mysql2csv

I often need to run a series of exports for a client, an account manager, or someone else. They want data in a spreadsheet, not locked away in some database, and the process of getting those CSVs is quite tedious.

mysql2csv can help, by automating everything but the writing of the SQL — which means, if the queries are often the same, you might be able to just point it at a database and run.

Usage

Output from help:

NAME
mysql2csv

SYNOPSIS
mysql2csv database query-file [options]+

PARAMETERS
database (1 -> database)
	The name of the database on the live server
query-file (1 -> query-file=./queries.yml)
	Path to a file containing SQL queries.
--hostname=hostname, -H (0 ~> hostname=localhost)
	Hostname that mySQL is running on
--port=port, -P (0 ~> int(port=))
	Port that mySQL runs on
--user=user, -u (0 ~> user=root)
	mySQL username
--password=password, -p (0 -> password)
	mySQL password
--no-tunnel
	If true, will attempt to connect directly to mySQL rather than
	tunneling
--ssh-user=ssh-user (0 ~> ssh-user=rob)
	Username to use when creating the SSH tunnel to the mySQL server
--ssh-port=ssh-port (0 ~> int(ssh-port=22))
	Port to use when SSH tunneling
--ssh-key=ssh-key (0 ~> ssh-key)
	Path to an SSH keyfile to use when creating the SSH tunnel
--ssh-password=ssh-password (0 ~> ssh-password)
	Password to use when creating an SSH tunnel
--zip
	If given, the CSV files outputted will also be placed into a single
	zip.
--password-zip
	If given, a password will be generated and applied to the zip file.
--help, -h

Query file format

Queries should be stored in a YAML file; the key of each row will be used as the filename of the CSV, and the value will be used as SQL.

So, for example:

users: "SELECT * FROM users"
posts: "SELECT * FROM posts ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 10"

Would generate two CSV files; one called users.csv, containing the results of the first query, and one called posts.csv containing the results of the second.

Connecting to a local mySQL server

If you don't want to tunnel over SSH to a remote server (see below), then use the --no-tunnel option.

For example, to connect to a locally running mySQL server, using the default socket, and extract information from the database foo_db using the queries found in queries.yml:

mysql2csv --user root -p foobar --no-tunnel foo_db queries.yml

To connect over TCP, rather than using a socket:

mysql2csv --user root -p foobar -H 127.0.0.1 -P 3306 --no-tunnel foo_db queries.yml

Connecting to a remote mySQL server via an SSH tunnel

Using a password:

mysql2csv --user root -p foobar -H db.example.com -P 3306 --ssh-user alice --ssh-password foobarbaz foo_db queries.yml

Using a public key:

mysql2csv --user root -p foobar -H db.example.com -P 3306 --ssh-user alice --ssh-key /path/to/key foo_db queries.yml

If you omit the username, password, and key, then the system defaults will be used; that is, the username of the currently logged in user, and the key in your ~/.ssh directory.

If you can run ssh db.example.com and log in, in other words, you should be safe not specifying any SSH-related options on the command line:

mysql2csv --user root -p foobar -H db.example.com -P 3306 foo_db queries.yml

Zipping or not zipping files

If you pass --zip, the files output will be placed into a zip file. If you pass --zip-password, the zip will be password protected too.