<?php
exec("/usr/bin/mysqldump -u mysql-user -h 123.145.167.189 -pmysql-pass database_name > /path-to-export/file.sql", $output);
?>

$return_var = NULL;
$output = NULL;
$command = "/usr/bin/mysqldump -u mysql-user -h 123.145.167.189 -pmysql-pass database_name > /path-to-export/file.sql";
exec($command, $output, $return_var);

if($return_var) { /* there was an error code: $return_var, see the $output */ }

<?php
exec("/usr/bin/mysqldump -u mysql-user -h 123.145.167.189 -pmysql-pass database_name", $output);
/* $output will have sql backup, then save file with these codes */
$h=fopen("/path-to-export/file.sql", "w+");
fputs($h, $output);
fclose($h);
?>

<?php
define("BACKUP_PATH", "/full/path/to/backup/folder/with/trailing/slash/");

$server_name   = "your.server.here";
$username      = "your_username";
$password      = "your_password";
$database_name = "your_database_name";
$date_string   = date("Ymd");

$cmd = "mysqldump --hex-blob --routines --skip-lock-tables --log-error=mysqldump_error.log -h {$server_name} -u {$username} -p{$password} {$database_name} > " . BACKUP_PATH . "{$date_string}_{$database_name}.sql";

$arr_out = array();
unset($return);

exec($cmd, $arr_out, $return);

if($return !== 0) {
    echo "mysqldump for {$server_name} : {$database_name} failed with a return code of {$return}nn";
    echo "Error message was:n";
    $file = escapeshellarg("mysqldump_error.log");
    $message = `tail -n 1 $file`;
    echo "- $messagenn";
}
?>

exec("(mysqldump -u$username -p$password $database $tables > $dump_name) 2>&1", $output, $result);

var_dump($result);
echo "<br />";
var_dump($output);
echo "<br />";

<?php exec('mysqldump --user=name_user --password=password_enter --host=localhost database_name > filenameofsql.sql'); ?>