MySQL: Duplicate a MySQL database

First, create an empty database, say new-db for example.

create database new_db;

Then on the command line, using the mysqldump tool to dump the database you want to copy old_db, pipe it to the next command mysql to import the database into the new database new_db.

nohup mysqldump -u admin old_db | mysql -u admin new_db &

nohup means no hang up to make sure the database duplcation process don’t hang up in the middle. If the database is large, it might take a while up to hours or even days.

mysqldump is the mysql admin tool to dump out a database.

-u is the option flag to specify the mysql user name.

admin is the mysql username

old_db is the old database you want to make a copy of.

| is a unix pipe command that takes the output from the comman before it and use it as input to the command after it.

new_db is the new database name.

& at the end of the comman line puts the process in the background.