Where Are MySQL Files Stored in UNIX / Linux

Usually /var/lib/mysql or /var/db/mysql directory used to store database and tales under UNIX like operating systems.
You can use the following command to locate MySQL datadir:

grep datadir /etc/my.cnf

Sample outputs:

datadir=/var/lib/mysql

Another command that will display datadir:

ps -eo cmd,args | grep mysql

Sample outputs:

/bin/sh /usr/bin/mysqld_saf /bin/sh /usr/bin/mysqld_safe --datadir=/var/lib/mysql --socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock --log-error=/var/log/mysqld.log --pid-file=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid --user=mysql
/usr/libexec/mysqld --based /usr/libexec/mysqld --basedir=/usr --datadir=/var/lib/mysql --user=mysql --pid-file=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid --skip-external-locking --socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock

FreeBSD UNIX specific ps example:

ps -ao pid,command | grep mysql

Sample outputs:

5343 /bin/sh /usr/local/bin/mysqld_safe --defaults-extra-file=/var/db/mysql/my.cnf --user=mysql --datadir=/var/db/mysql --socket=/tmp/mysql.sock --pid-file
 5381 /usr/local/libexec/mysqld --defaults-extra-file=/var/db/mysql/my.cnf --basedir=/usr/local --datadir=/var/db/mysql --user=mysql --pid-file=/var/db/mysq

References

• cyberciti.biz