4.4.2 BACKUP TABLE Syntax

BACKUP TABLE tbl_name[,tbl_name...] TO '/path/to/backup/directory'

Copies to the backup directory the minimum number of table files needed to restore the table, after flushing any buffered changes to disk. Currently works only for MyISAM tables. For MyISAM tables, copies `.frm' (definition) and `.MYD' (data) files. The index file can be rebuilt from those two.

Before using this command, please see section 4.4.1 Database Backups.

During the backup, a read lock will be held for each table, one at time, as they are being backed up. If you want to back up several tables as a snapshot, you must first issue LOCK TABLES obtaining a read lock for each table in the group.

The command returns a table with the following columns:

Note that BACKUP TABLE is only available in MySQL version 3.23.25 and later.