I'm trying to import a .sql backup of a database on my localhost with command line using:

mysql> -uroot -p databasename < backupname.sql

hitting return I get -> and a flashing cursor but nothing seems to happen.

could I be pointing to the .sql file incorrectly? Anything else I've missed?

I dunno
its years since Ive used the command line to do a backup
... I would have expected the < to be a >, but thats just a guess

when I have to do backups I prefer to do them through the MySQL Adminstrator, or leave it to the network trolls to do their stuff

Yeah I wish I didn't have to use command line but this is for a server transfer... I have the backup.sql file but MySQL Administrator wouldn't handle it because it said it was generated by mysqldump...

you are trying to run that inside mysql when you actually want to run it in your shell or dos window if you are on windows.

Ah, so it should be?:

C:\> mysql -u root -p databasename < backup.sql

where should the backup.sql file actually be located?

Ok, so that pretty much worked but used this exact entry (I'm using xampp)..

C:\xampp\mysql\bin>mysql u -root databasename < ../backupname.sql

fyi your backup file can be anywhere on your machine, you would just have to list the full path to the file. (i.e. c:\somewhere\else\is\where\thisfileis.sql) for example.

Thanks, your replies really helped sort the problem out.... Everything seems to be working out now...