Question

I’m learning SQL. I’m currently using mysql client with the terminal on a Mac.
I’ve downloaded the “world.sql” file from mysql.com in order to play around with and manipulate it.
The file is currently on my desktop /Users/myname/Desktop/world.sql

I have created a new database that is called “world”. This database is empty.

I would like to add the downloaded world.sql file to this database. Here is what the world .sql file looks like when opened:

-- MySQL dump 10.13  Distrib 5.1.51, for pc-linux-gnu (i686)
--
-- Host: 127.0.0.1    Database: world
-- ------------------------------------------------------
-- Server version   5.1.51-debug-log

/*!40101 SET @OLD_CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT=@@CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT */;
/*!40101 SET @OLD_CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS=@@CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS */;
/*!40101 SET @OLD_COLLATION_CONNECTION=@@COLLATION_CONNECTION */;
/*!40101 SET NAMES latin1 */;
/*!40103 SET @OLD_TIME_ZONE=@@TIME_ZONE */;
/*!40103 SET TIME_ZONE='+00:00' */;
/*!40014 SET @OLD_UNIQUE_CHECKS=@@UNIQUE_CHECKS, UNIQUE_CHECKS=0 */;
/*!40014 SET @OLD_FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=@@FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS, FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0 */;
/*!40101 SET @OLD_SQL_MODE=@@SQL_MODE, SQL_MODE='NO_AUTO_VALUE_ON_ZERO' */;
/*!40111 SET @OLD_SQL_NOTES=@@SQL_NOTES, SQL_NOTES=0 */;

--
-- Table structure for table `City`
--

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `City`;
/*!40101 SET @saved_cs_client     = @@character_set_client */;
/*!40101 SET character_set_client = utf8 */;
CREATE TABLE `City` (
  `ID` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `Name` char(35) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `CountryCode` char(3) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `District` char(20) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `Population` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  PRIMARY KEY (`ID`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=4080 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
/*!40101 SET character_set_client = @saved_cs_client */;

--
-- Dumping data for table `City`
--
-- ORDER BY:  `ID`

INSERT INTO `City` VALUES (1,'Kabul','AFG','Kabol',1780000);
INSERT INTO `City` VALUES (2,'Qandahar','AFG','Qandahar',237500);
INSERT INTO `City` VALUES (3,'Herat','AFG','Herat',186800);
INSERT INTO `City` VALUES (4,'Mazar-e-Sharif','AFG','Balkh',127800);
INSERT INTO `City` VALUES (5,'Amsterdam','NLD','Noord-Holland',731200);

I’ve included the first few records.

How do I add this file to the empty “world” database? Do I need to create tables in the database first? Given the the file is currently on my desktop, what command would I need to use to add it to “world”?

Answer 1

To add the data from the dumpfile to your database, execute

mysql -u username -p -h localhost world < world.sql

What this does is it tells the mysql client to execute the content of the file, using the database “world”.

The file world.sql contains a collection of mysql queries, which create the table “City” (first dropping it if it already existed), and then insert 5 rows of data into that table.