[loren s]

Like is there a real physical file somewhere with all of the tables ??

I just want to see it

[Mithras]

$MYSQL_DIR/data, where $MYSQL_DIR is most commonly /usr/local/mysql.
Note that the dir is owned by the mysql user, so you'll have to do
sudo -s
to become root in order to cd to the dir.

[loren s]

neat ! It's all incoded ! Oh well at least I know where to root back it up if needed , thank you

[Angus_D]

Well, it's not encoded, it's stored in a binary format for obvious reasons (efficiency).

Remember not to back-up those files whilst mysql is running. If you want to back-up whilst mysql is running, there are other "hot" backup strategies that you can use. Further details are left as an exercise in Googling for the reader.