Given a query such as
SELECT order_id,product_name,qty FROM orders
which returns three columns of data, the results can be placed into the file /tmo/orders.txt using the query:
SELECT order_id,product_name,qty
FROM orders
INTO OUTFILE '/tmp/orders.txt'
This will create a tab-separated file, each row on its own line. To alter this behavior, it is possible to add modifiers to the query:
SELECT order_id,product_name,qty
FROM orders
INTO OUTFILE '/tmp/orders.csv'
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ','
ENCLOSED BY '"'
LINES TERMINATED BY '\n'
In this example, each field will be enclosed in "double quotes," the fields will be separated by commas, and each row will be output on a new line separated by a newline (\n). Sample output of this command would look like:
"1","Tech-Recipes sock puppet","14.95"
"2","Tech-Recipes chef's hat","18.95"
...
Keep in mind that the output file must not already exist and that the user MySQL is running as has write permissions to the directory MySQL is attempting to write the file to.
