To select the effect of --opt except for some features, use the --skip option for each feature. For example, to disable extended inserts and memory buffering, use --opt --skip-extended-insert --skip-quick. (As of MySQL 5.0, --skip-extended-insert --skip-quick is sufficient because --opt is on by default.)

To reverse --opt for all features except index disabling and table locking, use --skip-opt --disable-keys --lock-tables.

--help, -?

Display a help message and exit.

--add-drop-database

Add a DROP DATABASE statement before each CREATE DATABASE statement.

--add-drop-table

Add a DROP TABLE statement before each CREATE TABLE statement.

--add-locks

Surround each table dump with LOCK TABLES and UNLOCK TABLES statements. This results in faster inserts when the dump file is reloaded. See Section 7.2.18, “Speed of INSERT Statements”.

--all-databases, -A

Dump all tables in all databases. This is the same as using the --databases option and naming all the databases on the command line.

--allow-keywords

Allow creation of column names that are keywords. This works by prefixing each column name with the table name.

--character-sets-dir=path

The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 9.2, “The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting”.

--comments, -i

Write additional information in the dump file such as program version, server version, and host. This option is enabled by default. To suppress this additional information, use --skip-comments.

--compact

Produce less verbose output. This option enables the --skip-add-drop-table, --skip-add-locks, --skip-comments, --skip-disable-keys, and --skip-set-charset options.

--compatible=name

Produce output that is more compatible with other database systems or with older MySQL servers. The value of name can be ansi, mysql323, mysql40, postgresql, oracle, mssql, db2, maxdb, no_key_options, no_table_options, or no_field_options. To use several values, separate them by commas. These values have the same meaning as the corresponding options for setting the server SQL mode. See Section 5.1.7, “SQL Modes”.

This option does not guarantee compatibility with other servers. It only enables those SQL mode values that are currently available for making dump output more compatible. For example, --compatible=oracle does not map data types to Oracle types or use Oracle comment syntax.

This option requires a server version of 4.1.0 or higher. With older servers, it does nothing.

--complete-insert, -c

Use complete INSERT statements that include column names.

--compress, -C

Compress all information sent between the client and the server if both support compression.

--create-options

Include all MySQL-specific table options in the CREATE TABLE statements.

--databases, -B

Dump several databases. Normally, mysqldump treats the first name argument on the command line as a database name and following names as table names. With this option, it treats all name arguments as database names. CREATE DATABASE and USE statements are included in the output before each new database.

--debug[=debug_options], -# [debug_options]

Write a debugging log. The debug_options string is often 'd:t:o,file_name'. The default value is 'd:t:o,/tmp/mysqldump.trace'.

--debug-info

Print debugging information and memory and CPU usage statistics when the program exits. This option was added in MySQL 5.0.32.

--default-character-set=charset_name

Use charset_name as the default character set. See Section 9.2, “The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting”. If no character set is specified, mysqldump uses utf8, and earlier versions use latin1.

--delayed-insert

Write INSERT DELAYED statements rather than INSERT statements.

--delete-master-logs

On a master replication server, delete the binary logs after performing the dump operation. This option automatically enables --master-data.

--disable-keys, -K

For each table, surround the INSERT statements with /*!40000 ALTER TABLE tbl_name DISABLE KEYS */; and /*!40000 ALTER TABLE tbl_name ENABLE KEYS */; statements. This makes loading the dump file faster because the indexes are created after all rows are inserted. This option is effective only for non-unique indexes of MyISAM tables.

--dump-date

mysqldump produces a -- Dump completed on DATE comment at the end of the dump if the --comments option is given. However, the date causes dump files for identical data take at different times to appear to be different. --dump-date and --skip-dump-date control whether the date is added to the comment. The default is --dump-date (include the date in the comment). --skip-dump-date suppresses date printing. This option was added in MySQL 5.0.52.

--extended-insert, -e

Use multiple-row INSERT syntax that include several VALUES lists. This results in a smaller dump file and speeds up inserts when the file is reloaded.

--fields-terminated-by=..., --fields-enclosed-by=..., --fields-optionally-enclosed-by=..., --fields-escaped-by=...

These options are used with the -T option and have the same meaning as the corresponding clauses for LOAD DATA INFILE. See Section 12.2.5, “LOAD DATA INFILE Syntax”.

--first-slave, -x

Deprecated. Now renamed to --lock-all-tables.

--flush-logs, -F

Flush the MySQL server log files before starting the dump. This option requires the RELOAD privilege. Note that if you use this option in combination with the --all-databases (or -A) option, the logs are flushed for each database dumped. The exception is when using --lock-all-tables or --master-data: In this case, the logs are flushed only once, corresponding to the moment that all tables are locked. If you want your dump and the log flush to happen at exactly the same moment, you should use --flush-logs together with either --lock-all-tables or --master-data.

--flush-privileges

Emit a FLUSH PRIVILEGES statement after dumping the mysql database. This option should be used any time the dump contains the mysql database and any other database that depends on the data in the mysql database for proper restoration. This option was added in MySQL 5.0.26.

--force, -f

Continue even if an SQL error occurs during a table dump.

One use for this option is to cause mysqldump to continue executing even when it encounters a view that has become invalid because the defintion refers to a table that has been dropped. Without --force, mysqldump exits with an error message. With --force, mysqldump prints the error message, but it also writes a SQL comment containing the view definition to the dump output and continues executing.

--host=host_name, -h host_name

Dump data from the MySQL server on the given host. The default host is localhost.

--hex-blob

Dump binary columns using hexadecimal notation (for example, 'abc' becomes 0x616263). The affected data types are BINARY, VARBINARY, and BLOB. As of MySQL 5.0.13, BIT columns are affected as well.

--ignore-table=db_name.tbl_name

Do not dump the given table, which must be specified using both the database and table names. To ignore multiple tables, use this option multiple times.

--insert-ignore

Write INSERT statements with the IGNORE option.

--lines-terminated-by=...

This option is used with the -T option and has the same meaning as the corresponding clause for LOAD DATA INFILE. See Section 12.2.5, “LOAD DATA INFILE Syntax”.

--lock-all-tables, -x

Lock all tables across all databases. This is achieved by acquiring a global read lock for the duration of the whole dump. This option automatically turns off --single-transaction and --lock-tables.

--lock-tables, -l

Lock all tables before dumping them. The tables are locked with READ LOCAL to allow concurrent inserts in the case of MyISAM tables. For transactional tables such as InnoDB and BDB, --single-transaction is a much better option, because it does not need to lock the tables at all.

Please note that when dumping multiple databases, --lock-tables locks tables for each database separately. Therefore, this option does not guarantee that the tables in the dump file are logically consistent between databases. Tables in different databases may be dumped in completely different states.

--log-error=file_name

Append warnings and errors to the named file. This option was added in MySQL 5.0.42.

--master-data[=value]

Use this option to dump a master replication server to produce a dump file that can be used to set up another server as a slave of the master. It causes the dump output to include a CHANGE MASTER TO statement that indicates the binary log coordinates (filename and position) of the dumped server. These are the master server coordinates from which the slave should start replicating.

If the option value is 2, the CHANGE MASTER TO statement is written as an SQL comment, and thus is informative only; it has no effect when the dump file is reloaded. If the option value is 1, the statement takes effect when the dump file is reloaded. If the option value is not specified, the default value is 1.

This option requires the RELOAD privilege and the binary log must be enabled.

The --master-data option automatically turns off --lock-tables. It also turns on --lock-all-tables, unless --single-transaction also is specified, in which case, a global read lock is acquired only for a short time at the beginning of the dump (see the description for --single-transaction). In all cases, any action on logs happens at the exact moment of the dump.

It is also possible to set up a slave by dumping an existing slave of the master. To do this, use the following procedure on the existing slave:

--no-autocommit

Enclose the INSERT statements for each dumped table within SET AUTOCOMMIT=0 and COMMIT statements.

--no-create-db, -n

This option suppresses the CREATE DATABASE statements that are otherwise included in the output if the --databases or --all-databases option is given.

--no-create-info, -t

Do not write CREATE TABLE statements that re-create each dumped table.

--no-data, -d

Do not write any table row information (that is, do not dump table contents). This is very useful if you want to dump only the CREATE TABLE statement for the table.

--opt

This option is shorthand; it is the same as specifying --add-drop-table --add-locks --create-options --disable-keys --extended-insert --lock-tables --quick --set-charset. It should give you a fast dump operation and produce a dump file that can be reloaded into a MySQL server quickly.

The --opt option is enabled by default. Use --skip-opt to disable it. See the discussion at the beginning of this section for information about selectively enabling or disabling certain of the options affected by --opt.

--order-by-primary

Sorts each table's rows by its primary key, or by its first unique index, if such an index exists. This is useful when dumping a MyISAM table to be loaded into an InnoDB table, but will make the dump itself take considerably longer.

--password[=password], -p[password]

The password to use when connecting to the server. If you use the short option form (-p), you cannot have a space between the option and the password. If you omit the password value following the --password or -p option on the command line, you are prompted for one.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. See Section 5.5.6, “Keeping Your Password Secure”.

--port=port_num, -P port_num

The TCP/IP port number to use for the connection.

--protocol={TCP|SOCKET|PIPE|MEMORY}

The connection protocol to use.

--quick, -q

This option is useful for dumping large tables. It forces mysqldump to retrieve rows for a table from the server a row at a time rather than retrieving the entire row set and buffering it in memory before writing it out.

--quote-names, -Q

Quote database, table, and column names within “`” characters. If the ANSI_QUOTES SQL mode is enabled, names are quoted within “"” characters. This option is enabled by default. It can be disabled with --skip-quote-names, but this option should be given after any option such as --compatible that may enable --quote-names.

--result-file=file_name, -r file_name

Direct output to a given file. This option should be used on Windows to prevent newline “\n” characters from being converted to “\r\n” carriage return/newline sequences. The result file is created and its contents overwritten, even if an error occurs while generating the dump. The previous contents are lost.

--routines, -R

Dump stored routines (functions and procedures) from the dumped databases. Use of this option requires the SELECT privilege for the mysql.proc table. The output generated by using --routines contains CREATE PROCEDURE and CREATE FUNCTION statements to re-create the routines. However, these statements do not include attributes such as the routine creation and modification timestamps. This means that when the routines are reloaded, they will be created with the timestamps equal to the reload time.

If you require routines to be re-created with their original timestamp attributes, do not use --routines. Instead, dump and reload the contents of the mysql.proc table directly, using a MySQL account that has appropriate privileges for the mysql database.

This option was added in MySQL 5.0.13. Before that, stored routines are not dumped. Routine DEFINER values are not dumped until MySQL 5.0.20. This means that before 5.0.20, when routines are reloaded, they will be created with the definer set to the reloading user. If you require routines to be re-created with their original definer, dump and load the contents of the mysql.proc table directly as described earlier.

--set-charset

Add SET NAMES default_character_set to the output. This option is enabled by default. To suppress the SET NAMES statement, use --skip-set-charset.

--single-transaction

This option issues a BEGIN SQL statement before dumping data from the server. It is useful only with transactional tables such as InnoDB and BDB, because then it dumps the consistent state of the database at the time when BEGIN was issued without blocking any applications.

When using this option, you should keep in mind that only InnoDB tables are dumped in a consistent state. For example, any MyISAM or MEMORY tables dumped while using this option may still change state.

The --single-transaction option and the --lock-tables option are mutually exclusive, because LOCK TABLES causes any pending transactions to be committed implicitly.

While a --single-transaction dump is in process, to ensure a valid dump file (correct table contents and binary log position), no other connection should use the following statements: ALTER TABLE, DROP TABLE, RENAME TABLE, TRUNCATE TABLE. A consistent read is not isolated from those statements, so use of them on a table to be dumped can cause the SELECT performed by mysqldump to retrieve the table contents to obtain incorrect contents or fail.

This option is not supported for MySQL Cluster tables; the results cannot be guaranteed to be consistent due to the fact that the NDBCLUSTER storage engine supports only the READ_COMMITTED transaction isolation level. You should always use NDB backup and restore instead.

To dump large tables, you should combine this option with --quick.

--skip-comments

See the description for the --comments option.

--skip-opt

See the description for the --opt option.

--socket=path, -S path

For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the name of the named pipe to use.

--ssl*

Options that begin with --ssl specify whether to connect to the server via SSL and indicate where to find SSL keys and certificates. See Section 5.5.7.3, “SSL Command Options”.

--tab=path, -T path

Produce tab-separated data files. For each dumped table, mysqldump creates a tbl_name.sql file that contains the CREATE TABLE statement that creates the table, and a tbl_name.txt file that contains its data. The option value is the directory in which to write the files.

By default, the .txt data files are formatted using tab characters between column values and a newline at the end of each line. The format can be specified explicitly using the --fields-xxx and --lines-terminated-by options.

--tables

Override the --databases or -B option. mysqldump regards all name arguments following the option as table names.

--triggers

Dump triggers for each dumped table. This option is enabled by default; disable it with --skip-triggers. This option was added in MySQL 5.0.11. Before that, triggers are not dumped.

--tz-utc

This option enables TIMESTAMP columns to be dumped and reloaded between servers in different time zones. mysqldump sets its connection time zone to UTC and adds SET TIME_ZONE='+00:00' to the dump file. Without this option, TIMESTAMP columns are dumped and reloaded in the time zones local to the source and destination servers, which can cause the values to change. --tz-utc also protects against changes due to daylight saving time. --tz-utc is enabled by default. To disable it, use --skip-tz-utc. This option was added in MySQL 5.0.15.

--user=user_name, -u user_name

The MySQL username to use when connecting to the server.

--verbose, -v

Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does.

--version, -V

Display version information and exit.

--where='where_condition', -w 'where_condition'

Dump only rows selected by the given WHERE condition. Quotes around the condition are mandatory if it contains spaces or other characters that are special to your command interpreter.

Examples:

--where="user='jimf'"
-w"userid>1"
-w"userid<1"

--xml, -X

Write dump output as well-formed XML.

NULL, 'NULL', and Empty Values: For some column named column_name, the NULL value, an empty string, and the string value 'NULL' are distinguished from one another in the output generated by this option as follows:

Beginning with MySQL 5.0.26, the output from the mysql client when run using the --xml option also follows these rules. (See Section 4.5.1.1, “mysql Options”.)

Beginning with MySQL 5.0.40, XML output from mysqldump includes the XML namespace, as shown here:

shell> mysqldump --xml -u root world City
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<mysqldump xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<database name="world">
<table_structure name="City">
<field Field="ID" Type="int(11)" Null="NO" Key="PRI" Extra="auto_increment" />
<field Field="Name" Type="char(35)" Null="NO" Key="" Default="" Extra="" />
<field Field="CountryCode" Type="char(3)" Null="NO" Key="" Default="" Extra="" />
<field Field="District" Type="char(20)" Null="NO" Key="" Default="" Extra="" />
<field Field="Population" Type="int(11)" Null="NO" Key="" Default="0" Extra="" />
<key Table="City" Non_unique="0" Key_name="PRIMARY" Seq_in_index="1" Column_name="ID" Collation="A" Cardinality="4079"
Null="" Index_type="BTREE" Comment="" />
<options Name="City" Engine="MyISAM" Version="10" Row_format="Fixed" Rows="4079" Avg_row_length="67" Data_length="27329
3" Max_data_length="18858823439613951" Index_length="43008" Data_free="0" Auto_increment="4080" Create_time="2007-03-31 01:47:01" Updat
e_time="2007-03-31 01:47:02" Collation="latin1_swedish_ci" Create_options="" Comment="" />
</table_structure>
<table_data name="City">
<row>
<field name="ID">1</field>
<field name="Name">Kabul</field>
<field name="CountryCode">AFG</field>
<field name="District">Kabol</field>
<field name="Population">1780000</field>
</row>

...

<row>
<field name="ID">4079</field>
<field name="Name">Rafah</field>
<field name="CountryCode">PSE</field>
<field name="District">Rafah</field>
<field name="Population">92020</field>
</row>
</table_data>
</database>
</mysqldump>

max_allowed_packet

The maximum size of the buffer for client/server communication. The maximum is 1GB.

net_buffer_length

The initial size of the buffer for client/server communication. When creating multiple-row-insert statements (as with option --extended-insert or --opt), mysqldump creates rows up to net_buffer_length length. If you increase this variable, you should also ensure that the net_buffer_length variable in the MySQL server is at least this large.