Large CSV export

If you are facing difficulty in performing large MySQL query export to CSV operation in PHP; then this is the class for you.

Steps to perform this.

Configure your connection

define('HOSTNAME', '127.0.0.1'); 
define('USERNAME', 'username'); 
define('PASSWORD', 'password'); 
define('DATABASE', 'database'); 

Prepare your parameterised query

$sql = "
    SELECT
        column1 as COLUMN1,
        column2 as COLUMN2,
        column3 as COLUMN3,
        column4 as COLUMN4
    FROM
        TABLE_NAME
    WHERE
        column5 = :column5
        column6 LIKE CONCAT('%' , :column6, '%');
        column7 IN (:column7);
";

Prepare your parameterised params array

$params = [
    ':column5' => 'column5_value',
    ':column6' => 'column6_search_value',
    ':column7' => [
        'column7_value1',
        'column7_value2',
        'column7_value3'
    ]
];

Execute and export.

$csvFilename = 'export.csv'; 

try { 
  $mySqlCsv = new downloadCSV(); 
  $mySqlCsv->connect(HOSTNAME, USERNAME, PASSWORD, DATABASE);
  $mySqlCsv->useTmpFile = false; // defaults true for large data export.
  $mySqlCsv->initDownload($csvFilename, $sql, $params);
} catch (\Exception $e) { 
  echo $e->getMessage(); 
} 

Export CSV

Export / Download MySQL query results as a CSV file

When it comes to Download CSV, most of the time developer faces issue of memory limit in PHP; especially when supporting downloads of more than 30,000 records at a time.

Below class solves this issue by executing shell command for MySql Client installed on the server from PHP script. Using this class one can download all the records in one go. There is no limit to number of rows returned by SQL query.<br>

Examples

To download the export CSV

<?php

require_once __DIR__ . '/AutoloadExportCSV.php';

use ExportCSV\ExportCSV;

define(constant_name: 'HOSTNAME', value: '127.0.0.1');
define(constant_name: 'USERNAME', value: 'username');
define(constant_name: 'PASSWORD', value: 'password');
define(constant_name: 'DATABASE', value: 'database');

$sql = "
    SELECT
        column1 as COLUMN1,
        column2 as COLUMN2,
        column3 as COLUMN3,
        column4 as COLUMN4
    FROM
        TABLE_NAME
    WHERE
        column5 = :column5
        column6 LIKE CONCAT('%' , :column6, '%');
        column7 IN (:column7);
";

$params = [
    ':column5' => 'column5_value',
    ':column6' => 'column6_search_value',
    ':column7' => [
        'column7_value1',
        'column7_value2',
        'column7_value3'
    ]
];

$csvFilename = 'export.csv';

try {
    $exportCSV = new ExportCSV(dbType: 'MySQL');
    $exportCSV->connect(
        hostname: HOSTNAME,
        username: USERNAME,
        password: PASSWORD,
        database: DATABASE
    );
    $exportCSV->useTmpFile = false; // defaults true for large data export.
    $exportCSV->initDownload(
        csvFilename: $csvFilename,
        sql: $sql,
        params: $params
    );
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
}

To export the CSV results in a file.

<?php

require_once __DIR__ . '/AutoloadExportCSV.php';

use ExportCSV\ExportCSV;

define(constant_name: 'HOSTNAME', value: '127.0.0.1');
define(constant_name: 'USERNAME', value: 'username');
define(constant_name: 'PASSWORD', value: 'password');
define(constant_name: 'DATABASE', value: 'database');

$sql = "
    SELECT
        column1 as COLUMN1,
        column2 as COLUMN2,
        column3 as COLUMN3,
        column4 as COLUMN4
    FROM
        TABLE_NAME
    WHERE
        column5 = :column5
        column6 LIKE CONCAT('%' , :column6, '%');
        column7 IN (:column7);
";

$params = [
    ':column5' => 'column5_value',
    ':column6' => 'column6_search_value',
    ':column7' => [
        'column7_value1',
        'column7_value2',
        'column7_value3'
    ]
];

$csvAbsoluteFilePath = '/<folder path>/<filename>.csv';

try {
    $exportCSV = new ExportCSV(dbType: 'MySQL');
    $exportCSV->connect(
        hostname: HOSTNAME,
        username: USERNAME,
        password: PASSWORD,
        database: DATABASE
    );
    $exportCSV->saveCsvExport(
        sql: $sql,
        params: $params,
        csvAbsoluteFilePath:  $csvAbsoluteFilePath
    );
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
}

To download as well as export the CSV results in a file.

<?php

require_once __DIR__ . '/AutoloadExportCSV.php';

use ExportCSV\ExportCSV;

define(constant_name: 'HOSTNAME', value: '127.0.0.1');
define(constant_name: 'USERNAME', value: 'username');
define(constant_name: 'PASSWORD', value: 'password');
define(constant_name: 'DATABASE', value: 'database');

$sql = "
    SELECT
        column1 as COLUMN1,
        column2 as COLUMN2,
        column3 as COLUMN3,
        column4 as COLUMN4
    FROM
        TABLE_NAME
    WHERE
        column5 = :column5
        column6 LIKE CONCAT('%' , :column6, '%');
        column7 IN (:column7);
";

$params = [
    ':column5' => 'column5_value',
    ':column6' => 'column6_search_value',
    ':column7' => [
        'column7_value1',
        'column7_value2',
        'column7_value3'
    ]
];

$csvFilename = 'data.csv';
$csvAbsoluteFilePath = '/<folder path>/<filename>.csv';

try {
    $exportCSV = new ExportCSV(dbType: 'MySQL');
    $exportCSV->connect(
        hostname: HOSTNAME,
        username: USERNAME,
        password: PASSWORD,
        database: DATABASE
    );
    $exportCSV->initDownload(
        csvFilename: $csvFilename,
        sql: $sql,
        params: $params,
        csvAbsoluteFilePath: $csvAbsoluteFilePath
    );
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
}

Compression

To enable compression for downloading dynamically generated CSV files in NGINX if the browser supports compression, one can use the gzip\_types directive in the NGINX configuration file.

The gzip\_types directive is used to specify which MIME types should be compressed.

Here's an example of how you can enable compression for downloading dynamically generated CSV files in NGINX:

http {
    # ...
    gzip on;
    gzip_types text/plain text/csv;
    # ...
}

? Contributing

Issues and feature requests are welcome.<br /> Feel free to share them on issues page

Author

? Ramesh N. Jangid (Sharma)

• Github: @polygoncoin

? License

Copyright © 2026 Ramesh N. Jangid (Sharma).<br /> This project is MIT licensed.