Error while taking backup with mysqldump in mysql command line

Question

Hello I'm trying to take backup from mysql command line client. I'm using mysqldump to take backup with username and password. Following is the command I'm using for backing up the database.

mysql> mysqldump -u username -p password databasename > backup.sql;

I'm getting following error

ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that
corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'mysql
dump -u username -p password fms > backup.sql' at line 1

Though the command seems to be correct, still i'm getting error. Please let me know is there any other way taking backup from mysql command line.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

mysqldump is not a MySQL command, it is a command line utility. You must call it from your shell command line.

Answer 2

Type this in your command line interface NOT in MYSQL command line:

mysqldump -u username -ppassword databasename > backup.sql

For example, if username is 'root', password is 'abcdefg', and the database name is 'mydatabase', then the syntax is:

mysqldump -u root -pabcdefg mydatabase > backup.sql

backup.sql is the name of the file in which your backup will be stored so you can have any name.