Specifying separate config file on mysqldump command line

Question

My main MySQL user's /home//my.cnf file looks like this (Linux system):

[client]
host=localhost
user=<user>
password=********
database=h2o_amr

I want to point mysqldump to this config file, which is in the directory where the mysqldump file will be written:

[client]
host=localhost
user=<user>
password=********

How do I point mysqldump to this config file? I have searched for an answer to this in the man pages and the Internet before posting this question.

Answer 1

There are three options to change the default behavior:

• --no-defaults: Don't read default options from any option file.
• --defaults-file=#: Only read default options from the given file #.
• --defaults-extra-file=#: Read this file after the global files are read.

This information was copied from the integrated manual, i.e.
mysqldump --help | grep -A7 'Default options'.

Note: The parameter needs to be in first position if you add others parameters, if not it will not be recognized.

Answer 2

According to the documentation, there is a --defaults-file=PATH option that does exactly what you need. I tried it myself with mysqldump and it appears to have worked.

There are also other ways to have MySQL read option files without using that argument: using the default paths MySQL clients search through to compile the list of options (1st and 2nd table).