We can load a database or otherwise execute SQL commands from a file. We simply put the commands or database into a file ”let's call it mystuff.sql ” and load it in with this command: $ mysql people < mystuff.sql We can also dump out a database into a file with this command: $ mysqldump people > entiredb.sql For fun, try the mysqldump command with the people database (a gentle reminder: the password is LampIsCool ): $ mysqldump -uapache -p people Enter password: Notice that this outputs all the SQL needed to create the table and insert all the current records. For more information, see man mysqldump . |