How do i run a query in MYSQL without writing it to the binary log

Question

I want to run an import of a large file into MySQL. However, I don't want it written to the binary log, because the import will take a long time, and cause the slaves to fall far behind. I would rather run it seperately on the slaves, after the fact, because it will be much easier on the system. The table in question is a new one, and therefore I don't really have to worry about it getting out of sync, as the master and all the slaves will have the same data in the end, because they will all import the same file eventually. I also don't want to change any of the replicate-ignore-* or binlog_ignore-* options, because they require a restart of the servers in question. Is there a a way to run a single query without writing it to the binary log?

I already know the answer, but I couldn't find it very easily on the net, so I'm letting somebody post the answer to get some rep points. If there's no answers in a little white I'll post the answer I found.

Answer 1

You can use the sql-log-bin session variable to turn off logging for the current session. Just simply enter:

SET sql_log_bin = 0;

and all queries on your current session will not be sent to the binary log. If you want to turn binary logging back on, run:

SET sql_log_bin = 1;

This is only for the currently running session you are in. All other queries from all other connections will still continued to be logged. Also, you must have SUPER privileges for this to work.