Can I run a mysql dump as a query in PHP?

retrotron

I made a MySQL dump of a database, with drop tables and table content. I then try to run that dump as a query with PHP, but it says I have a syntax error. Why is this? Is it because a MySQL dump is for the MySQL client and not proper SQL?

Here's the relevant bits from the content of the dump file:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS 'tbl_files';

CREATE TABLE 'tbl_files' (
  'file_id' int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  'file_url' varchar(155) default NULL,
  ....
  PRIMARY KEY ('file_id')
) TYPE=MyISAM;

It says I have a syntax error near 'file_id' int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment.

nemonoman

$x=exec("mysqldump -uMyUsername -pMyPassword --opt -Q MyDatabaseName > myoutputfile.sql") ;

tekky

doesn't MySQL use ticks not 'single quotes'? shot in the dark as I dont have anything to play with here in the desert to check that....

retrotron

Sorry, my dump has ticks, I just typed single quotes because I wasn't paying attention.

Cool. I'll try that exec command.

retrotron

Okay, I got the exec () to work by running the standard mysql restore command:

exec ("mysql -u $db_user -p$db_pass $db_name < $dump_file");

So why can't you just run a dump file as a pure SQL query? What's wrong with the syntax in a dump file?