DB Backup

[neroag]

Hi guys
Im trying to backup a database from a php script using the following, it runs ok & creates the file backup.sql but the file is 0 bytes, can anyone tell me where ive gone wrong please?
Thanx everyone

system ("mysqldump -uUSERNAME -pPASSWORD DATABASENAME > /home/MYSITE/public_html/backupsql/backup.sql");

[Kudose]

try

system('mysqldump --user=username --password=password user_dbname > ~/backupsql/backup.sql');

Backing your database up into the public_html area is BAD.