SQLITE3(1) General Commands Manual SQLITE3(1)
NAME
sqlite3 - A command line interface for SQLite version 3
SYNOPSIS
sqlite3 [options] [databasefile] [SQL]
SUMMARY
sqlite3 is a terminal-based front-end to the SQLite library that can evaluate queries interactively and display the results in multiple
formats. sqlite3 can also be used within shell scripts and other applications to provide batch processing features.
DESCRIPTION
To start a sqlite3 interactive session, invoke the sqlite3 command and optionally provide the name of a database file. If the database
file does not exist, it will be created. If the database file does exist, it will be opened.
For example, to create a new database file named "mydata.db", create a table named "memos" and insert a couple of records into that table:
$ sqlite3 mydata.db
SQLite version 3.16.0 2016-12-16 21:29:42
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
sqlite> create table memos(text, priority INTEGER);
sqlite> insert into memos values('deliver project description', 10);
sqlite> insert into memos values('lunch with Christine', 100);
sqlite> select * from memos;
deliver project description|10
lunch with Christine|100
sqlite>
If no database name is supplied, the ATTACH sql command can be used to attach to existing or create new database files. ATTACH can also be
used to attach to multiple databases within the same interactive session. This is useful for migrating data between databases, possibly
changing the schema along the way.
Optionally, a SQL statement or set of SQL statements can be supplied as a single argument. Multiple statements should be separated by
semi-colons.
For example:
$ sqlite3 -line mydata.db 'select * from memos where priority > 20;'
text = lunch with Christine
priority = 100
SQLITE META-COMMANDS
The interactive interpreter offers a set of meta-commands that can be used to control the output format, examine the currently attached
database files, or perform administrative operations upon the attached databases (such as rebuilding indices). Meta-commands are always
prefixed with a dot (.).
A list of available meta-commands can be viewed at any time by issuing the '.help' command. For example:
sqlite> .help
.auth ON|OFF Show authorizer callbacks
.backup ?DB? FILE Backup DB (default "main") to FILE
.bail on|off Stop after hitting an error. Default OFF
.binary on|off Turn binary output on or off. Default OFF
.changes on|off Show number of rows changed by SQL
.check GLOB Fail if output since .testcase does not match
.clone NEWDB Clone data into NEWDB from the existing database
.databases List names and files of attached databases
.dbinfo ?DB? Show status information about the database
.dump ?TABLE? ... Dump the database in an SQL text format
If TABLE specified, only dump tables matching
LIKE pattern TABLE.
.echo on|off Turn command echo on or off
.eqp on|off|full Enable or disable automatic EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN
.exit Exit this program
.explain ?on|off|auto? Turn EXPLAIN output mode on or off or to automatic
.fullschema ?--indent? Show schema and the content of sqlite_stat tables
.headers on|off Turn display of headers on or off
.help Show this message
.import FILE TABLE Import data from FILE into TABLE
.imposter INDEX TABLE Create imposter table TABLE on index INDEX
.indexes ?TABLE? Show names of all indexes
If TABLE specified, only show indexes for tables
matching LIKE pattern TABLE.
.limit ?LIMIT? ?VAL? Display or change the value of an SQLITE_LIMIT
.lint OPTIONS Report potential schema issues. Options:
fkey-indexes Find missing foreign key indexes
.log FILE|off Turn logging on or off. FILE can be stderr/stdout
.mode MODE ?TABLE? Set output mode where MODE is one of:
ascii Columns/rows delimited by 0x1F and 0x1E
csv Comma-separated values
column Left-aligned columns. (See .width)
html HTML <table> code
insert SQL insert statements for TABLE
line One value per line
list Values delimited by .separator strings
quote Escape answers as for SQL
tabs Tab-separated values
tcl TCL list elements
.nullvalue STRING Use STRING in place of NULL values
.once FILENAME Output for the next SQL command only to FILENAME
.open ?--new? ?FILE? Close existing database and reopen FILE
The --new starts with an empty file
.output ?FILENAME? Send output to FILENAME or stdout
.print STRING... Print literal STRING
.prompt MAIN CONTINUE Replace the standard prompts
.quit Exit this program
.read FILENAME Execute SQL in FILENAME
.restore ?DB? FILE Restore content of DB (default "main") from FILE
.save FILE Write in-memory database into FILE
.scanstats on|off Turn sqlite3_stmt_scanstatus() metrics on or off
.schema ?PATTERN? Show the CREATE statements matching PATTERN
Add --indent for pretty-printing
.separator COL ?ROW? Change the column separator and optionally the row
separator for both the output mode and .import
.shell CMD ARGS... Run CMD ARGS... in a system shell
.show Show the current values for various settings
.stats ?on|off? Show stats or turn stats on or off
.system CMD ARGS... Run CMD ARGS... in a system shell
.tables ?TABLE? List names of tables
If TABLE specified, only list tables matching
LIKE pattern TABLE.
.testcase NAME Begin redirecting output to 'testcase-out.txt'
.timeout MS Try opening locked tables for MS milliseconds
.timer on|off Turn SQL timer on or off
.trace FILE|off Output each SQL statement as it is run
.vfsinfo ?AUX? Information about the top-level VFS
.vfslist List all available VFSes
.vfsname ?AUX? Print the name of the VFS stack
.width NUM1 NUM2 ... Set column widths for "column" mode
Negative values right-justify
sqlite>
OPTIONS
sqlite3 has the following options:
-ascii Set output mode to 'ascii'.
-bail Stop after hitting an error.
-batch Force batch I/O.
-column
Query results will be displayed in a table like form, using whitespace characters to separate the columns and align the output.
-cmd command
run command before reading stdin
-csv Set output mode to CSV (comma separated values).
-echo Print commands before execution.
-init file
Read and execute commands from file , which can contain a mix of SQL statements and meta-commands.
-[no]header
Turn headers on or off.
-help Show help on options and exit.
-html Query results will be output as simple HTML tables.
-interactive
Force interactive I/O.
-line Query results will be displayed with one value per line, rows separated by a blank line. Designed to be easily parsed by scripts or
other programs
-list Query results will be displayed with the separator (|, by default) character between each field value. The default.
-lookaside size n
Use n entries of size bytes for lookaside memory
-mmap N
Set default mmap size to N
-newline sep
Set output row separator. Default is '0.
-nullvalue string
Set string used to represent NULL values. Default is '' (empty string).
-separator separator
Set output field separator. Default is '|'.
-stats Print memory stats before each finalize.
-version
Show SQLite version.
-vfs name
Use name as the default VFS.
INIT FILE
sqlite3 reads an initialization file to set the configuration of the interactive environment. Throughout initialization, any previously
specified setting can be overridden. The sequence of initialization is as follows:
o The default configuration is established as follows:
mode = LIST
separator = "|"
main prompt = "sqlite> "
continue prompt = " ...> "
o If the file ~/.sqliterc exists, it is processed first. can be found in the user's home directory, it is read and processed. It should
generally only contain meta-commands.
o If the -init option is present, the specified file is processed.
o All other command line options are processed.
SEE ALSO
http://www.sqlite.org/cli.html
The sqlite3-doc package.
AUTHOR
This manual page was originally written by Andreas Rottmann <rotty@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by oth-
ers). It was subsequently revised by Bill Bumgarner <bbum@mac.com>, Laszlo Boszormenyi <gcs@debian.hu>, and Scott Perry
<sqlite@numist.net>.
Fri Oct 31 10:41:31 EDT 2014 SQLITE3(1)