Use Laravel seed and sql files to populate database

Question

I got several .sql files of countries, states and cities of the world from github. How can I run them with Laravel\'s seed files to populate those tables in my database?

Answer 1

@Andre Koper solutions is understandable, but sadly it doesn't work for me. This one is a bit confusing but atleast works for me.

So instead of using DB::unprepared, I use this:

// DatabaseSeeder.php
class DatabaseSeeder extends Seeder {

    public function run()
    {
       // Set the path of your .sql file
       $sql = storage_path('a_id_territory.sql');

       // You must change this one, its depend on your mysql bin.
       $db_bin = "C:\wamp64\bin\mariadb\mariadb10.3.14\bin";

       // PDO Credentials
       $db = [
           'username' => env('DB_USERNAME'),
           'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD'),
           'host' => env('DB_HOST'),
           'database' => env('DB_DATABASE')
       ];
       exec("{$db_bin}\mysql --user={$db['username']} --password={$db['password']} --host={$db['host']} --database {$db['database']} < $sql");
    }
}

Then while migrating database just add --seed

php artisan migrate:refresh --seed

or

php artisan migrate:fresh --seed

Tested on Laravel 7.0.x

Answer 2

1. Add DB::unprepared() to the run method of DatabaseSeeder.

2. Run php artisan db:seed at the command line.

   class DatabaseSeeder extends Seeder {
   
       public function run()
       {
           Eloquent::unguard();
   
           $this->call('UserTableSeeder');
           $this->command->info('User table seeded!');
   
           $path = 'app/developer_docs/countries.sql';
           DB::unprepared(file_get_contents($path));
           $this->command->info('Country table seeded!');
       }
   }
   

Answer 3

I found a package that creates seed files from database tables and rows. It currently supports Laravel 4, 5, 6 and 7:

https://github.com/orangehill/iseed

In the end, it's basically as easy as this:

php artisan iseed my_table

or for multiple occasions:

php artisan iseed my_table,another_table

Answer 4

As used by other answers, DB::unprepared does not work with more complex SQL files.

Another better solution would be to use the MySQL cli directly inside a process:

$process = new Process([
            'mysql',
            '-h',
            DB::getConfig('host'),
            '-u',
            DB::getConfig('user'),
            '-p' . DB::getConfig('password'),
            DB::getConfig('database'),
            '-e',
            "source path/to/schema.sql"
        ]);
        $process->mustRun();