mysqldump table without dumping the primary key

Question

I have one table spread across two servers running MySql 4. I need to merge these into one server for our test environment.

These tables literally have millions of r

Answer 1

SELECT null as fake_pk, `col_2`, `col_3`, `col_4` INTO OUTFILE 'your_file'
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"'
LINES TERMINATED BY '\n'
FROM your_table;

LOAD DATA INFILE 'your_file' INTO TABLE your_table
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"'
LINES TERMINATED BY '\n';

For added fanciness, you can set a before insert trigger on your receiving table that sets the new primary key for reach row before the insertion occurs, thereby using regular dumps and still clearing your pk. Not tested, but feeling pretty confident about it.

Answer 2

The solution I've been using is to just do a regular SQL export of the data I'm exporting, then removing the primary key from the insert statements using a RegEx find&replace editor. Personally I use Sublime Text, but I'm sure TextMate, Notepad++ etc. can do the same.

Then I just run the query in which ever database the data should be inserted to by copy pasting the query into HeidiSQL's query window or PHPMyAdmin. If there's a LOT of data I save the insert query to an SQL file and use file import instead. Copy & paste with huge amounts of text often makes Chrome freeze.

This might sound like a lot of work, but I rarely use more than a couple of minutes between the export and the import. Probably a lot less than I would use on the accepted solution. I've used this solution method on several hundred thousand rows without issue, but I think it would get problematic when you reach the millions.

Answer 3

if you don't care what the value of the auto_increment column will be, then just load the first file, rename the table, then recreate the table and load the second file. finally, use

INSERT newly_created_table_name (all, columns, except, the, auto_increment, column)
       SELECT all, columns, except, the, auto_increment, column
         FROM renamed_table_name

Answer 4

To solve this problem, I looked up this question, found @pumpkinthehead's answer, and realized that all we need to do is find+replace the primary key in each row with the NULL so that mysql will use the default auto_increment value instead.

(your complete mysqldump command) | sed -e "s/([0-9]*,/(NULL,/gi" > my_dump_with_no_primary_keys.sql

Original output:

INSERT INTO `core_config_data` VALUES
    (2735,'default',0,'productupdates/configuration/sender_email_identity','general'),
    (2736,'default',0,'productupdates/configuration/unsubscribe','1'),

Transformed Output:

INSERT INTO `core_config_data` VALUES
    (NULL,'default',0,'productupdates/configuration/sender_email_identity','general'),
    (NULL,'default',0,'productupdates/configuration/unsubscribe','1'),

Note: This is still a hack; For example, it will fail if your auto-increment column is not the first column, but solves my problem 99% of the time.