MySQL export command doesn't output anything

I'm trying to export a MySQL database with a command I use quite often

mysql --user=root --database=dbname > myfile.sql

It starts working. Usually I check on the status by opening another terminal and checking the output file size. Generally it grows in size quite quickly 开发者_StackOverflow中文版until it finishes. Now it's 0b large and not growing.

I let the mysql process run for a while before I cancelled it using CTRL+C. The output sql file now contains only the words "CTRL-C -- exit!"

Any idea what I might be doing wrong this time?

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You want mysqldump not mysql (which is the command-line client).