How to mysqldump WITHOUT dropping any tables

Question

Normally, when I backup the database, I run a command like this:

mysqldump -uuser -p -hhost -Ddatabase > C:\TEMP\db_2018-04-05.sql

Inside that file, there are DROP table statements. This is normally fine, but I've modified my localhost to have a different schema than the production database.

If I execute this file, it will blow away the important changes to the database schema on my localhost.

All I need is the INSERT statements. Is there any flag I can pass mysqldump to achieve this?

Answer 1

Include the command for the mysqldump ignore the structure.

mysqldump --no-create-info ...

Answer 2

All you need is add --skip-add-drop-table option when using mysqldump .

$ mysqldump -uuser -p -hhost -Ddatabase --skip-add-drop-table > C:\TEMP\db_2018-04-05.sql 

Now no DROP TABLE IF EXISTS in SQL files.

see docs of mysql on --skip-add-drop-table .