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      <a name="password-too-long">
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      B.3.2.4 Password Fails When Entered Interactively
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  <p>
   MySQL client programs prompt for a password when invoked with
          a
   <a class="link" href="connection-options.html#option_general_password">
    <code class="option">
     --password
    </code>
   </a>
   or
   <code class="option">
    -p
   </code>
   option that has no following password
          value:
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  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting language-terminal"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa12392448"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-terminal"><span class="token prompt">$&gt; </span><span class="token command">mysql</span> <span class="token property">-u</span> <em class="replaceable">user_name</em> <span class="token property">-p</span>
Enter password<span class="token punctuation">:</span></code></pre>
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  <p>
   On some systems, you may find that your password works when
          specified in an option file or on the command line, but not
          when you enter it interactively at the
   <code class="literal">
    Enter
          password:
   </code>
   prompt. This occurs when the library
          provided by the system to read passwords limits password
          values to a small number of characters (typically eight). That
          is a problem with the system library, not with MySQL. To work
          around it, change your MySQL password to a value that is eight
          or fewer characters long, or put your password in an option
          file.
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