'explicit', authorization is performed in a similar fashion to rule order ‘deny,allow’, with the added restriction that your host/username combination must be listed in the allow rules, and not listed in the deny rules. This is the most secure means of using Allow/Deny rules, and was available in Apache by specifying allow and deny rules without setting any order.

Please also see $cfg['TrustedProxies'] for detecting IP address behind proxies.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['rules']?
Type

array of strings

Default value

array()

The general format for the rules is as such:

<'allow' | 'deny'> <username> [from] <ipmask>

If you wish to match all users, it is possible to use a '%' as a wildcard in the username field.

There are a few shortcuts you can use in the ipmask field as well (please note that those containing SERVER_ADDRESS might not be available on all webservers):

'all' -> 0.0.0.0/0
'localhost' -> 127.0.0.1/8
'localnetA' -> SERVER_ADDRESS/8
'localnetB' -> SERVER_ADDRESS/16
'localnetC' -> SERVER_ADDRESS/24

Having an empty rule list is equivalent to either using 'allow % from all' if your rule order is set to 'deny,allow' or 'deny % from all' if your rule order is set to 'allow,deny' or 'explicit'.

For the IP Address matching system, the following work:

  • xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (an exact IP Address)

  • xxx.xxx.xxx.[yyy-zzz] (an IP Address range)

  • xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/nn (CIDR, Classless Inter-Domain Routing type IP addresses)

But the following does not work:

  • xxx.xxx.xxx.xx[yyy-zzz] (partial IP address range)

For IPv6 addresses, the following work:

  • xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx (an exact IPv6 address)

  • xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:[yyyy-zzzz] (an IPv6 address range)

  • xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx/nn (CIDR, Classless Inter-Domain Routing type IPv6 addresses)

But the following does not work:

  • xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xx[yyy-zzz] (partial IPv6 address range)

Examples:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['order'] = 'allow,deny';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['rules'] = ['allow bob from all'];
// Allow only 'bob' to connect from any host

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['order'] = 'allow,deny';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['rules'] = ['allow mary from 192.168.100.[50-100]'];
// Allow only 'mary' to connect from host 192.168.100.50 through 192.168.100.100

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['order'] = 'allow,deny';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['rules'] = ['allow % from 192.168.[5-6].10'];
// Allow any user to connect from host 192.168.5.10 or 192.168.6.10

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['order'] = 'allow,deny';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['rules'] = ['allow root from 192.168.5.50','allow % from 192.168.6.10'];
// Allow any user to connect from 192.168.6.10, and additionally allow root to connect from 192.168.5.50
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['DisableIS']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Disable using INFORMATION_SCHEMA to retrieve information (use SHOW commands instead), because of speed issues when many databases are present.

Note

Enabling this option might give you a big performance boost on older MySQL servers.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['SignonScript']?
Type

string

Default value

''

New in version 3.5.0.

Name of PHP script to be sourced and executed to obtain login credentials. This is alternative approach to session based single signon. The script has to provide a function called get_login_credentials which returns list of username and password, accepting single parameter of existing username (can be empty). See examples/signon-script.php for an example:

<?php
/**
 * Single signon for phpMyAdmin
 *
 * This is just example how to use script based single signon with
 * phpMyAdmin, it is not intended to be perfect code and look, only
 * shows how you can integrate this functionality in your application.
 */

declare(strict_types=1);

// phpcs:disable Squiz.Functions.GlobalFunction

/**
 * This function returns username and password.
 *
 * It can optionally use configured username as parameter.
 *
 * @param string $user User name
 *
 * @return array
 */
function get_login_credentials($user)
{
    /* Optionally we can use passed username */
    if (! empty($user)) {
        return [
            $user,
            'password',
        ];
    }

    /* Here we would retrieve the credentials */
    return [
        'root',
        '',
    ];
}
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['SignonSession']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Name of session which will be used for signon authentication method. You should use something different than phpMyAdmin, because this is session which phpMyAdmin uses internally. Takes effect only if $cfg['Servers'][$i]['SignonScript'] is not configured.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['SignonCookieParams']?
Type

array

Default value

array()

New in version 4.7.0.

An associative array of session cookie parameters of other authentication system. It is not needed if the other system doesn’t use session_set_cookie_params(). Keys should include ‘lifetime’, ‘path’, ‘domain’, ‘secure’ or ‘httponly’. Valid values are mentioned in session_get_cookie_params, they should be set to same values as the other application uses. Takes effect only if $cfg['Servers'][$i]['SignonScript'] is not configured.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['SignonURL']?
Type

string

Default value

''

URL where user will be redirected to log in for signon authentication method. Should be absolute including protocol.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['LogoutURL']?
Type

string

Default value

''

URL where user will be redirected after logout (doesn’t affect config authentication method). Should be absolute including protocol.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['hide_connection_errors']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

New in version 4.9.8.

Whether to show or hide detailed MySQL/MariaDB connection errors on the login page.

Note

This error message can contain the target database server hostname or IP address, which may reveal information about your network to an attacker.

Generic settings?

$cfg['DisableShortcutKeys']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

You can disable phpMyAdmin shortcut keys by setting $cfg['DisableShortcutKeys'] to false.

$cfg['ServerDefault']?
Type

integer

Default value

1

If you have more than one server configured, you can set $cfg['ServerDefault'] to any one of them to autoconnect to that server when phpMyAdmin is started, or set it to 0 to be given a list of servers without logging in.

If you have only one server configured, $cfg['ServerDefault'] MUST be set to that server.

$cfg['VersionCheck']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Enables check for latest versions using JavaScript on the main phpMyAdmin page or by directly accessing index.php?route=/version-check.

Note

This setting can be adjusted by your vendor.

$cfg['ProxyUrl']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The url of the proxy to be used when phpmyadmin needs to access the outside internet such as when retrieving the latest version info or submitting error reports. You need this if the server where phpMyAdmin is installed does not have direct access to the internet. The format is: “hostname:portnumber”

$cfg['ProxyUser']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The username for authenticating with the proxy. By default, no authentication is performed. If a username is supplied, Basic Authentication will be performed. No other types of authentication are currently supported.

$cfg['ProxyPass']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The password for authenticating with the proxy.

$cfg['MaxDbList']?
Type

integer

Default value

100

The maximum number of database names to be displayed in the main panel’s database list.

$cfg['MaxTableList']?
Type

integer

Default value

250

The maximum number of table names to be displayed in the main panel’s list (except on the Export page).

$cfg['ShowHint']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether or not to show hints (for example, hints when hovering over table headers).

$cfg['MaxCharactersInDisplayedSQL']?
Type

integer

Default value

1000

The maximum number of characters when a SQL query is displayed. The default limit of 1000 should be correct to avoid the display of tons of hexadecimal codes that represent BLOBs, but some users have real SQL queries that are longer than 1000 characters. Also, if a query’s length exceeds this limit, this query is not saved in the history.

$cfg['PersistentConnections']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Whether persistent connections should be used or not.

$cfg['ForceSSL']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Deprecated since version 4.6.0: This setting is no longer available since phpMyAdmin 4.6.0. Please adjust your webserver instead.

Whether to force using https while accessing phpMyAdmin. In a reverse proxy setup, setting this to true is not supported.

Note

In some setups (like separate SSL proxy or load balancer) you might have to set $cfg['PmaAbsoluteUri'] for correct redirection.

$cfg['MysqlSslWarningSafeHosts']?
Type

array

Default value

['127.0.0.1', 'localhost']

This search is case-sensitive and will match the exact string only. If your setup does not use SSL but is safe because you are using a local connection or private network, you can add your hostname or IP to the list. You can also remove the default entries to only include yours.

This check uses the value of $cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'].

New in version 5.1.0.

Example configuration

$cfg['MysqlSslWarningSafeHosts'] = ['127.0.0.1', 'localhost', 'mariadb.local'];
$cfg['ExecTimeLimit']?
Type

integer [number of seconds]

Default value

300

Set the number of seconds a script is allowed to run. If seconds is set to zero, no time limit is imposed. This setting is used while importing/exporting dump files but has no effect when PHP is running in safe mode.

$cfg['SessionSavePath']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Path for storing session data (session_save_path PHP parameter).

Warning

This folder should not be publicly accessible through the webserver, otherwise you risk leaking private data from your session.

$cfg['MemoryLimit']?
Type

string [number of bytes]

Default value

'-1'

Set the number of bytes a script is allowed to allocate. If set to '-1', no limit is imposed. If set to '0', no change of the memory limit is attempted and the php.ini memory_limit is used.

This setting is used while importing/exporting dump files so you definitely don’t want to put here a too low value. It has no effect when PHP is running in safe mode.

You can also use any string as in php.ini, eg. ‘16M’. Ensure you don’t omit the suffix (16 means 16 bytes!)

$cfg['SkipLockedTables']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Mark used tables and make it possible to show databases with locked tables (since MySQL 3.23.30).

$cfg['ShowSQL']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether SQL queries generated by phpMyAdmin should be displayed or not.

$cfg['RetainQueryBox']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Defines whether the SQL query box should be kept displayed after its submission.

$cfg['CodemirrorEnable']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether to use a Javascript code editor for SQL query boxes. CodeMirror provides syntax highlighting and line numbers. However, middle-clicking for pasting the clipboard contents in some Linux distributions (such as Ubuntu) is not supported by all browsers.

$cfg['DefaultForeignKeyChecks']?
Type

string

Default value

'default'

Default value of the checkbox for foreign key checks, to disable/enable foreign key checks for certain queries. The possible values are 'default', 'enable' or 'disable'. If set to 'default', the value of the MySQL variable FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS is used.

$cfg['AllowUserDropDatabase']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Warning

This is not a security measure as there will be always ways to circumvent this. If you want to prohibit users from dropping databases, revoke their corresponding DROP privilege.

Defines whether normal users (non-administrator) are allowed to delete their own database or not. If set as false, the link Drop Database will not be shown, and even a DROP DATABASE mydatabase will be rejected. Quite practical for ISP ‘s with many customers.

This limitation of SQL queries is not as strict as when using MySQL privileges. This is due to nature of SQL queries which might be quite complicated. So this choice should be viewed as help to avoid accidental dropping rather than strict privilege limitation.

$cfg['Confirm']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether a warning (“Are your really sure…”) should be displayed when you’re about to lose data.

$cfg['UseDbSearch']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Define whether the “search string inside database” is enabled or not.

$cfg['IgnoreMultiSubmitErrors']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Define whether phpMyAdmin will continue executing a multi-query statement if one of the queries fails. Default is to abort execution.

$cfg['enable_drag_drop_import']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether or not the drag and drop import feature is enabled. When enabled, a user can drag a file in to their browser and phpMyAdmin will attempt to import the file.

$cfg['URLQueryEncryption']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

New in version 4.9.8.

Define whether phpMyAdmin will encrypt sensitive data (like database name and table name) from the URL query string. Default is to not encrypt the URL query string.

$cfg['URLQueryEncryptionSecretKey']?
Type

string

Default value

''

New in version 4.9.8.

A secret key used to encrypt/decrypt the URL query string. Should be 32 bytes long.

Cookie authentication options?

$cfg['blowfish_secret']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The “cookie” auth_type uses the Sodium extension to encrypt the cookies (see Cookie). If you are using the “cookie” auth_type, enter here a generated string of random bytes to be used as an encryption key. It will be used internally by the Sodium extension: you won’t be prompted for this encryption key.

Since a binary string is usually not printable, it can be converted into a hexadecimal representation (using a function like sodium_bin2hex) and then used in the configuration file. For example:

// The string is a hexadecimal representation of a 32-bytes long string of random bytes.
$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = sodium_hex2bin('f16ce59f45714194371b48fe362072dc3b019da7861558cd4ad29e4d6fb13851');

Using a binary string is recommended. However, if all 32 bytes of the string are visible characters, then a function like sodium_bin2hex is not required. For example:

// A string of 32 characters.
$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = 'JOFw435365IScA&Q!cDugr!lSfuAz*OW';

Warning

The encryption key must be 32 bytes long. If it is longer than the length of bytes, only the first 32 bytes will be used, and if it is shorter, a new temporary key will be automatically generated for you. However, this temporary key will only last for the duration of the session.

Note

The configuration is called blowfish_secret for historical reasons as Blowfish algorithm was originally used to do the encryption.

Changed in version 3.1.0: Since version 3.1.0 phpMyAdmin can generate this on the fly, but it makes a bit weaker security as this generated secret is stored in session and furthermore it makes impossible to recall user name from cookie.

Changed in version 5.2.0: Since version 5.2.0, phpMyAdmin uses the sodium_crypto_secretbox and sodium_crypto_secretbox_open PHP functions to encrypt and decrypt cookies, respectively.

$cfg['CookieSameSite']?
Type

string

Default value

'Strict'

New in version 5.1.0.

It sets SameSite attribute of the Set-Cookie HTTP response header. Valid values are:

  • Lax

  • Strict

  • None

See also

rfc6265 bis

$cfg['LoginCookieRecall']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Define whether the previous login should be recalled or not in cookie authentication mode.

This is automatically disabled if you do not have configured $cfg['blowfish_secret'].

$cfg['LoginCookieValidity']?
Type

integer [number of seconds]

Default value

1440

Define how long a login cookie is valid. Please note that php configuration option session.gc_maxlifetime might limit session validity and if the session is lost, the login cookie is also invalidated. So it is a good idea to set session.gc_maxlifetime at least to the same value of $cfg['LoginCookieValidity'].

$cfg['LoginCookieStore']?
Type

integer [number of seconds]

Default value

0

Define how long login cookie should be stored in browser. Default 0 means that it will be kept for existing session. This is recommended for not trusted environments.

$cfg['LoginCookieDeleteAll']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

If enabled (default), logout deletes cookies for all servers, otherwise only for current one. Setting this to false makes it easy to forget to log out from other server, when you are using more of them.

$cfg['AllowArbitraryServer']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

If enabled, allows you to log in to arbitrary servers using cookie authentication.

Note

Please use this carefully, as this may allow users access to MySQL servers behind the firewall where your HTTP server is placed. See also $cfg['ArbitraryServerRegexp'].

$cfg['ArbitraryServerRegexp']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Restricts the MySQL servers to which the user can log in when $cfg['AllowArbitraryServer'] is enabled by matching the IP or the hostname of the MySQL server to the given regular expression. The regular expression must be enclosed with a delimiter character.

It is recommended to include start and end symbols in the regular expression, so that you can avoid partial matches on the string.

Examples:

// Allow connection to three listed servers:
$cfg['ArbitraryServerRegexp'] = '/^(server|another|yetdifferent)$/';

// Allow connection to range of IP addresses:
$cfg['ArbitraryServerRegexp'] = '@^192\.168\.0\.[0-9]{1,}$@';

// Allow connection to server name ending with -mysql:
$cfg['ArbitraryServerRegexp'] = '@^[^:]\-mysql$@';

Note

The whole server name is matched, it can include port as well. Due to way MySQL is permissive in connection parameters, it is possible to use connection strings as `server:3306-mysql`. This can be used to bypass regular expression by the suffix, while connecting to another server.

$cfg['CaptchaMethod']?
Type

string

Default value

'invisible'

Valid values are:

  • 'invisible' Use an invisible captcha checking method;

  • 'checkbox' Use a checkbox to confirm the user is not a robot.

New in version 5.0.3.

$cfg['CaptchaApi']?
Type

string

Default value

'https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js'

New in version 5.1.0.

The URL for the reCaptcha v2 service’s API, either Google’s or a compatible one.

$cfg['CaptchaCsp']?
Type

string

Default value

'https://apis.google.com https://www.google.com/recaptcha/ https://www.gstatic.com/recaptcha/ https://ssl.gstatic.com/'

New in version 5.1.0.

The Content-Security-Policy snippet (URLs from which to allow embedded content) for the reCaptcha v2 service, either Google’s or a compatible one.

$cfg['CaptchaRequestParam']?
Type

string

Default value

'g-recaptcha'

New in version 5.1.0.

The request parameter used for the reCaptcha v2 service.

$cfg['CaptchaResponseParam']?
Type

string

Default value

'g-recaptcha-response'

New in version 5.1.0.

The response parameter used for the reCaptcha v2 service.

$cfg['CaptchaLoginPublicKey']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The public key for the reCaptcha service that can be obtained from the “Admin Console” on https://www.google.com/recaptcha/about/.

reCaptcha will be then used in Cookie authentication mode.

New in version 4.1.0.

$cfg['CaptchaLoginPrivateKey']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The private key for the reCaptcha service that can be obtained from the “Admin Console” on https://www.google.com/recaptcha/about/.

reCaptcha will be then used in Cookie authentication mode.

New in version 4.1.0.

$cfg['CaptchaSiteVerifyURL']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The URL for the reCaptcha service to do siteverify action.

reCaptcha will be then used in Cookie authentication mode.

New in version 5.1.0.

Navigation panel setup?

$cfg['ShowDatabasesNavigationAsTree']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

In the navigation panel, replaces the database tree with a selector

$cfg['FirstLevelNavigationItems']?
Type

integer

Default value

100

The number of first level databases that can be displayed on each page of navigation tree.

$cfg['MaxNavigationItems']?
Type

integer

Default value

50

The number of items (tables, columns, indexes) that can be displayed on each page of the navigation tree.

$cfg['NavigationTreeEnableGrouping']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether to group the databases based on a common prefix in their name $cfg['NavigationTreeDbSeparator'].

$cfg['NavigationTreeDbSeparator']?
Type

string

Default value

'_'

The string used to separate the parts of the database name when showing them in a tree.

$cfg['NavigationTreeTableSeparator']?
Type

string or array

Default value

'__'

Defines a string to be used to nest table spaces. This means if you have tables like first__second__third this will be shown as a three-level hierarchy like: first > second > third. If set to false or empty, the feature is disabled. NOTE: You should not use this separator at the beginning or end of a table name or multiple times after another without any other characters in between.

$cfg['NavigationTreeTableLevel']?
Type

integer

Default value

1

Defines how many sublevels should be displayed when splitting up tables by the above separator.

$cfg['NumRecentTables']?
Type

integer

Default value

10

The maximum number of recently used tables shown in the navigation panel. Set this to 0 (zero) to disable the listing of recent tables.

$cfg['NumFavoriteTables']?
Type

integer

Default value

10

The maximum number of favorite tables shown in the navigation panel. Set this to 0 (zero) to disable the listing of favorite tables.

$cfg['ZeroConf']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Enables Zero Configuration mode in which the user will be offered a choice to create phpMyAdmin configuration storage in the current database or use the existing one, if already present.

This setting has no effect if the phpMyAdmin configuration storage database is properly created and the related configuration directives (such as $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] and so on) are configured.

$cfg['NavigationLinkWithMainPanel']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether or not to link with main panel by highlighting the current database or table.

Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether or not to display the phpMyAdmin logo at the top of the navigation panel.

Type

string

Default value

'index.php'

Enter the URL where the logo in the navigation panel will point to. For use especially with self made theme which changes this. For relative/internal URLs, you need to have leading `` ./ `` or trailing characters `` ? `` such as './index.php?route=/server/sql?'. For external URLs, you should include URL protocol schemes (http or https) with absolute URLs.

You may want to make the link open in a new browser tab, for that you need to use $cfg['NavigationLogoLinkWindow']

$cfg['NavigationLogoLinkWindow']?
Type

string

Default value

'main'

Whether to open the linked page in the main window (main) or in a new one (new). Note: use new if you are linking to phpmyadmin.net.

To open the link in the main window you will need to add the value of $cfg['NavigationLogoLink'] to $cfg['CSPAllow'] because of the Content Security Policy header.

$cfg['NavigationTreeDisplayItemFilterMinimum']?
Type

integer

Default value

30

Defines the minimum number of items (tables, views, routines and events) to display a JavaScript filter box above the list of items in the navigation tree.

To disable the filter completely some high number can be used (e.g. 9999)

$cfg['NavigationTreeDisplayDbFilterMinimum']?
Type

integer

Default value

30

Defines the minimum number of databases to display a JavaScript filter box above the list of databases in the navigation tree.

To disable the filter completely some high number can be used (e.g. 9999)

$cfg['NavigationDisplayServers']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether or not to display a server choice at the top of the navigation panel.

$cfg['DisplayServersList']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Defines whether to display this server choice as links instead of in a drop-down.

$cfg['NavigationTreeDefaultTabTable']?
Type

string

Default value

'structure'

Defines the tab displayed by default when clicking the small icon next to each table name in the navigation panel. The possible values are the localized equivalent of:

  • structure

  • sql

  • search

  • insert

  • browse

$cfg['NavigationTreeDefaultTabTable2']?
Type

string

Default value

null

Defines the tab displayed by default when clicking the second small icon next to each table name in the navigation panel. The possible values are the localized equivalent of:

  • (empty)

  • structure

  • sql

  • search

  • insert

  • browse

$cfg['NavigationTreeEnableExpansion']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to offer the possibility of tree expansion in the navigation panel.

$cfg['NavigationTreeShowTables']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to show tables under database in the navigation panel.

$cfg['NavigationTreeShowViews']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to show views under database in the navigation panel.

$cfg['NavigationTreeShowFunctions']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to show functions under database in the navigation panel.

$cfg['NavigationTreeShowProcedures']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to show procedures under database in the navigation panel.

$cfg['NavigationTreeShowEvents']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to show events under database in the navigation panel.

$cfg['NavigationWidth']?
Type

integer

Default value

240

Navigation panel width, set to 0 to collapse it by default.

Main panel?

$cfg['ShowStats']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether or not to display space usage and statistics about databases and tables. Note that statistics requires at least MySQL 3.23.3 and that, at this date, MySQL doesn’t return such information for Berkeley DB tables.

$cfg['ShowServerInfo']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether to display detailed server information on main page. You can additionally hide more information by using $cfg['Servers'][$i]['verbose'].

$cfg['ShowPhpInfo']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Defines whether to display the PHP information or not at the starting main (right) frame.

Please note that to block the usage of phpinfo() in scripts, you have to put this in your php.ini:

disable_functions = phpinfo()

Warning

Enabling phpinfo page will leak quite a lot of information about server setup. Is it not recommended to enable this on shared installations.

This might also make easier some remote attacks on your installations, so enable this only when needed.

$cfg['ShowChgPassword']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether to display the Change password link or not at the starting main (right) frame. This setting does not check MySQL commands entered directly.

Please note that enabling the Change password link has no effect with config authentication mode: because of the hard coded password value in the configuration file, end users can’t be allowed to change their passwords.

$cfg['ShowCreateDb']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether to display the form for creating database or not at the starting main (right) frame. This setting does not check MySQL commands entered directly.

$cfg['ShowGitRevision']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether to display information about the current Git revision (if applicable) on the main panel.

$cfg['MysqlMinVersion']?
Type

array

Defines the minimum supported MySQL version. The default is chosen by the phpMyAdmin team; however this directive was asked by a developer of the Plesk control panel to ease integration with older MySQL servers (where most of the phpMyAdmin features work).

Database structure?

$cfg['ShowDbStructureCreation']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Defines whether the database structure page (tables list) has a “Creation” column that displays when each table was created.

$cfg['ShowDbStructureLastUpdate']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Defines whether the database structure page (tables list) has a “Last update” column that displays when each table was last updated.

$cfg['ShowDbStructureLastCheck']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Defines whether the database structure page (tables list) has a “Last check” column that displays when each table was last checked.

$cfg['HideStructureActions']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether the table structure actions are hidden under a “More” drop-down.

$cfg['ShowColumnComments']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether to show column comments as a column in the table structure view.

Browse mode?

$cfg['TableNavigationLinksMode']?
Type

string

Default value

'icons'

Defines whether the table navigation links contain 'icons', 'text' or 'both'.

$cfg['ActionLinksMode']?
Type

string

Default value

'both'

If set to icons, will display icons instead of text for db and table properties links (like Browse, Select, Insert, …). Can be set to 'both' if you want icons AND text. When set to text, will only show text.

$cfg['RowActionType']?
Type

string

Default value

'both'

Whether to display icons or text or both icons and text in table row action segment. Value can be either of 'icons', 'text' or 'both'.

$cfg['ShowAll']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Defines whether a user should be displayed a “Show all” button in browse mode or not in all cases. By default it is shown only on small tables (less than 500 rows) to avoid performance issues while getting too many rows.

$cfg['MaxRows']?
Type

integer

Default value

25

Number of rows displayed when browsing a result set and no LIMIT clause is used. If the result set contains more rows, “Previous” and “Next” links will be shown. Possible values: 25,50,100,250,500.

$cfg['Order']?
Type

string

Default value

'SMART'

Defines whether columns are displayed in ascending (ASC) order, in descending (DESC) order or in a “smart” (SMART) order - I.E. descending order for columns of type TIME, DATE, DATETIME and TIMESTAMP, ascending order else- by default.

Changed in version 3.4.0: Since phpMyAdmin 3.4.0 the default value is 'SMART'.

$cfg['GridEditing']?
Type

string

Default value

'double-click'

Defines which action (double-click or click) triggers grid editing. Can be deactivated with the disabled value.

$cfg['RelationalDisplay']?
Type

string

Default value

'K'

Defines the initial behavior for Options > Relational. K, which is the default, displays the key while D shows the display column.

$cfg['SaveCellsAtOnce']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Defines whether or not to save all edited cells at once for grid editing.

Editing mode?

$cfg['ProtectBinary']?
Type

boolean or string

Default value

'blob'

Defines whether BLOB or BINARY columns are protected from editing when browsing a table’s content. Valid values are:

  • false to allow editing of all columns;

  • 'blob' to allow editing of all columns except BLOBS;

  • 'noblob' to disallow editing of all columns except BLOBS (the opposite of 'blob');

  • 'all' to disallow editing of all BINARY or BLOB columns.

$cfg['ShowFunctionFields']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether or not MySQL functions fields should be initially displayed in edit/insert mode. Since version 2.10, the user can toggle this setting from the interface.

$cfg['ShowFieldTypesInDataEditView']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether or not type fields should be initially displayed in edit/insert mode. The user can toggle this setting from the interface.

$cfg['InsertRows']?
Type

integer

Default value

2

Defines the default number of rows to be entered from the Insert page. Users can manually change this from the bottom of that page to add or remove blank rows.

$cfg['ForeignKeyMaxLimit']?
Type

integer

Default value

100

If there are fewer items than this in the set of foreign keys, then a drop-down box of foreign keys is presented, in the style described by the $cfg['ForeignKeyDropdownOrder'] setting.

$cfg['ForeignKeyDropdownOrder']?
Type

array

Default value

array(‘content-id’, ‘id-content’)

For the foreign key drop-down fields, there are several methods of display, offering both the key and value data. The contents of the array should be one or both of the following strings: content-id, id-content.

Export and import settings?

$cfg['ZipDump']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

$cfg['GZipDump']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

$cfg['BZipDump']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether to allow the use of zip/GZip/BZip2 compression when creating a dump file

$cfg['CompressOnFly']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether to allow on the fly compression for GZip/BZip2 compressed exports. This doesn’t affect smaller dumps and allows users to create larger dumps that won’t otherwise fit in memory due to php memory limit. Produced files contain more GZip/BZip2 headers, but all normal programs handle this correctly.

$cfg['Export']?
Type

array

Default value

array(…)

In this array are defined default parameters for export, names of items are similar to texts seen on export page, so you can easily identify what they mean.

$cfg['Export']['format']?
Type

string

Default value

'sql'

Default export format.

$cfg['Export']['method']?
Type

string

Default value

'quick'

Defines how the export form is displayed when it loads. Valid values are:

  • quick to display the minimum number of options to configure

  • custom to display every available option to configure

  • custom-no-form same as custom but does not display the option of using quick export

$cfg['Export']['charset']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Defines charset for generated export. By default no charset conversion is done assuming UTF-8.

$cfg['Export']['file_template_table']?
Type

string

Default value

'@TABLE@'

Default filename template for table exports.

$cfg['Export']['file_template_database']?
Type

string

Default value

'@DATABASE@'

Default filename template for database exports.

$cfg['Export']['file_template_server']?
Type

string

Default value

'@SERVER@'

Default filename template for server exports.

$cfg['Export']['remove_definer_from_definitions']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Remove DEFINER clause from the event, view and routine definitions.

New in version 5.2.0.

$cfg['Import']?
Type

array

Default value

array(…)

In this array are defined default parameters for import, names of items are similar to texts seen on import page, so you can easily identify what they mean.

$cfg['Import']['charset']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Defines charset for import. By default no charset conversion is done assuming UTF-8.

Tabs display settings?

$cfg['TabsMode']?
Type

string

Default value

'both'

Defines whether the menu tabs contain 'icons', 'text' or 'both'.

$cfg['PropertiesNumColumns']?
Type

integer

Default value

1

How many columns will be utilized to display the tables on the database property view? When setting this to a value larger than 1, the type of the database will be omitted for more display space.

$cfg['DefaultTabServer']?
Type

string

Default value

'welcome'

Defines the tab displayed by default on server view. The possible values are the localized equivalent of:

  • welcome (recommended for multi-user setups)

  • databases,

  • status

  • variables

  • privileges

$cfg['DefaultTabDatabase']?
Type

string

Default value

'structure'

Defines the tab displayed by default on database view. The possible values are the localized equivalent of:

  • structure

  • sql

  • search

  • operations

$cfg['DefaultTabTable']?
Type

string

Default value

'browse'

Defines the tab displayed by default on table view. The possible values are the localized equivalent of:

  • structure

  • sql

  • search

  • insert

  • browse

PDF Options?

$cfg['PDFPageSizes']?
Type

array

Default value

array('A3', 'A4', 'A5', 'letter', 'legal')

Array of possible paper sizes for creating PDF pages.

You should never need to change this.

$cfg['PDFDefaultPageSize']?
Type

string

Default value

'A4'

Default page size to use when creating PDF pages. Valid values are any listed in $cfg['PDFPageSizes'].

Languages?

$cfg['DefaultLang']?
Type

string

Default value

'en'

Defines the default language to use, if not browser-defined or user- defined. The corresponding language file needs to be in locale/code/LC_MESSAGES/phpmyadmin.mo.

$cfg['DefaultConnectionCollation']?
Type

string

Default value

'utf8mb4_general_ci'

Defines the default connection collation to use, if not user-defined. See the MySQL documentation for charsets for list of possible values.

$cfg['Lang']?
Type

string

Default value

not set

Force language to use. The corresponding language file needs to be in locale/code/LC_MESSAGES/phpmyadmin.mo.

$cfg['FilterLanguages']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Limit list of available languages to those matching the given regular expression. For example if you want only Czech and English, you should set filter to '^(cs|en)'.

$cfg['RecodingEngine']?
Type

string

Default value

'auto'

You can select here which functions will be used for character set conversion. Possible values are:

  • auto - automatically use available one (first is tested iconv, then recode)

  • iconv - use iconv or libiconv functions

  • recode - use recode_string function

  • mb - use mbstring extension

  • none - disable encoding conversion

Enabled charset conversion activates a pull-down menu in the Export and Import pages, to choose the character set when exporting a file. The default value in this menu comes from $cfg['Export']['charset'] and $cfg['Import']['charset'].

$cfg['IconvExtraParams']?
Type

string

Default value

'//TRANSLIT'

Specify some parameters for iconv used in charset conversion. See iconv documentation for details. By default //TRANSLIT is used, so that invalid characters will be transliterated.

$cfg['AvailableCharsets']?
Type

array

Default value

array(…)

Available character sets for MySQL conversion. You can add your own (any of supported by recode/iconv) or remove these which you don’t use. Character sets will be shown in same order as here listed, so if you frequently use some of these move them to the top.

Web server settings?

$cfg['OBGzip']?
Type

string/boolean

Default value

'auto'

Defines whether to use GZip output buffering for increased speed in HTTP transfers. Set to true/false for enabling/disabling. When set to ‘auto’ (string), phpMyAdmin tries to enable output buffering and will automatically disable it if your browser has some problems with buffering. IE6 with a certain patch is known to cause data corruption when having enabled buffering.

$cfg['TrustedProxies']?
Type

array

Default value

array()

Lists proxies and HTTP headers which are trusted for $cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['order']. This list is by default empty, you need to fill in some trusted proxy servers if you want to use rules for IP addresses behind proxy.

The following example specifies that phpMyAdmin should trust a HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR (X-Forwarded-For) header coming from the proxy 1.2.3.4:

$cfg['TrustedProxies'] = ['1.2.3.4' => 'HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];

The $cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['rules'] directive uses the client’s IP address as usual.

$cfg['GD2Available']?
Type

string

Default value

'auto'

Specifies whether GD >= 2 is available. If yes it can be used for MIME transformations. Possible values are:

  • auto - automatically detect

  • yes - GD 2 functions can be used

  • no - GD 2 function cannot be used

$cfg['CheckConfigurationPermissions']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

We normally check the permissions on the configuration file to ensure it’s not world writable. However, phpMyAdmin could be installed on a NTFS filesystem mounted on a non-Windows server, in which case the permissions seems wrong but in fact cannot be detected. In this case a sysadmin would set this parameter to false.

$cfg['LinkLengthLimit']?
Type

integer

Default value

1000

Limit for length of URL in links. When length would be above this limit, it is replaced by form with button. This is required as some web servers (IIS) have problems with long URL .

$cfg['CSPAllow']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Additional string to include in allowed script and image sources in Content Security Policy header.

This can be useful when you want to include some external JavaScript files in config.footer.inc.php or config.header.inc.php, which would be normally not allowed by Content Security Policy.

To allow some sites, just list them within the string:

$cfg['CSPAllow'] = 'example.com example.net';

New in version 4.0.4.

$cfg['DisableMultiTableMaintenance']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

In the database Structure page, it’s possible to mark some tables then choose an operation like optimizing for many tables. This can slow down a server; therefore, setting this to true prevents this kind of multiple maintenance operation.

Theme settings?

Please directly modify themes/themename/scss/_variables.scss, although your changes will be overwritten with the next update.

Design customization?

$cfg['NavigationTreePointerEnable']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

When set to true, hovering over an item in the navigation panel causes that item to be marked (the background is highlighted).

$cfg['BrowsePointerEnable']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

When set to true, hovering over a row in the Browse page causes that row to be marked (the background is highlighted).

$cfg['BrowseMarkerEnable']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

When set to true, a data row is marked (the background is highlighted) when the row is selected with the checkbox.

$cfg['LimitChars']?
Type

integer

Default value

50

Maximum number of characters shown in any non-numeric field on browse view. Can be turned off by a toggle button on the browse page.

Type

string

Default value

'left'

Defines the place where table row links (Edit, Copy, Delete) would be put when tables contents are displayed (you may have them displayed at the left side, right side, both sides or nowhere).

$cfg['RowActionLinksWithoutUnique']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Defines whether to show row links (Edit, Copy, Delete) and checkboxes for multiple row operations even when the selection does not have a unique key. Using row actions in the absence of a unique key may result in different/more rows being affected since there is no guaranteed way to select the exact row(s).

$cfg['RememberSorting']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

If enabled, remember the sorting of each table when browsing them.

$cfg['TablePrimaryKeyOrder']?
Type

string

Default value

'NONE'

This defines the default sort order for the tables, having a primary key, when there is no sort order defines externally. Acceptable values : [‘NONE’, ‘ASC’, ‘DESC’]

$cfg['ShowBrowseComments']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

$cfg['ShowPropertyComments']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

By setting the corresponding variable to true you can enable the display of column comments in Browse or Property display. In browse mode, the comments are shown inside the header. In property mode, comments are displayed using a CSS-formatted dashed-line below the name of the column. The comment is shown as a tool-tip for that column.

$cfg['FirstDayOfCalendar']?
Type

integer

Default value

0

This will define the first day of week in the calendar. The number can be set from 0 to 6, which represents the seven days of the week, Sunday to Saturday respectively. This value can also be configured by the user in Settings -> Features -> General -> First day of calendar field.

Text fields?

$cfg['CharEditing']?
Type

string

Default value

'input'

Defines which type of editing controls should be used for CHAR and VARCHAR columns. Applies to data editing and also to the default values in structure editing. Possible values are:

  • input - this allows to limit size of text to size of columns in MySQL, but has problems with newlines in columns

  • textarea - no problems with newlines in columns, but also no length limitations

$cfg['MinSizeForInputField']?
Type

integer

Default value

4

Defines the minimum size for input fields generated for CHAR and VARCHAR columns.

$cfg['MaxSizeForInputField']?
Type

integer

Default value

60

Defines the maximum size for input fields generated for CHAR and VARCHAR columns.

$cfg['TextareaCols']?
Type

integer

Default value

40

$cfg['TextareaRows']?
Type

integer

Default value

15

$cfg['CharTextareaCols']?
Type

integer

Default value

40

$cfg['CharTextareaRows']?
Type

integer

Default value

7

Number of columns and rows for the textareas. This value will be emphasized (*2) for SQL query textareas and (*1.25) for SQL textareas inside the query window.

The Char* values are used for CHAR and VARCHAR editing (if configured via $cfg['CharEditing']).

Changed in version 5.0.0: The default value was changed from 2 to 7.

$cfg['LongtextDoubleTextarea']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Defines whether textarea for LONGTEXT columns should have double size.

$cfg['TextareaAutoSelect']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Defines if the whole textarea of the query box will be selected on click.

$cfg['EnableAutocompleteForTablesAndColumns']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to enable autocomplete for table and column names in any SQL query box.

SQL query box settings?

$cfg['SQLQuery']['Edit']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to display an edit link to change a query in any SQL Query box.

$cfg['SQLQuery']['Explain']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to display a link to explain a SELECT query in any SQL Query box.

$cfg['SQLQuery']['ShowAsPHP']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to display a link to wrap a query in PHP code in any SQL Query box.

$cfg['SQLQuery']['Refresh']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Whether to display a link to refresh a query in any SQL Query box.

Web server upload/save/import directories?

If PHP is running in safe mode, all directories must be owned by the same user as the owner of the phpMyAdmin scripts.

If the directory where phpMyAdmin is installed is subject to an open_basedir restriction, you need to create a temporary directory in some directory accessible by the PHP interpreter.

For security reasons, all directories should be outside the tree published by webserver. If you cannot avoid having this directory published by webserver, limit access to it either by web server configuration (for example using .htaccess or web.config files) or place at least an empty index.html file there, so that directory listing is not possible. However as long as the directory is accessible by web server, an attacker can guess filenames to download the files.

$cfg['UploadDir']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The name of the directory where SQL files have been uploaded by other means than phpMyAdmin (for example, FTP). Those files are available under a drop-down box when you click the database or table name, then the Import tab.

If you want different directory for each user, %u will be replaced with username.

Please note that the file names must have the suffix “.sql” (or “.sql.bz2” or “.sql.gz” if support for compressed formats is enabled).

This feature is useful when your file is too big to be uploaded via HTTP, or when file uploads are disabled in PHP.

Warning

Please see top of this chapter (Web server upload/save/import directories) for instructions how to setup this directory and how to make its usage secure.

$cfg['SaveDir']?
Type

string

Default value

''

The name of the webserver directory where exported files can be saved.

If you want a different directory for each user, %u will be replaced with the username.

Please note that the directory must exist and has to be writable for the user running webserver.

Warning

Please see top of this chapter (Web server upload/save/import directories) for instructions how to setup this directory and how to make its usage secure.

$cfg['TempDir']?
Type

string

Default value

'./tmp/'

The name of the directory where temporary files can be stored. It is used for several purposes, currently:

This directory should have as strict permissions as possible as the only user required to access this directory is the one who runs the webserver. If you have root privileges, simply make this user owner of this directory and make it accessible only by it:

chown www-data:www-data tmp
chmod 700 tmp

If you cannot change owner of the directory, you can achieve a similar setup using ACL:

chmod 700 tmp
setfacl -m "g:www-data:rwx" tmp
setfacl -d -m "g:www-data:rwx" tmp

If neither of above works for you, you can still make the directory chmod 777, but it might impose risk of other users on system reading and writing data in this directory.

Warning

Please see top of this chapter (Web server upload/save/import directories) for instructions how to setup this directory and how to make its usage secure.

Various display setting?

$cfg['RepeatCells']?
Type

integer

Default value

100

Repeat the headers every X cells, or 0 to deactivate.

$cfg['QueryHistoryDB']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

$cfg['QueryHistoryMax']?
Type

integer

Default value

25

If $cfg['QueryHistoryDB'] is set to true, all your Queries are logged to a table, which has to be created by you (see $cfg['Servers'][$i]['history']). If set to false, all your queries will be appended to the form, but only as long as your window is opened they remain saved.

When using the JavaScript based query window, it will always get updated when you click on a new table/db to browse and will focus if you click on Edit SQL after using a query. You can suppress updating the query window by checking the box Do not overwrite this query from outside the window below the query textarea. Then you can browse tables/databases in the background without losing the contents of the textarea, so this is especially useful when composing a query with tables you first have to look in. The checkbox will get automatically checked whenever you change the contents of the textarea. Please uncheck the button whenever you definitely want the query window to get updated even though you have made alterations.

If $cfg['QueryHistoryDB'] is set to true you can specify the amount of saved history items using $cfg['QueryHistoryMax'].

$cfg['BrowseMIME']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Enable Transformations.

$cfg['MaxExactCount']?
Type

integer

Default value

50000

For InnoDB tables, determines for how large tables phpMyAdmin should get the exact row count using SELECT COUNT. If the approximate row count as returned by SHOW TABLE STATUS is smaller than this value, SELECT COUNT will be used, otherwise the approximate count will be used.

Changed in version 4.8.0: The default value was lowered to 50000 for performance reasons.

Changed in version 4.2.6: The default value was changed to 500000.

$cfg['MaxExactCountViews']?
Type

integer

Default value

0

For VIEWs, since obtaining the exact count could have an impact on performance, this value is the maximum to be displayed, using a SELECT COUNT ... LIMIT. Setting this to 0 bypasses any row counting.

$cfg['NaturalOrder']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Sorts database and table names according to natural order (for example, t1, t2, t10). Currently implemented in the navigation panel and in Database view, for the table list.

$cfg['InitialSlidersState']?
Type

string

Default value

'closed'

If set to 'closed', the visual sliders are initially in a closed state. A value of 'open' does the reverse. To completely disable all visual sliders, use 'disabled'.

$cfg['UserprefsDisallow']?
Type

array

Default value

array()

Contains names of configuration options (keys in $cfg array) that users can’t set through user preferences. For possible values, refer to classes under libraries/classes/Config/Forms/User/.

$cfg['UserprefsDeveloperTab']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

New in version 3.4.0.

Activates in the user preferences a tab containing options for developers of phpMyAdmin.

Page titles?

$cfg['TitleTable']?
Type

string

Default value

'@HTTP_HOST@ / @VSERVER@ / @DATABASE@ / @TABLE@ | @PHPMYADMIN@'

$cfg['TitleDatabase']?
Type

string

Default value

'@HTTP_HOST@ / @VSERVER@ / @DATABASE@ | @PHPMYADMIN@'

$cfg['TitleServer']?
Type

string

Default value

'@HTTP_HOST@ / @VSERVER@ | @PHPMYADMIN@'

$cfg['TitleDefault']?
Type

string

Default value

'@HTTP_HOST@ | @PHPMYADMIN@'

Allows you to specify window’s title bar. You can use 6.27 What format strings can I use?.

Theme manager settings?

$cfg['ThemeManager']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Enables user-selectable themes. See 2.7 Using and creating themes.

$cfg['ThemeDefault']?
Type

string

Default value

'pmahomme'

The default theme (a subdirectory under ./themes/).

$cfg['ThemePerServer']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Whether to allow different theme for each server.

$cfg['FontSize']?
Type

string

Default value

‘82%’

Deprecated since version 5.0.0: This setting was removed as the browser is more efficient, thus no need of this option.

Font size to use, is applied in CSS.

Default queries?

$cfg['DefaultQueryTable']?
Type

string

Default value

'SELECT * FROM @TABLE@ WHERE 1'

$cfg['DefaultQueryDatabase']?
Type

string

Default value

''

Default queries that will be displayed in query boxes when user didn’t specify any. You can use standard 6.27 What format strings can I use?.

MySQL settings?

$cfg['DefaultFunctions']?
Type

array

Default value

array('FUNC_CHAR' => '', 'FUNC_DATE' => '', 'FUNC_NUMBER' => '', 'FUNC_SPATIAL' => 'GeomFromText', 'FUNC_UUID' => 'UUID', 'first_timestamp' => 'NOW')

Functions selected by default when inserting/changing row, Functions are defined for meta types as (FUNC_NUMBER, FUNC_DATE, FUNC_CHAR, FUNC_SPATIAL, FUNC_UUID) and for first_timestamp, which is used for first timestamp column in table.

Example configuration

$cfg['DefaultFunctions'] = [
    'FUNC_CHAR' => '',
    'FUNC_DATE' => '',
    'FUNC_NUMBER' => '',
    'FUNC_SPATIAL' => 'ST_GeomFromText',
    'FUNC_UUID' => 'UUID',
    'first_timestamp' => 'UTC_TIMESTAMP',
];

Default options for Transformations?

$cfg['DefaultTransformations']?
Type

array

Default value

An array with below listed key-values

$cfg['DefaultTransformations']['Substring']?
Type

array

Default value

array(0, ‘all’, ‘…’)

$cfg['DefaultTransformations']['Bool2Text']?
Type

array

Default value

array(‘T’, ‘F’)

$cfg['DefaultTransformations']['External']?
Type

array

Default value

array(0, ‘-f /dev/null -i -wrap -q’, 1, 1)

$cfg['DefaultTransformations']['PreApPend']?
Type

array

Default value

array(‘’, ‘’)

$cfg['DefaultTransformations']['Hex']?
Type

array

Default value

array(‘2’)

$cfg['DefaultTransformations']['DateFormat']?
Type

array

Default value

array(0, ‘’, ‘local’)

$cfg['DefaultTransformations']['Inline']?
Type

array

Default value

array(‘100’, 100)

Type

array

Default value

array(‘’, 100, 50)

Type

array

Default value

array(‘’, ‘’, ‘’)

Console settings?

Note

These settings are mostly meant to be changed by user.

$cfg['Console']['StartHistory']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Show query history at start

$cfg['Console']['AlwaysExpand']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Always expand query messages

$cfg['Console']['CurrentQuery']?
Type

boolean

Default value

true

Show current browsing query

$cfg['Console']['EnterExecutes']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Execute queries on Enter and insert new line with Shift+Enter

$cfg['Console']['DarkTheme']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Switch to dark theme

$cfg['Console']['Mode']?
Type

string

Default value

‘info’

Console mode

$cfg['Console']['Height']?
Type

integer

Default value

92

Console height

Developer?

Warning

These settings might have huge effect on performance or security.

$cfg['environment']?
Type

string

Default value

'production'

Sets the working environment.

This only needs to be changed when you are developing phpMyAdmin itself. The development mode may display debug information in some places.

Possible values are 'production' or 'development'.

$cfg['DBG']?
Type

array

Default value

[]

$cfg['DBG']['sql']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Enable logging queries and execution times to be displayed in the console’s Debug SQL tab.

$cfg['DBG']['sqllog']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Enable logging of queries and execution times to the syslog. Requires $cfg['DBG']['sql'] to be enabled.

$cfg['DBG']['demo']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Enable to let server present itself as demo server. This is used for phpMyAdmin demo server.

It currently changes following behavior:

  • There is welcome message on the main page.

  • There is footer information about demo server and used Git revision.

  • The setup script is enabled even with existing configuration.

  • The setup does not try to connect to the MySQL server.

$cfg['DBG']['simple2fa']?
Type

boolean

Default value

false

Can be used for testing two-factor authentication using Simple two-factor authentication.

Examples?

See following configuration snippets for typical setups of phpMyAdmin.

Basic example?

Example configuration file, which can be copied to config.inc.php to get some core configuration layout; it is distributed with phpMyAdmin as config.sample.inc.php. Please note that it does not contain all configuration options, only the most frequently used ones.

<?php
/**
 * phpMyAdmin sample configuration, you can use it as base for
 * manual configuration. For easier setup you can use setup/
 *
 * All directives are explained in documentation in the doc/ folder
 * or at <https://docs.phpmyadmin.net/>.
 */

declare(strict_types=1);

/**
 * This is needed for cookie based authentication to encrypt the cookie.
 * Needs to be a 32-bytes long string of random bytes. See FAQ 2.10.
 */
$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = ''; /* YOU MUST FILL IN THIS FOR COOKIE AUTH! */

/**
 * Servers configuration
 */
$i = 0;

/**
 * First server
 */
$i++;
/* Authentication type */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';
/* Server parameters */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = 'localhost';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['compress'] = false;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPassword'] = false;

/**
 * phpMyAdmin configuration storage settings.
 */

/* User used to manipulate with storage */
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlhost'] = '';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlport'] = '';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser'] = 'pma';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass'] = 'pmapass';

/* Storage database and tables */
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] = 'phpmyadmin';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable'] = 'pma__bookmark';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation'] = 'pma__relation';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info'] = 'pma__table_info';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] = 'pma__table_coords';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] = 'pma__pdf_pages';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] = 'pma__column_info';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['history'] = 'pma__history';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_uiprefs'] = 'pma__table_uiprefs';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking'] = 'pma__tracking';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['userconfig'] = 'pma__userconfig';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['recent'] = 'pma__recent';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['favorite'] = 'pma__favorite';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['users'] = 'pma__users';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['usergroups'] = 'pma__usergroups';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['navigationhiding'] = 'pma__navigationhiding';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['savedsearches'] = 'pma__savedsearches';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['central_columns'] = 'pma__central_columns';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_settings'] = 'pma__designer_settings';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['export_templates'] = 'pma__export_templates';

/**
 * End of servers configuration
 */

/**
 * Directories for saving/loading files from server
 */
$cfg['UploadDir'] = '';
$cfg['SaveDir'] = '';

/**
 * Whether to display icons or text or both icons and text in table row
 * action segment. Value can be either of 'icons', 'text' or 'both'.
 * default = 'both'
 */
//$cfg['RowActionType'] = 'icons';

/**
 * Defines whether a user should be displayed a "show all (records)"
 * button in browse mode or not.
 * default = false
 */
//$cfg['ShowAll'] = true;

/**
 * Number of rows displayed when browsing a result set. If the result
 * set contains more rows, "Previous" and "Next".
 * Possible values: 25, 50, 100, 250, 500
 * default = 25
 */
//$cfg['MaxRows'] = 50;

/**
 * Disallow editing of binary fields
 * valid values are:
 *   false    allow editing
 *   'blob'   allow editing except for BLOB fields
 *   'noblob' disallow editing except for BLOB fields
 *   'all'    disallow editing
 * default = 'blob'
 */
//$cfg['ProtectBinary'] = false;

/**
 * Default language to use, if not browser-defined or user-defined
 * (you find all languages in the locale folder)
 * uncomment the desired line:
 * default = 'en'
 */
//$cfg['DefaultLang'] = 'en';
//$cfg['DefaultLang'] = 'de';

/**
 * How many columns should be used for table display of a database?
 * (a value larger than 1 results in some information being hidden)
 * default = 1
 */
//$cfg['PropertiesNumColumns'] = 2;

/**
 * Set to true if you want DB-based query history.If false, this utilizes
 * JS-routines to display query history (lost by window close)
 *
 * This requires configuration storage enabled, see above.
 * default = false
 */
//$cfg['QueryHistoryDB'] = true;

/**
 * When using DB-based query history, how many entries should be kept?
 * default = 25
 */
//$cfg['QueryHistoryMax'] = 100;

/**
 * Whether or not to query the user before sending the error report to
 * the phpMyAdmin team when a JavaScript error occurs
 *
 * Available options
 * ('ask' | 'always' | 'never')
 * default = 'ask'
 */
//$cfg['SendErrorReports'] = 'always';

/**
 * 'URLQueryEncryption' defines whether phpMyAdmin will encrypt sensitive data from the URL query string.
 * 'URLQueryEncryptionSecretKey' is a 32 bytes long secret key used to encrypt/decrypt the URL query string.
 */
//$cfg['URLQueryEncryption'] = true;
//$cfg['URLQueryEncryptionSecretKey'] = '';

/**
 * You can find more configuration options in the documentation
 * in the doc/ folder or at <https://docs.phpmyadmin.net/>.
 */

Warning

Don’t use the controluser ‘pma’ if it does not yet exist and don’t use ‘pmapass’ as password.

Example for signon authentication?

This example uses examples/signon.php to demonstrate usage of Signon authentication mode:

<?php
$i = 0;
$i++;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type']     = 'signon';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['SignonSession'] = 'SignonSession';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['SignonURL']     = 'examples/signon.php';

Example for IP address limited autologin?

If you want to automatically login when accessing phpMyAdmin locally while asking for a password when accessing remotely, you can achieve it using following snippet:

if ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] === '127.0.0.1') {
    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'config';
    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root';
    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = 'yourpassword';
} else {
    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';
}

Note

Filtering based on IP addresses isn’t reliable over the internet, use it only for local address.

Example for using multiple MySQL servers?

You can configure any number of servers using $cfg['Servers'], following example shows two of them:

<?php
// The string is a hexadecimal representation of a 32-bytes long string of random bytes.
$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = sodium_hex2bin('f16ce59f45714194371b48fe362072dc3b019da7861558cd4ad29e4d6fb13851');
$i = 0;

$i++; // server 1 :
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['verbose']   = 'no1';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host']      = 'localhost';
// more options for #1 ...

$i++; // server 2 :
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['verbose']   = 'no2';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host']      = 'remote.host.addr';//or ip:'10.9.8.1'
// this server must allow remote clients, e.g., host 10.9.8.%
// not only in mysql.host but also in the startup configuration
// more options for #2 ...

// end of server sections
$cfg['ServerDefault'] = 0; // to choose the server on startup

// further general options ...

Google Cloud SQL with SSL?

To connect to Google Could SQL, you currently need to disable certificate verification. This is caused by the certificate being issued for CN matching your instance name, but you connect to an IP address and PHP tries to match these two. With verification you end up with error message like:

Peer certificate CN=`api-project-851612429544:pmatest' did not match expected CN=`8.8.8.8'

Warning

With disabled verification your traffic is encrypted, but you’re open to man in the middle attacks.

To connect phpMyAdmin to Google Cloud SQL using SSL download the client and server certificates and tell phpMyAdmin to use them:

// IP address of your instance
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = '8.8.8.8';
// Use SSL for connection
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl'] = true;
// Client secret key
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_key'] = '../client-key.pem';
// Client certificate
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_cert'] = '../client-cert.pem';
// Server certification authority
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_ca'] = '../server-ca.pem';
// Disable SSL verification (see above note)
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_verify'] = false;

Amazon RDS Aurora with SSL?

To connect phpMyAdmin to an Amazon RDS Aurora MySQL database instance using SSL, download the CA server certificate and tell phpMyAdmin to use it:

// Address of your instance
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = 'replace-me-cluster-name.cluster-replace-me-id.replace-me-region.rds.amazonaws.com';
// Use SSL for connection
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl'] = true;
// You need to have the region CA file and the authority CA file (2019 edition CA for example) in the PEM bundle for it to work
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_ca'] = '../rds-combined-ca-bundle.pem';
// Enable SSL verification
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl_verify'] = true;

reCaptcha using hCaptcha?

$cfg['CaptchaApi'] = 'https://www.hcaptcha.com/1/api.js';
$cfg['CaptchaCsp'] = 'https://hcaptcha.com https://*.hcaptcha.com';
$cfg['CaptchaRequestParam'] = 'h-captcha';
$cfg['CaptchaResponseParam'] = 'h-captcha-response';
$cfg['CaptchaSiteVerifyURL'] = 'https://hcaptcha.com/siteverify';
// This is the secret key from hCaptcha dashboard
$cfg['CaptchaLoginPrivateKey'] = '0xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';
// This is the site key from hCaptcha dashboard
$cfg['CaptchaLoginPublicKey'] = 'xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxxx';

See also

hCaptcha website