mysql backup/restore (with respect to utf as well) from console

I was wondering was is the recomended procedure to do an sql backup and restore (respecting utf data integrity) from the console.

The reason I am asking is because I am currently开发者_开发问答 using a PHP script to do it, but I have problems during the restore with values that should be null but are restored as 0 and they break my functionality. So I am looking for an alternative instead.

Thank you.

---

Use mysqldump. http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysqldump.html

---

mysqldump is an excellent utility from mysql for backup and restore

Refer mysql doc for more info http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/using-mysqldump.html

--Cheers