Database connection link

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
I'd appreciate some help here, I need to get the database connection link, in other words, before CI I used to do this:

Code:

$link = mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "");

I need the $link variable, is there any way to get this on CI?

Thanks in advance to everyone =)

[eluser]danmontgomery[/eluser]

Code:

$this->db->conn_id

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
Thanks for your answer, it really helped me