SHOW GRANTS FOR root@invalid_host; ERROR 42000: There is no such grant defined for user 'root' on host 'invalid_host' create user test; create user foo; create role foo; grant foo to test; set role foo; show grants for test; Grants for test@% GRANT foo TO 'test'@'%' GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'test'@'%' show grants for foo; Grants for foo GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'foo' show grants for foo@'%'; ERROR 42000: Access denied for user 'test'@'%' to database 'mysql' drop user test, foo; drop role foo;