connect to db with php?

Warning - beginner :-) I'm new at Linux, php and mysql, so please go slowly. I have a test database with a couple of tables, etc., that I can connect to and run simple queries against, etc., all from the command line. I do most things as root, probably because I didn't set it up right and haven't fixed it. I'm trying to put together a simple php script to connect to the database and learn about both at the same time. At the moment I have something like this: <?php $conn = mysql_connect("127.0.0.1","root","password","databasename"); if (!$conn) die ("Could not connect"); blah blah ?> which gives this result: Warning: Access denied for user: 'root@localhost.localdomain' (Using password: YES) in /var/www/html/php/script1.php on line 9 (line 9 is the $conn line, above) I've tried a few variations but I'm not sure where to go from here. Can anyone help out? thanks David -- The arm folds in at the elbow, not out