Unix Command to See if mysqld is running?

Is there a way using a UNIX command to tell if the mysqld daemon is running that simply returns a boolean?

I know you can use the ps command and then parse it, but I am wondering if there is a simpler way.

Thanks for any help,

-Marc

ps -ef | grep mysqld
or when do you want to test it automatically in any script:
ps -ef | grep -q mysqld
if [ $? -eq 0 ]
then
echo "MySql is not running ..."
# do something
else
echo "MySql is already running."
fi

Thanks very much...