#purge all mysql
sudo apt purge $(aptitude search mysql|grep ^i|sed 's/ A/ /g'|awk '{print $2}'|tr "\n" " ")

#purge all php
sudo apt purge $(aptitude search php|grep ^i|sed 's/ A/ /g'|awk '{print $2}'|tr "\n" " ")

#auto remove any clean up
sudo apt-get autoremove -y

#reinstall
sudo apt install phpmyadmin mysql-server


##reset password##
sudo mysql
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'NEWPASSWORD';

##Disable passwords if needed##
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop
sudo vim /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf
#add 'skip-grant-tables' under [mysqld]
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start