PHP script cannot connect to MYSQL database - php

Question

I have a straight forward script that is trying to connect to a MySQL database.
When I run the script, I get the error:
Warning: mysqli_connect(): (HY000/1045): Access denied for user 'root'#'localhost' (using password: YES) in C:\xampp\htdocs\ShopSite\submitReg.php on line 16
Failed to connect.
The connection code is:
$server="127.0.0.1";
$db="shop";
$user="root";
$password="";
$conn=mysqli_connect($server,$user,$password,$db) or die("Failed to connect");
I can connect to phpMyAdmin and edit the database on there just fine. I am using XAMPP and running it locally.
When I go to user accounts, it says there is no password for root. I looked in the config file and there are no passwords set. I haven't set a password for anything.
I haven't went in and fiddled with settings, or created any new accounts. It was working fine (never used to get this problem), then it just started with this. I reinstalled XAMPP, still giving me this issue.
I don't get why it says using password "YES".
I've been at this for hours trying to fix it. I've looked through lots of threads. Not all necessarily apply to me, as I am running it locally, and haven't been going in and making new user accounts. Everything is default.
Before I reinstalled, I tried creating a new user account and giving it the necessary privileges. I gave it a password too. Didn't work.
I don't get why it is doing this, and am not knowledgeable enough to fix it myself. Any help is much appreciated, so that it can go back to connecting.

Answer 1

change
$server="127.0.0.1";
by
$server="localhost";

Answer 2

I used XAMPP for a while and it worked quite good for me,
i think the default password for your mysql server is not set to '', so i guess
if you change the root password and try accessing your database using the new password, it should work.
Updating the root password
To update the root use password, you have to go by these steps:
Open the XAMPP Control Panel
Click on the MySQL button
After the MySQL console has loaded, execute this query:
SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'#'localhost' = PASSWORD('pass');`
After that, change the $password variable to the new password which
is in this case pass
Adding a new user
You could also add a new user by executing this query:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'new-user'#'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
While the username is new-user and the password is password.
I hope this helps.