The CSV
storage engine stores data in text files
using comma-separated values format.
The CSV
storage engine is always compiled into
the MySQL server.
To examine the source for the CSV
engine, look in
the storage/csv
directory of a MySQL source
distribution.
When you create a CSV
table, the server creates a
plain text data file having a name that begins with the table name
and has a .CSV
extension. When you store data
into the table, the storage engine saves it into the data file in
comma-separated values format.
mysql> CREATE TABLE test (i INT NOT NULL, c CHAR(10) NOT NULL)
ENGINE = CSV;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.06 sec)
mysql> INSERT INTO test VALUES(1,'record one'),(2,'record two');
Query OK, 2 rows affected (0.05 sec)
Records: 2 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
mysql> SELECT * FROM test;
+---+------------+
| i | c |
+---+------------+
| 1 | record one |
| 2 | record two |
+---+------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)
Creating a CSV
table also creates a corresponding
metafile that stores the state of the table and the number of rows
that exist in the table. The name of this file is the same as the
name of the table with the extension CSM
.
If you examine the test.CSV
file in the
database directory created by executing the preceding statements,
its contents should look like this:
"1","record one"
"2","record two"
This format can be read, and even written, by spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft Excel.