Where does mysql keep the records data

On my system the mysql and test databases are created in /var/db/mysql/ I created a database called publish and it likewise was stored in /var/db/mysql/publish. I needed to start over with the work on publish so I deleted the publish directory. #rm -R /var/db/mysql/publish. BUT after re-creating the tables all the records still existed, so the records weren't in /var/db/mysql/publish. Where is it? # rm -R /var/db/mysql/publish # mysqladmin create publish # mysql mysql> use publish mysql> CREATE TABLE eZAddress_AddressType ( ID int(11) NOT NULL, Name varchar(50), ListOrder int(11) DEFAULT '0' NOT NULL, Removed int(1) DEFAULT '0' NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (ID) ); mysql> INSERT INTO eZAddress_AddressType VALUES (1,'Home address',1,0); ERROR 1062: Duplicate entry '1' for key 1 Where dat data at?