MySQL Newbie Question

Apologies in advance, this is my first time using MySQL.

I bought a book called Baseball Hacks which promises to help me use
programs like MySQL to analyze baseball data..

I have installed MySQL and downloaded a .SQL file of historical
statistics, but I'm having trouble importing that database into MySQL.

The book says to grant myself permission to access it (no problem)
then create the database (no problem). THEN it says to import the
database with the following code:

~ % mysql -u username -p -s bbdatabank < BDB-sql-2006-11-17.sql

When I type this at the mysql> prompt, I'm getting a syntax error, but
I don't know where else to type it in the command line interface.

Also, would the location where I saved the BDB-SQL-2006-11-17.sql file
matter? For simplicity, I saved it to the C:\ root but adding C:\
before the filename doesn't seem to help.

Sorry for asking what I'm sure is such a simple question, but I'm a
baseball fan first and a database expert not at all, so any help would
be appreciated.

On Jan 27, 4:24 pm, "blakeformayor" <blakeforma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Apologies in advance, this is my first time using MySQL.
>
> I bought a book called Baseball Hacks which promises to help me use
> programs like MySQL to analyze baseball data..
>
> I have installed MySQL and downloaded a .SQL file of historical
> statistics, but I'm having trouble importing that database into MySQL.
>
> The book says to grant myself permission to access it (no problem)
> then create the database (no problem). THEN it says to import the
> database with the following code:
>
> ~ % mysql -u username -p -s bbdatabank < BDB-sql-2006-11-17.sql
>
> When I type this at the mysql> prompt, I'm getting a syntax error, but
> I don't know where else to type it in the command line interface.
>
> Also, would the location where I saved the BDB-SQL-2006-11-17.sql file
> matter? For simplicity, I saved it to the C:\ root but adding C:\
> before the filename doesn't seem to help.
>
> Sorry for asking what I'm sure is such a simple question, but I'm a
> baseball fan first and a database expert not at all, so any help would
> be appreciated.

Just to make this really easy...

Put the sql file in to your mysql/bin folder. On my machine it's
located at C:\Program Files\somefolder\mysql\bin

Then, at the C:\> command prompt navigate to this directory:

C:\>cd "Program Files\somefolder\mysql\bin"\

Then, at the 'C:\Program Files\somefolder\mysql\bin>' prompt, type
this:

mysql -u root -p -s bbdatabank < BDB-sql-2006-11-17.sql

Then, when prompted, enter your password and it should all work
hunkydory.

Also, re-read the beginning of the book. They may mention something
about the conventions used in the book.