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Asked: 2026-06-08T23:41:02+00:00

I am trying to do a really simple thing – import a table into

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I am trying to do a really simple thing – import a table into my database.

mysql> dbname < libmysql.sql;

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 'dbname < 
libmysql.sql' at line 1

I don’t understand, what is wrong. I even tried to do

-u username -h host -p dbname < libmysql.sql

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    You are mixing up the mysql> prompt and operating system’s command line prompt. If you have already connected to MySQL and are at the mysql> prompt, use the SOURCE command to import your file, and be sure you have selected your database with USE if you didn’t specify it on the command line already…

    mysql> USE dbname;
mysql> SOURCE libmysql.sql;

    The < for input redirection is used on the operating system’s command line, as in:

    # Example Unix command line...
$ mysql -u username -ppassword dbname < libmysql.sql

    It’s also possible to pipe it in, though you wouldn’t want to do this unless the SQL file was being modified by some other process in the pipeline:

    $ cat libmysql.sql | mysql -u username -ppassword dbname
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