In phpMyAdmin under operations I can "Copy database to:" and select

• Structure and data
• CREATE DATABASE before copying
• Add AUTO_INCREMENT value

I need to be able to do that without using phpMyAdmin.

I know how to create the database and user. I have a source database that's a shell that I can work from so all I really need is the how to copy all the table structure and data part. (I know, the harder part)

system() & exec() are not options for me which rules out mysqldump. (I think)

How can I loop through each table and recreate it's structure and data?

Is it just looping through the results of

SHOW TABLES

then for each table looping through

DESCRIBE tablename

Then, is there an easy way for getting the data copied?