README

A simple and developer-friendly way to back up and restore your MySQL database using PHP — now made to work smoothly with CodeIgniter 4.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• About the Project
• Features
• Requirements
• Installation
• Usage
• Disclaimer
• Contributing
• Authors
• License
• Copyright

Introduction

Whether you're a beginner getting started or a developer who wants reliable backup features, this library is made to help you manage your database backups and restores in a simple and efficient way.

About the Project

This lightweight PHP library makes it easy to create clean and organized backups of your MySQL database — either full backups or selected tables. You can also restore your database using a .sql file or a .zip backup with just one line of code. It’s ideal for regular backups or moving your database from one place to another.

Features

• Back up the full database or just selected tables
• Restore from .sql files quickly and safely
• Export backups with readable SQL structure
• Automatically names backup files using date/time
• Optionally compress backups into .zip format
• Designed for use with CodeIgniter 4

Requirements

To use this library, make sure you have:

• PHP 8.0 or higher
• CodeIgniter 4
• ZipArchive extensions enabled
• A working MySQL database
• Composer installed

Installation

Install it with Composer:

composer require zaiblab/mysql-backup

If needed, make sure Composer knows where to find the classes:

"autoload": {
    "psr-4": {
        "DatabaseBackupManager\\": "vendor/zaiblab/mysql-backup/src/"
    }
}

Then refresh the autoload files:

composer dump-autoload

Usage

1. Set it up

use DatabaseBackupManager\MySQLBackup;

$db = db_connect(); // CI4's database connection
$backup = new MySQLBackup($db, WRITEPATH . 'backups');

2. Back up your database

// Back up everything
$info = $backup->backup();

// Back up only specific tables
$info = $backup->backup(['users', 'orders']);

// Only save table structure (no data)
$info = $backup->backup(null, false);

// Create a zipped version of the backup
$info = $backup->backup(null, true, true);

if ($info) {
    echo "Backup file created: " . $info['file_name'] . "\n";
    echo "File size: " . $info['file_size'] . " bytes\n";
}

3. Restore from a backup

// Path to your backup file
$path = WRITEPATH . 'backups/backup_mydb-2025-06-21_081400.sql';

// Restore the backup
$restored = $backup->restore($path);

// Optionally: remove old tables before restoring
$restored = $backup->restore($path, true);

if ($restored) {
    echo "Database restored successfully!";
}

Disclaimer

This tool is shared in good faith, but please test everything before using it in production. Every setup is different, and it's always a good idea to double-check before relying on any tool for critical tasks.

By using this library, you agree that you're responsible for any outcomes related to your data or systems.

Last updated: June 21, 2025

Contributing

Suggestions, improvements, and bug reports are always welcome! Open an issue or create a pull request on GitHub.

Authors

• Ramazan Çetinkaya — @ramazancetinkaya
• Shahzaib — @zaiblab (Maintainer for CodeIgniter 4 version)

License

This project uses the MIT License. You’re free to use, modify, and share it however you'd like.

Copyright

© 2025 Ramazan Çetinkaya & Shahzaib. All rights reserved.