So I'm trying my hand in constructing a small CMS for my workplace. Our current site is hosted via hostGator, so I used cpanel to create a new mysql database and a simple 'users' table to store usernames and passwords.

How would I go about opening a connection from a php file, which will be the root of a subdomain located on the same server, to the database I've created?

I guess I'm mainly confused about what a proper path ($host ?) from the php file should look like?

Thanks!