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2.11.5 Copying MySQL Databases to Another Machine »
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2.11.4. Rebuilding or Repairing Tables or Indexes

This section describes how to rebuild a table. This can be necessitated by changes to MySQL such as how data types are handled or changes to character set handling. For example, an error in a collation might have been corrected, necessitating a table rebuild to update the indexes for character columns that use the collation. (For examples, see Section 2.11.3, “Checking Whether Tables or Indexes Must Be Rebuilt”.) It might also be that a table repair or upgrade should be done as indicated by a table check operation such as that performed by CHECK TABLE or mysqlcheck.

Methods for rebuilding a table include dumping and reloading it, or using ALTER TABLE or REPAIR TABLE.

Note

If you are rebuilding tables because a different version of MySQL will not handle them after a binary (in-place) upgrade or downgrade, you must use the dump-and-reload method. Dump the tables before upgrading or downgrading using your original version of MySQL. Then reload the tables after upgrading or downgrading.

If you use the dump-and-reload method of rebuilding tables only for the purpose of rebuilding indexes, you can perform the dump either before or after upgrading or downgrading. Reloading still must be done afterward.

To rebuild a table by dumping and reloading it, use mysqldump to create a dump file and mysql to reload the file: 

shell> mysqldump db_name t1 > dump.sql
shell> mysql db_name < dump.sql

To rebuild all the tables in a single database, specify the database name without any following table name: 

shell> mysqldump db_name > dump.sql
shell> mysql db_name < dump.sql

To rebuild all tables in all databases, use the --all-databases option: 

shell> mysqldump --all-databases > dump.sql
shell> mysql < dump.sql

Before MySQL 4.1, use the --opt and --quote-names options. As of 4.1, those options are enabled by default.

To rebuild a table with ALTER TABLE, use a “null” alteration; that is, an ALTER TABLE statement that “changes” the table to use the storage engine that it already has. For example, if t1 is a MyISAM table, use this statement: 

mysql> ALTER TABLE t1 ENGINE = MyISAM;

If you are not sure which storage engine to specify in the ALTER TABLE statement, use SHOW CREATE TABLE to display the table definition.

If you must rebuild a table because a table checking operation indicates that the table is corrupt or needs an upgrade, you can use REPAIR TABLE if that statement supports the table's storage engine. For example, to repair a MyISAM table, use this statement: 

mysql> REPAIR TABLE t1;

For storage engines such as InnoDB that REPAIR TABLE does not support, use mysqldump to create a dump file and mysql to reload the file, as described earlier.

For specifics about which storage engines REPAIR TABLE supports, see Section 12.4.2.6, “REPAIR TABLE Syntax”.

mysqlcheck --repair provides command-line access to the REPAIR TABLE statement. This can be a more convenient means of repairing tables because you can use the --databases or --all-databases option to repair all tables in specific databases or all databases, respectively: 

shell> mysqlcheck --repair --databases db_name ...
shell> mysqlcheck --repair --all-databases