View grants in MySQL

An alternative method for recent versions of MySQL is:

select * from information_schema.user_privileges where grantee like "'user'%";

The possible advantage with this format is the increased flexibility to check "user's" grants from any host (assuming consistent user names) or to check for specific privileges with additional conditions (eg, privilege_type = 'delete').

This version is probably better suited to use within a script while the "show grants" syntax is better for interactive sessions (more "human readable").

mysql> show grants for 'user'@'host'