<row>  <field name="person_id">5</field>  <field name="fname">Stoma</field>  <field name="lname">Nilu</field> </row> <row>  <field name="person_id">6</field>  <field name="fname">Nirtam</field>  <field name="lname">Sklöd</field> </row> <row>  <field name="person_id">7</field>  <field name="fname">Sungam</field>  <field name="lname">Dulbåd</field> </row> <row>  <field name="person_id">8</field>  <field name="fname">Sreraf</field>  <field name="lname">Encmelt</field> </row> </resultset> The  --xml  option causes the  mysql  client to use XML formatting for its output; the -e  option causes the client to execute the SQL statement immediately following the option. See Section 4.5.1, “mysql — The MySQL Command-Line Client” . You can verify that the dump is valid by creating a copy of the  person  table and importing the dump file into the new table, like this: There is no requirement that every field in the XML file be matched with a column in the corresponding table. Fields which have no corresponding columns are skipped. You can see this by first emptying the person2  table and dropping the  created  column, then using the same  LOAD XML  statement we just employed previously, like this: mysql>  TRUNCATE person2; mysql>  USE test; mysql>  CREATE TABLE person2 LIKE person; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) mysql>  LOAD XML LOCAL INFILE ’person-dump.xml’ -> INTO TABLE person2; Query OK, 8 rows affected (0.01 sec) Records: 8 Deleted: 0 Skipped: 0 Warnings: 0 mysql>  SELECT * FROM person2; LOAD XML Statement Note 8 rows in set (0.00 sec) 2654 +-----------+--------+------------+---------------------+ | person_id | fname | lname | created | +-----------+--------+------------+---------------------+ | 1 | Kapek | Sainnouine | 2007-07-13 16:18:47 | | 2 | Sajon | Rondela | 2007-07-13 16:18:47 | | 3 | Likema | Örrtmons | 2007-07-13 16:18:47 | | 4 | Slar | Manlanth | 2007-07-13 16:18:47 | | 5 | Stoma | Nilu | 2007-07-13 16:18:47 | | 6 | Nirtam | Sklöd | 2007-07-13 16:18:47 | | 7 | Sungam | Dulbåd | 2007-07-13 16:18:47 | | 8 | Sreraf | Encmelt | 2007-07-13 16:18:47 | +-----------+--------+------------+---------------------+