Correct mysql syntax error when creating a user

So im getting the very common ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES) mysql error. I have tried all of the typical fixes on the forums, logging in via the mysql_safe method and then trying to reset my root password. However when doing so it returns with;

UPDATE user SET password=PASSWORD("PASSWORD")WHERE user="root";
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Rows matched: 0  Changed: 0  Warnings: 0

So as no rows were affected I assumed there was no user to actually change. I tried to create a user:

CREATE USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'root'
    -> GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'root'@'localhost'
    -> flush privileges;

However this returns with ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'root'@'localhost'

Seeing what the current user is:

mysql> SELECT user();
+--------+
| user() |
+--------+
| root@  | 
+--------+

I assume the syntax error is the fact that nothing comes after the @ after "root". How can i edit this information to be root@localhost and correct the issue?

UPDATE

after carefully reading the mysqld docs i got to this section which worked perfectly.

Stop mysqld and restart it with the --skip-grant-tables option. This enables anyone to connect without a password and with all privileges. Because this is insecure, you might want to use --skip-grant-tables in conjunction with --skip-networking to prevent remote clients from connecting.

Connect to the mysqld server with this command:

shell> mysql

Issue the following statements in the mysql client. Replace the password with the password that you want to use.

mysql> UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('MyNewPass')
    ->                   WHERE User='root';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

The FLUSH statement tells the server to reload the grant tables into memory so that it notices the password change.

回答1:

it should be three sql statements,

CREATE USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY PASSWORD 'root';
GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'root'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

CREATE USER

回答2:

i've got that same error message (Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)) when i've tried to login in my freshly new installed mysql server.

I didn't know that when installing mysql-community-server (rpm) on redhat6.5, A superuser account 'root'@'localhost' is created and a password for the superuser is set and stored in the error log file and that to reveal it, i should use the :