How to create a CSV from MySQL Query

Problem:

I have a SQL query, how can I create a CSV file from the SQL Query?

Solution

I had a customer looking for such an option. This can be easily achieved using ‘into outfile’ attribute of MySQL. Let me provide an example query like the following:

select * from wp_woocommerce_orders left join wp_posts on wp_posts.id = wp_woocommerce_orders.order_id into outfile '/var/lib/mysql/orders_list.csv' FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' ENCLOSED BY '"' LINES TERMINATED BY '\n';

The above query is joining the order table of woocommerce with the WordPress posts table, and putting the output file in /var/lib/mysql/orders_list.csv file, in which each field is being terminated by a comma (aka comma separated file) and after each row, it is terminating with a new line separator. One thing you need to remember is if you are not root, then you should provide the path to store the file in a place where you can write the file, for example, your home directory, which could be like /home/yourusername/something.csv

Hope this helps others to know how to achieve this.