How to enable local infile in MySQL is no longer a question that will trouble you. Read on to find out more. 

At Bobcares, we offer solutions for every query, big and small, as a part of our MySQL Support Services.

Let’s take a look at how our Support Team is ready to help customers enable local infile in MySQL.

Enabling local infile in MySQL & More

LOAD _DATA statement is responsible for loading a data file into a table. Furthermore, it can load a file on the client host if the LOCAL keyword is included.

The LOAD DATA LOCAL causes parsing to occur on the server-side, thereby transferring the file from the client host to the server host.

Furthermore, a user can use LOAD DATA LOCAL to read any files that the web-server process has read access to in a Web-environment where clients connect from a web-server.

Applications and administrators permit local data loading on the server-side based on the local_infile variable value. The local_infile system variable is responsible for controlling LOCAL capability on the server-side. In other words, the server permits or refuses local data loading by the clients depending on the values of the local_infile system variable. In fact, this value is set to OFF by default. We have to enable it in order o allow the server to permit or refuse local data loading by clients.

In case the LOCAL feature is not enabled on the server or client-side, the client will receive the following error message on attempting to issue a LOAD DATA LOCAL statement:

ERROR 3950 (42000): Loading local data is disabled; this must be
enabled on both the client and server side

How to enable local infile in MySQL

Fortunately, we can easily enable local infile as seen below:

1. To begin with log in to the database and run:

   SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES LIKE 'local_infile';
2. The output of the above command will let us know the current status of the local_infile variable.
3. Next, if the local_infile is disabled, we can enable it with one of the following commands:

    SET GLOBAL local_infile = 'ON';

   Or

   mysql> SET GLOBAL local_infile = 1;

   Or

    SET GLOBAL local_infile = true;
4. Finally, restart MySQL for the changes to effect.

Alternatively, if you are looking for another way to enable local infile in MySQL 8.0.20 on Windows:

1. First, locate the initialization file at C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\my.ini.
2. Then, open this file with a text editor.
3. Next, head to the [client], [mysql] headers under the CLIENT section as well as [mysqld] under the SERVER section.
4. After that, add the following line under these headers:

   local_infile=ON
5. Finally, save the initialization file and exit. Then restart MySQL 80 server.

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Conclusion

In a nutshell, our skilled MySQL Support Engineers at Bobcares demonstrated how to enable local infile in MySQL.