How to determine your database prefix

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Revision as of 09:10, 9 December 2013 by Tom Hutchison (talk | contribs) (updates)
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There are few methods to determine your database prefix. The recommended method is to view the Global Configuration Database Settings Group from the administrator view of your Joomla! website. There are two other methods also available, but require server access to the files or the database.

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Never Change Your Database Prefix!

Changing your prefix in Global Settings will break your website! If you must change the prefix of your database, it will be a two step process and beyond the scope of this article.

Using the Joomla! Back-end (Super administrators only)[edit]

  1. Log in to the Joomla! backend.
  2. Go to Global Configuration by clicking the button in the control panel or via the menu (Site > Global Configuration).
  3. Go to the Server Tab.
  4. Under Database Settings, look for Database Prefix field. The value you find there is your database prefix.

Tip: Look for the yellow warning symbol

Using Configuration.php (Requires Access to the Site Root)[edit]

  1. Go to the document root and find the configuration.php file.
  2. Open the file in a text editor.
  3. Search for the word dbprefix.
  4. You'll see the line var $dbprefix = 'value'. The value you see here (for example, jos_) is your database prefix.