mariadb-dump(1) — Linux manual page

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MARIADB-DUMP(1)          MariaDB Database System          MARIADB-DUMP(1)

NAME top

       mariadb-dump - a database backup program (mariadb-dump is now a
       symlink to mariadb-dump)

SYNOPSIS top


       mariadb-dump [options] [db_name [tbl_name ...]]

DESCRIPTION top

The mariadb-dump client is a backup program originally written by
Igor Romanenko. It can be used to dump a database or a collection
of databases for backup or transfer to another SQL server (not
necessarily a MariaDB server). The dump typically contains SQL
statements to create the table, populate it, or both. However,
mariadb-dump can also be used to generate files in CSV, other
delimited text, or XML format.

If you are doing a backup on the server and your tables all are
MyISAM tables, consider using the mariadb-hotcopy instead because
it can accomplish faster backups and faster restores. See
mariadb-hotcopy(1).

There are four general ways to invoke mariadb-dump:

shell> mariadb-dump [options] db_name [tbl_name ...]
shell> mariadb-dump [options] --databases db_name ...
shell> mariadb-dump [options] --all-databases
shell> mariadb-dump [options] --system={options}

If you do not name any tables following db_name or if you use the
--databases or --all-databases option, entire databases are
dumped.

mariadb-dump does not dump the INFORMATION_SCHEMA or
performance_schema databases by default. To dump these, name them
explicitly on the command line, although you must also use the
--skip-lock-tables option.

To see a list of the options your version of mariadb-dump
supports, execute mariadb-dump --help.

Some mariadb-dump options are shorthand for groups of other
options:

• Use of --opt is the same as specifying --add-drop-table,
--add-locks, --create-options, --disable-keys,
--extended-insert, --lock-tables, --quick, and --set-charset.
All of the options that --opt stands for also are on by
default because --opt is on by default.

• Use of --compact is the same as specifying
--skip-add-drop-table, --skip-add-locks, --skip-comments,
--skip-disable-keys, and --skip-set-charset options.

To reverse the effect of a group option, uses its --skip-xxx form
(--skip-opt or --skip-compact). It is also possible to select only
part of the effect of a group option by following it with options
that enable or disable specific features. Here are some examples:

• To select the effect of --opt except for some features, use
the --skip option for each feature. To disable extended
inserts and memory buffering, use --opt --skip-extended-insert
--skip-quick. (Actually, --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.

When you selectively enable or disable the effect of a group
option, order is important because options are processed first to
last. For example, --disable-keys --lock-tables --skip-opt would
not have the intended effect; it is the same as --skip-opt by
itself.

mariadb-dump can retrieve and dump table contents row by row, or
it can retrieve the entire content from a table and buffer it in
memory before dumping it. Buffering in memory can be a problem if
you are dumping large tables. To dump tables row by row, use the
--quick option (or --opt, which enables --quick). The --opt option
(and hence --quick) is enabled by default, so to enable memory
buffering, use --skip-quick.

If you are using a recent version of mariadb-dump to generate a
dump to be reloaded into a very old MySQL server, you should not
use the --opt or --extended-insert option. Use --skip-opt instead.

mariadb-dump supports the following options, which can be
specified on the command line or in the [mariadb-dump] and
[client] option file groups. mariadb-dump also supports the
options for processing option file.

• --help, -?

Display a help message and exit.

• --add-drop-database

Add a DROP DATABASE statement before each CREATE DATABASE
statement. This option is typically used in conjunction with
the --all-databases or --databases option because no CREATE
DATABASE statements are written unless one of those options is
specified.

• --add-drop-table

Add a DROP TABLE statement before each CREATE TABLE statement.

• --add-drop-trigger

Add a DROP TRIGGER statement before each CREATE TRIGGER
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.

• --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.

• --all-tablespaces, -Y

Adds to a table dump all SQL statements needed to create any
tablespaces used by an NDBCLUSTER table. This information is
not otherwise included in the output from mariadb-dump. This
option is currently relevant only to MySQL Cluster tables.

• --allow-keywords

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

• --apply-slave-statements

Adds 'STOP SLAVE' prior to 'CHANGE MASTER' and 'START SLAVE'
to bottom of dump.

• --as-of=name

Dump system versioned table as of specified timestamp.

• --character-sets-dir=path

The directory where character sets are installed.

• --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 more compact 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.

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.

• --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.

• --copy-s3-tables

By default S3 tables are ignored. With this option set, the
result file will contain a CREATE statement for a similar Aria
table, followed by the table data and ending with an ALTER
TABLE xxx ENGINE=S3.

• --create-options, -a

Include all MariaDB-specific table options in the CREATE TABLE
statements. Use --skip-create-options to disable.

• --databases, -B

Dump several databases. Normally, mariadb-dump 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. A typical debug_options string is
'd:t:o,file_name'. The default value is 'd:t:o,/tmp/mariadb-
dump.trace'.

• --debug-check

Print some debugging information when the program exits.

• --debug-info

Print debugging information and memory and CPU usage
statistics when the program exits.

• --default-auth

Default authentication client-side plugin to use.

• --default-character-set=charset_name

Use charset_name as the default character set. If no character
set is specified, mariadb-dump uses utf8.

• --defaults-extra-file=filename

Set filename as the file to read default options from after
the global defaults files has been read. Must be given as
first option.

• --defaults-file=filename

Set filename as the file to read default options from,
override global defaults files. Must be given as first
option.

• --defaults-group-suffix=str,

Also read groups with a suffix of str. For example, since
mariadb-dump normally reads the [client] and [mariadb-dump]
groups, --defaults-group-suffix=x would cause it to also read
the groups [mariadb-dump_x] and [client_x].

• --delayed-insert

Write INSERT DELAYED statements rather than INSERT statements.

• --delete-master-logs

On a master replication server, delete the binary logs by
sending a PURGE BINARY LOGS statement to the server after
performing the dump operation. This option automatically
enables --master-data.

• --dir

Parallel dump of multiple databases. Works just like --tab,
with regard to output (sql file for table definition and tab-
separated for data, same options, e.g --parallel). It also
allows the --databases and --all-databases options. When --dir
is used, it creates the directory structure in the output
directory pointed to by --dir. For every database to be
dumped, there will be a directory with the database name. All
options that --tab supports are also supported by --dir, in
particular --parallel.

• --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 nonunique
indexes of MyISAM tables.

• --dump-date

If the --comments option is given, mariadb-dump produces a
comment at the end of the dump of the following form:

-- Dump completed on DATE

However, the date causes dump files taken at different times
to appear to be different, even if the data are otherwise
identical. --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

• --dump-history

Dump tables with history. Until this option, mariadb-dump
could not read historical rows from versioned tables, and so
historical data would not be backed up.

• --dump-slave[=value]

Used for producing a dump file from a replication slave server
that can be used to set up another slave server with the same
master. Causes the binary log position and filename of the
master to be appended to the dumped data output. Setting the
value to 1 (the default) will print it as a CHANGE MASTER
command in the dumped data output; if set to 2, that command
will be prefixed with a comment symbol. This option will turn
--lock-all-tables on, unless --single-transaction is specified
too (in which case a global read lock is only taken a short
time at the beginning of the dump - don't forget to read about
--single-transaction below). In all cases any action on logs
will happen at the exact moment of the dump. Option
automatically turns --lock-tables off. Using this option
causes mariadb-dump to stop the slave SQL thread before
beginning the dump, and restart it again after completion.

• --events, -E

Include Event Scheduler events for the dumped databases in the
output.

• --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 --tab option and have the same
meaning as the corresponding FIELDS clauses for LOAD DATA
INFILE.

• --first-slave

Removed in MariaDB 5.5. Use --lock-all-tables instead.

• --flush-logs, -F

Flush the MariaDB server log files before starting the dump.
This option requires the RELOAD privilege. If you use this
option in combination with the --all-databases 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

Send a FLUSH PRIVILEGES statement to the server 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.

• --force, -f

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

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

• --gtid

Available from MariaDB 10.0.13, and is used together with
--master-data and --dump-slave to more conveniently set up a
new GTID slave. It causes those options to output SQL
statements that configure the slave to use the global
transaction ID to connect to the master instead of old-style
filename/offset positions. The old-style positions are still
included in comments when --gtid is used; likewise the GTID
position is included in comments even if --gtid is not used.

• --header

Used together with --tab. When enabled, adds header with
column names to the top of output txt files.

• --hex-blob

Dump binary columns using hexadecimal notation (for example,
'abc' becomes 0x616263). The affected data types are BINARY,
VARBINARY, the BLOB types, and BIT.

• --host=host_name, -h host_name

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

• --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. This option also can be used
to ignore views.

• --include-master-host-port

Add the MASTER_HOST and MASTER_PORT options for the CHANGE
MASTER TO statement when using the --dump-slave option for a
slave dump.

• --insert-ignore

Write INSERT IGNORE statements rather than INSERT statements.

• --lines-terminated-by=...

This option is used with the --tab option and has the same
meaning as the corresponding LINES clause for LOAD DATA
INFILE.

• --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

For each dumped database, lock all tables to be dumped 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, --single-transaction is a
much better option than --lock-tables because it does not need
to lock the tables at all.

Because --lock-tables locks tables for each database
separately, 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.

Use --skip-lock-tables to disable.

• --log-error=file_name

Log warnings and errors by appending them to the named file.
The default is to do no logging.

• --log-queries

When restoring the dump, the server will, if logging is turned
on, log the queries to the general and slow query log.
Defaults to on; use --skip-log-queries to disable.

• --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 (file name and position) of the dumped server.
These are the master server coordinates from which the slave
should start replicating after you load the dump file into the
slave.

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 is not written as a comment and
takes effect when the dump file is reloaded. If no option
value is 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 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:

1. Stop the slave's SQL thread and get its current status:

mariadb> STOP SLAVE SQL_THREAD;
mariadb> SHOW SLAVE STATUS;

2. From the output of the SHOW SLAVE STATUS statement, the
binary log coordinates of the master server from which the
new slave should start replicating are the values of the
Relay_Master_Log_File and Exec_Master_Log_Pos fields.
Denote those values as file_name and file_pos.

3. Dump the slave server:

shell> mariadb-dump --master-data=2 --all-databases > dumpfile

4. Restart the slave:

mariadb> START SLAVE;

5. On the new slave, load the dump file:

shell> mariadb < dumpfile

6. On the new slave, set the replication coordinates to those
of the master server obtained earlier:

mariadb> CHANGE MASTER TO
-> MASTER_LOG_FILE = 'file_name', MASTER_LOG_POS = file_pos;

The CHANGE MASTER TO statement might also need other
parameters, such as MASTER_HOST to point the slave to the
correct master server host. Add any such parameters as
necessary.

• --max-allowed-packet=length

Sets the maximum packet length to send to or receive from
server.

• --max-statement-time=seconds

Sets the maximum time any statement can run before being timed
out by the server. (Default value is 0 (no limit))

• --net-buffer-length=length

Sets the buffer size for TCP/IP and socket communication.

• --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 useful if you want to dump only the
CREATE TABLE statement for the table (for example, to create
an empty copy of the table by loading the dump file).

• --no-defaults

Do not read default options from any option file. This must be
given as the first argument.

• --no-set-names, -N

This has the same effect as --skip-set-charset.

• --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 MariaDB 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 a subset of the options affected by --opt.

• --order-by-primary

Dump each table's rows sorted 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 operation take considerably longer.

• --order-by-size

Dump each table according to their size, smallest first.
Useful when using --single-transaction on tables which get
truncated/altered often. The assumption here is that smaller
tables get truncated more often, and by dumping those first,
this reduces the chance that a --single-transaction dump will
fail with with

• --parallel=#, -j

Number of dump table jobs executed in parallel (only for use
with the --tab option). Initial testing indicates that
performance can be increased (dump time decreased) up to 4
times on smaller size dumps, when the database fits into
memory. There is a point at which disk becomes the bottleneck,
after which adding more parallel jobs does not bring better
performance.

• --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,
mariadb-dump prompts for one.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered
insecure. You can use an option file to avoid giving the
password on the command line.

• --pipe, -W

On Windows, connect to the server via a named pipe. This
option applies only if the server supports named-pipe
connections.

• --plugin-dir

Directory for client-side plugins.

• --port=port_num, -P port_num

The TCP/IP port number to use for the connection. Forces
--protocol=tcp when specified on the command line without
other connection properties.

• --protocol={TCP|SOCKET|PIPE|MEMORY}

The connection protocol to use for connecting to the server.
It is useful when the other connection parameters normally
would cause a protocol to be used other than the one you want.

• --quick, -q

This option is useful for dumping large tables. It forces
mariadb-dump 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.

• --print-defaults

Print the program argument list and exit. This must be given
as the first argument.

• --quote-names, -Q

Quote identifiers (such as database, table, and column names)
within “`” characters. If the ANSI_QUOTES SQL mode is enabled,
identifiers 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.

• --replace

Write REPLACE statements rather than INSERT statements.

• --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 previous contents overwritten,
even if an error occurs while generating the dump.

• --routines, -R

Included stored routines (procedures and functions) for the
dumped databases in the output. 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
MariaDB account that has appropriate privileges for the mysql
database.

• --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 sends a START TRANSACTION SQL statement to the
server before dumping data. It is useful only with
transactional tables such as InnoDB, 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.

While a --single-transaction dump is in process, to ensure a
valid dump file (correct table contents and binary log
coordinates), no other connection should use the following
statements: ALTER TABLE, CREATE 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 that is performed by mariadb-dump to retrieve
the table contents to obtain incorrect contents or fail.

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

To dump large tables, you should combine the
--single-transaction option with --quick.

• --skip-add-drop-table

Disable the --add-drop-table option.

• --skip-add-locks

Disable the --add-locks option.

• --skip-comments

Disable the --comments option.

• --skip-compact

Disable the --compact option.

• --skip-disable-keys

Disable the --disable-keys option.

• --skip-extended-insert

Disable the --extended-insert option.

• --skip-opt

Disable the --opt option.

• --skip-quick

Disable the --quick option.

• --skip-quote-names

Disable the --quote-names option.

• --skip-set-charset

Disable the --set-charset option.

• --skip-triggers

Disable the --triggers option.

• --skip-tz-utc

Disable the --tz-utc 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. Forces
--protocol=socket when specified on the command line without
other connection properties; on Windows, forces
--protocol=pipe.

• --ssl

Enable SSL for connection (automatically enabled with other
flags). Disable with --skip-ssl.

• --ssl-ca=name

CA file in PEM format (check OpenSSL docs, implies --ssl).

• --ssl-capath=name

CA directory (check OpenSSL docs, implies --ssl).

• --ssl-cert=name

X509 cert in PEM format (check OpenSSL docs, implies --ssl).

• --ssl-cipher=name

SSL cipher to use (check OpenSSL docs, implies --ssl).

• --ssl-key=name

X509 key in PEM format (check OpenSSL docs, implies --ssl).

• --ssl-crl=name

Certificate revocation list (check OpenSSL docs, implies
--ssl).

• --ssl-crlpath=name

Certificate revocation list path (check OpenSSL docs, implies
--ssl).

• --ssl-verify-server-cert

Verify server's "Common Name" in its cert against hostname
used when connecting. This option is disabled by default.

• --system={all, users, plugins, udfs, servers, stats,
timezones}

Dump the system tables in the mysql database in a logical
form. This option is an empty set by default.

One or more options can be listed in comma separated list.

The options here are:

• all - an alias to enabling all of the below options.
• users - the users, roles and their grants outputed as
CREATE USER, CREATE ROLE, GRANT, and SET DEFAULT ROLE
(ALTER USER for MySQL-8.0+).
• plugins - active plugins of the server outputed as INSTALL
PLUGIN.
• udfs - user define functions outputed as CREATE FUNCTION.
• servers - remote (federated) servers as CREATE SERVER.
• stats - statistics tables, InnoDB and Engine Independent
Table Statistics (EITS), are dumped as REPLACE INTO (or
INSERT IGNORE if --insert-ignore is specified) statements
without (re)creating tables.
• timezones - timezone related system tables dumped as
REPLACE INTO (or INSERT IGNORE if --insert-ignore is
specified) statements without (re)creating tables.

The format of the output is affected by --replace and
--insert-ignore. The --replace option will output CREATE OR
REPLACE forms of SQL, and also DROP IF EXISTS prior to CREATE,
if a CREATE OR REPLACE option isn't available.

With --system=user (or all), and --replace, SQL is generated
to generate an error if attempting to import the dump with a
connection user that is being replaced within the dump.

The --insert-ignore option will cause CREATE IF NOT EXIST
forms of SQL to generated if available.

For stats, and timezones, --replace and --insert-ignore have
the usual effects.

Enabling specific options here will cause the relevant tables
in the mysql database to be ignored when dumping the mysql
database or --all-databases.

To help in migrating from MySQL to MariaDB, this option is
designed to be able to dump system information from MySQL-5.7
and 8.0 servers. SQL generated is also experimentally
compatible with MySQL-5.7/8.0. Mappings of implementation
specific grants/plugins isn't always one-to-one however
between MariaDB and MySQL and will require manual changes.

• --tab=path, -T path

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

Note
This option should be used only when mariadb-dump is run
on the same machine as the mariadbd server. You must have
the FILE privilege, and the server must have permission to
write files in the directory that you specify.
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.

Column values are converted to the character set specified by
the --default-character-set option.

• --tables

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

• --triggers

Include triggers for each dumped table in the output. This
option is enabled by default; disable it with --skip-triggers.

• --tz-utc

This option enables TIMESTAMP columns to be dumped and
reloaded between servers in different time zones. mariadb-
dump 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 if the servers are in different time
zones. --tz-utc also protects against changes due to daylight
saving time. --tz-utc is enabled by default. To disable it,
use --skip-tz-utc.

• --user=user_name, -u user_name

The MariaDB user name 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 a 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.
┌───────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Value: │ XML Representation: │
├───────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
│ NULL (unknown value) │ <field name="column_name" │
│ │ xsi:nil="true" /> │
├───────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
│ '' (empty string) │ <field name="column_name"></field> │
├───────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 'NULL' (string value) │ <field │
│ │ name="column_name">NULL</field> │
└───────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┘

The output from the mariadb client when run using the --xml
option also follows the preceding rules. (See the section
called “MARIADB OPTIONS”.)

XML output from mariadb-dump includes the XML namespace, as
shown here:

shell> mariadb-dump --xml -u root world City
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<mariadb-dump 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="273293" Max_data_length="18858823439613951"
Index_length="43008" Data_free="0" Auto_increment="4080"
Create_time="2007-03-31 01:47:01" Update_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>
</mariadb-dump>

You can also set the following variables by using --var_name=value
syntax:

• max_allowed_packet

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

• max_statement_time

A query that has taken more than max_statement_time seconds
will be aborted and the backup will fail. The argument will be
treated as a decimal value with microsecond precision. A value
of 0 (default) means no timeout. The maximum timeout is
31536000 seconds.

• net_buffer_length

The initial size of the buffer for client/server
communication. When creating multiple-row INSERT statements
(as with the --extended-insert or --opt option), mariadb-dump
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 MariaDB server is at least
this large.

A common use of mariadb-dump is for making a backup of an entire
database:

shell> mariadb-dump db_name > backup-file.sql

You can load the dump file back into the server like this:

shell> mariadb db_name < backup-file.sql

Or like this:

shell> mariadb -e "source /path-to-backup/backup-file.sql" db_name

mariadb-dump is also very useful for populating databases by
copying data from one MariaDB server to another:

shell> mariadb-dump --opt db_name | mariadb --host=remote_host -C db_name

It is possible to dump several databases with one command:

shell> mariadb-dump --databases db_name1 [db_name2 ...] > my_databases.sql

To dump all databases, use the --all-databases option:

shell> mariadb-dump --all-databases > all_databases.sql

For InnoDB tables, mariadb-dump provides a way of making an online
backup:

shell> mariadb-dump --all-databases --single-transaction > all_databases.sql

This backup acquires a global read lock on all tables (using FLUSH
TABLES WITH READ LOCK) at the beginning of the dump. As soon as
this lock has been acquired, the binary log coordinates are read
and the lock is released. If long updating statements are running
when the FLUSH statement is issued, the MariaDB server may get
stalled until those statements finish. After that, the dump
becomes lock free and does not disturb reads and writes on the
tables. If the update statements that the MariaDB server receives
are short (in terms of execution time), the initial lock period
should not be noticeable, even with many updates.

For point-in-time recovery (also known as “roll-forward,” when you
need to restore an old backup and replay the changes that happened
since that backup), it is often useful to rotate the binary log or
at least know the binary log coordinates to which the dump
corresponds:

shell> mariadb-dump --all-databases --master-data=2 > all_databases.sql

Or:

shell> mariadb-dump --all-databases --flush-logs --master-data=2
> all_databases.sql

The --master-data and --single-transaction options can be used
simultaneously, which provides a convenient way to make an online
backup suitable for use prior to point-in-time recovery if tables
are stored using the InnoDB storage engine.

If you encounter problems backing up views, please read the
section that covers restrictions on views which describes a
workaround for backing up views when this fails due to
insufficient privileges.

COPYRIGHT top

       Copyright 2007-2008 MySQL AB, 2008-2010 Sun Microsystems, Inc.,
       2010-2025 MariaDB Foundation

       This documentation is free software; you can redistribute it
       and/or modify it only under the terms of the GNU General Public
       License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of
       the License.

       This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be
       useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
       warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
       See the GNU General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
       along with the program; if not, write to the Free Software
       Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
       02110-1335 USA or see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

AUTHOR top

       MariaDB Foundation (http://www.mariadb.org/).

COLOPHON top

       This page is part of the MariaDB (MariaDB database server)
       project.  Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://mariadb.org/⟩.  If you have a bug report for this manual
       page, see ⟨https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mariadb/reporting-bugs/⟩.
       This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://github.com/MariaDB/server⟩ on 2025-08-11.  (At that time,
       the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
       repository was 2025-08-04.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
       a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       [email protected]

MariaDB 11.8                   5 March 2025               MARIADB-DUMP(1)

Pages that refer to this page: mariadb(1), mariadb-dump(1)