Reading Mysql DB Files Manually

Question

I wonder if there is a way I can read mysql database files (*.MYI, *.MYD, *.frm) manually using something like a filestream? I can read these files but the content does not make sense, I don't know the content structure in here.

Regards

Answer 1

There is one more way to work with "raw" MyISAM tables: using "Embedded MySQL Server Library". Why? Because MySQL has an embedded server library, libmysqld, that contains the server in a form that can be linked (embedded) into applications.

BTW, there is a quite similar question on dba.stackexchange.com. You should read it.

Answer 2

Yes you can but it is not very clever to reinvent wheel...

See for example http://forge.mysql.com/wiki/MySQL_Internals_MyISAM

Answer 3

You can use this to create a parser that will help you read the file.s