1SQLITE3(1) General Commands Manual SQLITE3(1)
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6 sqlite3 - A command line interface for SQLite version 3
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10 sqlite3 [options] [databasefile] [SQL]
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14 sqlite3 is a terminal-based front-end to the SQLite library that can
15 evaluate queries interactively and display the results in multiple for‐
16 mats. sqlite3 can also be used within shell scripts and other applica‐
17 tions to provide batch processing features.
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21 To start a sqlite3 interactive session, invoke the sqlite3 command and
22 optionally provide the name of a database file. If the database file
23 does not exist, it will be created. If the database file does exist,
24 it will be opened.
25 For example, to create a new database file named "mydata.db", create a
27 table named "memos" and insert a couple of records into that table:
28 $ sqlite3 mydata.db
30 SQLite version 3.8.8
31 Enter ".help" for instructions
32 sqlite> create table memos(text, priority INTEGER);
33 sqlite> insert into memos values('deliver project description', 10);
34 sqlite> insert into memos values('lunch with Christine', 100);
35 sqlite> select * from memos;
36 deliver project description|10
37 lunch with Christine|100
38 sqlite>
39 If no database name is supplied, the ATTACH sql command can be used to
42 attach to existing or create new database files. ATTACH can also be
43 used to attach to multiple databases within the same interactive ses‐
44 sion. This is useful for migrating data between databases, possibly
45 changing the schema along the way.
46 Optionally, a SQL statement or set of SQL statements can be supplied as
48 a single argument. Multiple statements should be separated by semi-
49 colons.
50 For example:
52 $ sqlite3 -line mydata.db 'select * from memos where priority > 20;'
54 text = lunch with Christine
55 priority = 100
56 SQLITE META-COMMANDS
60 The interactive interpreter offers a set of meta-commands that can be
61 used to control the output format, examine the currently attached data‐
62 base files, or perform administrative operations upon the attached
63 databases (such as rebuilding indices). Meta-commands are always pre‐
64 fixed with a dot (.).
65 A list of available meta-commands can be viewed at any time by issuing
67 the '.help' command. For example:
68 sqlite> .help
70 .backup ?DB? FILE Backup DB (default "main") to FILE
71 .bail on|off Stop after hitting an error. Default OFF
72 .clone NEWDB Clone data into NEWDB from the existing database
73 .databases List names and files of attached databases
74 .dump ?TABLE? ... Dump the database in an SQL text format
75 If TABLE specified, only dump tables matching
76 LIKE pattern TABLE.
77 .echo on|off Turn command echo on or off
78 .eqp on|off Enable or disable automatic EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN
79 .exit Exit this program
80 .explain ?on|off? Turn output mode suitable for EXPLAIN on or off.
81 With no args, it turns EXPLAIN on.
82 .fullschema Show schema and the content of sqlite_stat tables
83 .headers on|off Turn display of headers on or off
84 .help Show this message
85 .import FILE TABLE Import data from FILE into TABLE
86 .indices ?TABLE? Show names of all indices
87 If TABLE specified, only show indices for tables
88 matching LIKE pattern TABLE.
89 .load FILE ?ENTRY? Load an extension library
90 .log FILE|off Turn logging on or off. FILE can be stderr/stdout
91 .mode MODE ?TABLE? Set output mode where MODE is one of:
92 csv Comma-separated values
93 column Left-aligned columns. (See .width)
94 html HTML <table> code
95 insert SQL insert statements for TABLE
96 line One value per line
97 list Values delimited by .separator string
98 tabs Tab-separated values
99 tcl TCL list elements
100 .nullvalue STRING Use STRING in place of NULL values
101 .once FILENAME Output for the next SQL command only to FILENAME
102 .open ?FILENAME? Close existing database and reopen FILENAME
103 .output ?FILENAME? Send output to FILENAME or stdout
104 .print STRING... Print literal STRING
105 .prompt MAIN CONTINUE Replace the standard prompts
106 .quit Exit this program
107 .read FILENAME Execute SQL in FILENAME
108 .restore ?DB? FILE Restore content of DB (default "main") from FILE
109 .save FILE Write in-memory database into FILE
110 .schema ?TABLE? Show the CREATE statements
111 If TABLE specified, only show tables matching
112 LIKE pattern TABLE.
113 .separator STRING ?NL? Change separator used by output mode and .import
114 NL is the end-of-line mark for CSV
115 .shell CMD ARGS... Run CMD ARGS... in a system shell
116 .show Show the current values for various settings
117 .stats on|off Turn stats on or off
118 .system CMD ARGS... Run CMD ARGS... in a system shell
119 .tables ?TABLE? List names of tables
120 If TABLE specified, only list tables matching
121 LIKE pattern TABLE.
122 .timeout MS Try opening locked tables for MS milliseconds
123 .timer on|off Turn SQL timer on or off
124 .trace FILE|off Output each SQL statement as it is run
125 .vfsname ?AUX? Print the name of the VFS stack
126 .width NUM1 NUM2 ... Set column widths for "column" mode
127 Negative values right-justify
128 sqlite>
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132 sqlite3 has the following options:
133 -bail Stop after hitting an error.
135 -batch Force batch I/O.
137 -column
139 Query results will be displayed in a table like form, using
140 whitespace characters to separate the columns and align the out‐
141 put.
142 -cmd command
144 run command before reading stdin
145 -csv Set output mode to CSV (comma separated values).
147 -echo Print commands before execution.
149 -init file
151 Read and execute commands from file , which can contain a mix of
152 SQL statements and meta-commands.
153 -[no]header
155 Turn headers on or off.
156 -help Show help on options and exit.
158 -html Query results will be output as simple HTML tables.
160 -interactive
162 Force interactive I/O.
163 -line Query results will be displayed with one value per line, rows
165 separated by a blank line. Designed to be easily parsed by
166 scripts or other programs
167 -list Query results will be displayed with the separator (|, by
169 default) character between each field value. The default.
170 -mmap N
172 Set default mmap size to N
173 -nullvalue string
175 Set string used to represent NULL values. Default is '' (empty
176 string).
177 -separator separator
179 Set output field separator. Default is '|'.
180 -stats Print memory stats before each finalize.
182 -version
184 Show SQLite version.
185 -vfs name
187 Use name as the default VFS.
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192 sqlite3 reads an initialization file to set the configuration of the
193 interactive environment. Throughout initialization, any previously
194 specified setting can be overridden. The sequence of initialization is
195 as follows:
196 o The default configuration is established as follows:
198 mode = LIST
201 separator = "|"
202 main prompt = "sqlite> "
203 continue prompt = " ...> "
204 o If the file ~/.sqliterc exists, it is processed first. can be found
207 in the user's home directory, it is read and processed. It should gen‐
208 erally only contain meta-commands.
209 o If the -init option is present, the specified file is processed.
211 o All other command line options are processed.
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216 http://www.sqlite.org/cli.html
217 The sqlite3-doc package.
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220 This manual page was originally written by Andreas Rottmann
221 <rotty@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by
222 others). It was subsequently revised by Bill Bumgarner <bbum@mac.com>
223 and further updated by Laszlo Boszormenyi <gcs@debian.hu> .
224 Fri Oct 31 10:41:31 EDT 2014 SQLITE3(1)