I am writing this on the train, so I’ll be relatively quick.

It’s been a while since I wrote my import sql file via command line post and thought I’d post the updated version which I now use.

It is possible to execute an SQL file without logging into the mysql client first. Previously, I used login to mysql and use the source command to execute commands from an SQL text file.

Now, I execute it all straight from bash or windows shell without having to login to the MySQL client.

To import an SQL file by passing it as if it were an arguement, you need to use the < sign. So for example, say that I wanted to import an external database from production and wanted to import it into my development environment, I can do so by doing the following:

» Read more: Importing a SQL file directly from Command Line for MySQL

UPDATE 2011: I’ve created another blog post on this subject which describes an easier way of importing SQL files directly from the command line with MySQL. The method on the new blog post describes how to do it in one step directly from the command line. Check it out!

So I guess this is more a note for me and anyone else who has a tendency to forget nifty little tricks like this one.

A quick way to duplicate MySQL databases is to do the following:

» Read more: Importing SQL dumps into MySQL through Command line