Downloading MySQL dump from command line

I am moving away from Linode because I don't have the Linux sysadmin skills necessary; before I complete the transition to a more noob-friendly service, I need to download the contents of a MySQL database. Is there a way I can do this from the command line?

15 Answers

You can accomplish this using the mysqldump command-line function.

For example:

If it's an entire DB, then:

 $ mysqldump -u [uname] -p db_name > db_backup.sql 

If it's all DBs, then:

 $ mysqldump -u [uname] -p --all-databases > all_db_backup.sql 

If it's specific tables within a DB, then:

 $ mysqldump -u [uname] -p db_name table1 table2 > table_backup.sql 

You can even go as far as auto-compressing the output using gzip (if your DB is very big):

 $ mysqldump -u [uname] -p db_name | gzip > db_backup.sql.gz 

If you want to do this remotely and you have the access to the server in question, then the following would work (presuming the MySQL server is on port 3306):

 $ mysqldump -P 3306 -h [ip_address] -u [uname] -p db_name > db_backup.sql 

It should drop the .sql file in the folder you run the command-line from.

EDIT: Updated to avoid inclusion of passwords in CLI commands, use the -p option without the password. It will prompt you for it and not record it.

In latest versions of mysql, at least in mine, you cannot put your pass in the command directly.

You have to run:

mysqldump -u [uname] -p db_name > db_backup.sql

and then it will ask for the password.

If downloading from remote server, here is a simple example:

mysqldump -h my.address.amazonaws.com -u my_username -p db_name > /home/username/db_backup_name.sql 

The -p indicates you will enter a password, it does not relate to the db_name. After entering the command you will be prompted for the password. Type it in and press enter.

On windows you need to specify the mysql bin where the mysqldump.exe resides.

cd C:\xampp\mysql\bin mysqldump -u[username] -p[password] --all-databases > C:\localhost.sql 

save this into a text file such as backup.cmd

Just type mysqldump or mysqldump --help in your cmd will show how to use

Here is my cmd result

C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.0\bin>mysqldump Usage: mysqldump [OPTIONS] database [tables] OR mysqldump [OPTIONS] --databases [OPTIONS] DB1 [DB2 DB3...] OR mysqldump [OPTIONS] --all-databases [OPTIONS] For more options, use mysqldump --help 

Go to MySQL installation directory and open cmd from there. Then execute the below command to get a backup of your database.

mysqldump -u root -p --add-drop-database --databases db> C:\db-dontdelete\db.sql 

Don't go inside mysql, just open Command prompt and directly type this:

mysqldump -u [uname] -p[pass] db_name > db_backup.sql 

If you are running the MySQL other than default port:

mysqldump.exe -u username -p -P PORT_NO database > backup.sql 

For those who wants to type password within the command line. It is possible but recommend to pass it inside quotes so that the special character won't cause any issue.

mysqldump -h'my.address.amazonaws.com' -u'my_username' -p'password' db_name > /path/backupname.sql 

For some versions of MySQL try.

sudo mysqldump [database name] > db_backup.sql 

For Windows users you can go to your mysql folder to run the command

e.g.

cd c:\wamp64\bin\mysql\mysql5.7.26\bin mysqldump -u root -p databasename > dbname_dump.sql 

Note: This step only comes after dumping your MySQL file(which most of the answers above have addressed).

It assumes that you have the said dump file in your remote server and now you want to bring it down to your local computer.

To download the dumped .sql file from your remote server to your local computer, do

scp -i YOUR_SSH_KEY your_username@IP:name_of_file.sql ./my_local_project_dir 

If you have the database named archiedb, use this:

mysql -p <password for the database> --databases archiedb > /home/database_backup.sql 

Assuming this is Linux, choose where the backup file will be saved.

mysqldump is another program (.exe file) in the MySQL directory

Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\bin

step 1: First you have to go to the path and open CMD from the folder.

step 2: Then type mysqldump in the CMD

it should display as follows

Usage: mysqldump [OPTIONS] database [tables] OR mysqldump [OPTIONS] --databases [OPTIONS] DB1 [DB2 DB3...] OR mysqldump [OPTIONS] --all-databases [OPTIONS] For more options, use mysqldump --help 

step 3: Then type this command

mysqldump -u [user_name] -p [database_name] > D:\db_dump.sql 

Note : you should provide an absolute path for the output file. Here I provide D:\

@echo off for /f "tokens=2 delims==" %%a in ('wmic OS Get localdatetime /value') do set "dt=%%a" set "YY=%dt:~2,2%" & set "YYYY=%dt:~0,4%" & set "MM=%dt:~4,2%" & set "DD=%dt:~6,2%" set "HH=%dt:~8,2%" & set "Min=%dt:~10,2%" & set "Sec=%dt:~12,2%" set "datestamp=%YYYY%.%MM%.%DD%.%HH%.%Min%.%Sec%" set drive=your backup folder set databaseName=your databasename set user="your database user" set password="your database password" subst Z: "C:\Program Files\7-Zip" subst M: "D:\AppServ\MySQL\bin" set zipFile="%drive%\%databaseName%-%datestamp%.zip" set sqlFile="%drive%\%databaseName%-%datestamp%.sql" M:\mysqldump.exe --user=%user% --password=%password% --result-file="%sqlFile%" --databases %databaseName% @echo Mysql Backup Created Z:\7z.exe a -tzip "%zipFile%" "%sqlFile%" @echo File Compress End del %sqlFile% @echo Delete mysql file pause;