script/command for taking automatic backup of mysql database

[gb spam]

> The command given in the script is :
> 
> mysqldump -u root -p  *F298CEE6BE03DAEB0D515166F40879C6DD1D24F3
> dental > /var/database/dental.sql
> 
> If I try to execute the script from the command line it asks for the
> password where as the password is given in the command in my case the
> password for root user is  *F298CEE6BE03DAEB0D515166F40879C6DD1D24F3"
> .
> 

remove the space between "-p" and the password.  ie, use 

   -p*F298CEE6BE03DAEB0D515166F40879C6DD1D24F3