title: Control datetime format on MySQL dump/import
body: <p>I have been given a rather large mysql dump file that I need to import into an existing system.  The file is coming from India, and I believe that their locale settings are different than the server I'm trying to import into.  The problem that I'm having is on all of the datetime fields.  The dump has them in DDMMMYY:HH:MM:SS format (for example, 21MAR12:09:41:17).  When imported, this gets converted to 00-00-0000 00:00:00.  I'm not in control of the export.  I can ask them to export the data again if needed (less than the optimal solution), but I feel like I need to tell them how to fix the data for me (or I may just end up with a different problem).  Is there a command line option for mysqldump to control datetime format that I can tell them to use?</p>
  
  <p>Or, even better, I need to find a solution where I can control the settings on the import -- possibly by adding a value to the dump files "header" section (something like SET DATETIME FORMAT=XXXXXXXXXX).</p>
  
  <p>I have done an hour's worth of googling and reading, and I can't find the answer, but there seems like there must be a way to control/convert these things when moving data around (especially between servers with different locale settings)</p>
  
  <p>Also, of note!  I can't change the schema of the database that I'm importing into.  So, any solution that says, add a varchar field and import into it and then convert it yourself is just not going to work for me from a company policy point of view.  I guess I could set up a dummy database and import it in and convert it and then export again, but sure hoping to find simpler one than that!  :)</p>
  
  <p>More details:</p>
  
  <p>Running Ubuntu 9.04</p>
  
  <pre><code>Locale -a
  C
  en_US.utf8
  POSIX
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Mysql 5.0.75 for Ubuntu</p>