How do you backup and restore mySQL Database using PHP scripts?

You have to create two scripts, one for export and one for import. Data you get from database don't have to be in specific format, as long as you store whole information at all times.

You will have to make an export script, that basically SELECTs all the data of all tables you want to backup. Those data can be stored for example in a TXT file. It is very important that you save all the information about a data (e.g. from which table these data come from, what is the data context, and so on).

When you need to import data to a new database, you can read a TXT file, create a database structure using SQL function CREATE TABLE and then import read data using SQL command INSERT.

It's considered the best solution to encapsulate export and import features into functions.