Running MySQL *.sql files in PHP

ghz 1years ago ⋅ 4854 views

Question

I have two *.sql files that I use when creating a new web site database. The first file creates all the tables. The second file populates some default records. I would like to execute these files from PHP. I also use the Zend_Framework, if that will help accomplish this.

Additional Info

  1. I don't have console access
  2. I'm trying to automate site generation from within our application.

SOLUTION

Using shell_exec()...

$command = 'mysql'
        . ' --host=' . $vals['db_host']
        . ' --user=' . $vals['db_user']
        . ' --password=' . $vals['db_pass']
        . ' --database=' . $vals['db_name']
        . ' --execute="SOURCE ' . $script_path
;
$output1 = shell_exec($command . '/site_db.sql"');
$output2 = shell_exec($command . '/site_structure.sql"');

...I never did get useful output, but followed [some suggestions](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/814586/calling-mysql-exe- using-php-exec-doesnt-work/814722#814722) on [another thread](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/814586/calling-mysql-exe-using- php-exec-doesnt-work) and finally got it all working. I switch to the --option=value format for the commands and used --execute="SOURCE ..." instead of < to execute the file.

Also, I never got a good explanation of the difference between shell_exec() and exec().

Answer

This question comes up from time to time. There's no good solution for running a .sql script directly from PHP. There are edge cases where statements common in a .sql script can't be executed as SQL statements. For example, the mysql tool has [builtin commands](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysql- commands.html) that are not recognized by the MySQL Server, e.g. CONNECT, TEE, STATUS, and DELIMITER.

So I give +1 to @Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams's [answer](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4027769/running-mysql-sql-files- in-php/4027786#4027786). You should run your .sql script in PHP by invoking the mysql tool, for instance with shell_exec().

I got this test working:

$command = "mysql --user={$vals['db_user']} --password='{$vals['db_pass']}' "
 . "-h {$vals['db_host']} -D {$vals['db_name']} < {$script_path}";

$output = shell_exec($command . '/shellexec.sql');

See also my answers to these related questions:

#mysql