mysql backup/dump/export table schema, definition

1) use mysqldump

server# mysqldump -uroot -p dbname tblname -d 

with this method you will get sql statement. You can use this for backing up table definition as well.

2) create table from another table

mysql> create table if not exists tblname like old_tblname;

with this method you get a copy of table. It is useful if you want to have a another table with the same structure for backing up, testing.