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Command Line Shell For SQLite

► Table Of Contents

1. Getting Started

The SQLite project provides a simple command-line program named

sqlite3 (or sqlite3.exe on Windows) that allows the user to manually
enter and execute SQL statements against an SQLite database or
against a ZIP archive. This document provides a brief introduction on
how to use the sqlite3 program.

Start the sqlite3 program by typing "sqlite3" at the command prompt,

optionally followed by the name of the file that holds the SQLite
database (or ZIP archive). If the named file does not exist, a new
database file with the given name will be created automatically. If no
database file is specified on the command-line, a temporary
database is created and automatically deleted when the "sqlite3"
program exits.

On startup, the sqlite3 program will show a brief banner message

then prompt you to enter SQL. Type in SQL statements (terminated
by a semicolon), press "Enter" and the SQL will be executed.
For example, to create a new SQLite database named "ex1" with a
single table named "tbl1", you might do this:

$ sqlite3 ex1
SQLite version 3.36.0 2021-06-18 18:36:39
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
sqlite> create table tbl1(one text, two int);
sqlite> insert into tbl1 values('hello!',10);
sqlite> insert into tbl1 values('goodbye', 20);
sqlite> select * from tbl1;
hello!|10
goodbye|20
sqlite>

Terminate the sqlite3 program by typing your system End-Of-File

character (usually a Control-D). Use the interrupt character (usually a
Control-C) to stop a long-running SQL statement.

Make sure you type a semicolon at the end of each SQL command!
The sqlite3 program looks for a semicolon to know when your SQL
command is complete. If you omit the semicolon, sqlite3 will give
you a continuation prompt and wait for you to enter more text to
complete the SQL command. This feature allows you to enter SQL
commands that span multiple lines. For example:
sqlite> CREATE TABLE tbl2 (
...> f1 varchar(30) primary key,
...> f2 text,
...> f3 real
...> );
sqlite>

2. Double-click Startup On Windows

Windows users can double-click on the sqlite3.exe icon to cause the

command-line shell to pop-up a terminal window running SQLite.
However, because double-clicking starts the sqlite3.exe without
command-line arguments, no database file will have been specified,
so SQLite will use a temporary database that is deleted when the
session exits. To use a persistent disk file as the database, enter the
".open" command immediately after the terminal window starts up:

SQLite version 3.36.0 2021-06-18 18:36:39

Enter ".help" for usage hints.
Connected to a transient in-memory database.
Use ".open FILENAME" to reopen on a persistent
database.
sqlite> .open ex1.db
sqlite>
The example above causes the database file named "ex1.db" to be
opened and used. The "ex1.db" file is created if it does not previously
exist. You might want to use a full pathname to ensure that the file is
in the directory that you think it is in. Use forward-slashes as the
directory separator character. In other words use "c:/work/ex1.db",
not "c:\work\ex1.db".

Alternatively, you can create a new database using the default

temporary storage, then save that database into a disk file using the
".save" command:

SQLite version 3.36.0 2021-06-18 18:36:39

Enter ".help" for usage hints.
Connected to a transient in-memory database.
Use ".open FILENAME" to reopen on a persistent
database.
sqlite> ... many SQL commands omitted ...
sqlite> .save ex1.db
sqlite>

Be careful when using the ".save" command as it will overwrite any

preexisting database files having the same name without prompting
for confirmation. As with the ".open" command, you might want to
use a full pathname with forward-slash directory separators to avoid
ambiguity.
3. Special commands to sqlite3 (dot-
commands)

Most of the time, sqlite3 just reads lines of input and passes them on
to the SQLite library for execution. But input lines that begin with a
dot (".") are intercepted and interpreted by the sqlite3 program itself.
These "dot commands" are typically used to change the output
format of queries, or to execute certain prepackaged query
statements. There were originally just a few dot commands, but over
the years many new features have accumulated so that today there
are over 60.

For a listing of the available dot commands, you can enter ".help"
with no arguments. Or enter ".help TOPIC" for detailed information
about TOPIC. The list of available dot-commands follows:

sqlite> .help
.archive ... Manage SQL archives
.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
.cd DIRECTORY Change the working
directory to DIRECTORY
.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
.connection [close] [#] Open or close an
auxiliary database connection
.databases List names and files of
attached databases
.dbconfig ?op? ?val? List or change
sqlite3_db_config() options
.dbinfo ?DB? Show status information
about the database
.dump ?OBJECTS? Render database content
as SQL
.echo on|off Turn command echo on or
off
.eqp on|off|full|... Enable or disable
automatic EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN
.excel Display the output of
next command in spreadsheet
.exit ?CODE? Exit this program with
return-code CODE
.expert EXPERIMENTAL. Suggest
indexes for queries
.explain ?on|off|auto? Change the EXPLAIN
formatting mode. Default: auto
.filectrl CMD ... Run various
sqlite3_file_control() operations
.fullschema ?--indent? Show schema and the
content of sqlite_stat tables
.headers on|off Turn display of headers
on or off
.help ?-all? ?PATTERN? Show help text for
PATTERN
.import FILE TABLE Import data from FILE
into TABLE
.imposter INDEX TABLE Create imposter table
TABLE on index INDEX
.indexes ?TABLE? Show names of indexes
.limit ?LIMIT? ?VAL? Display or change the
value of an SQLITE_LIMIT
.lint OPTIONS Report potential schema
issues.
.load FILE ?ENTRY? Load an extension
library
.log FILE|off Turn logging on or off.
FILE can be stderr/stdout
.mode MODE ?TABLE? Set output mode
.nonce STRING Disable safe mode for
one command if the nonce matches
.nullvalue STRING Use STRING in place of
NULL values
.once ?OPTIONS? ?FILE? Output for the next SQL
command only to FILE
.open ?OPTIONS? ?FILE? Close existing database
and reopen FILE
.output ?FILE? Send output to FILE or
stdout if FILE is omitted
.parameter CMD ... Manage SQL parameter
bindings
.print STRING... Print literal STRING
.progress N Invoke progress handler
after every N opcodes
.prompt MAIN CONTINUE Replace the standard
prompts
.quit Exit this program
.read FILE Read input from FILE
.recover Recover as much data as
possible from corrupt db.
.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
.selftest ?OPTIONS? Run tests defined in the
SELFTEST table
.separator COL ?ROW? Change the column and
row separators
.session ?NAME? CMD ... Create or control
sessions
.sha3sum ... Compute a SHA3 hash of
database content
.shell CMD ARGS... Run CMD ARGS... in a
system shell
.show Show the current values
for various settings
.stats ?ARG? Show stats or turn stats
on or off
.system CMD ARGS... Run CMD ARGS... in a
system shell
.tables ?TABLE? List names of tables
matching LIKE pattern TABLE
.testcase NAME Begin redirecting output
to 'testcase-out.txt'
.testctrl CMD ... Run various
sqlite3_test_control() operations
.timeout MS Try opening locked
tables for MS milliseconds
.timer on|off Turn SQL timer on or off
.trace ?OPTIONS? 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 minimum column
widths for columnar output
sqlite>

4. Rules for "dot-commands", SQL and More

4.1. Line Structure

The CLI's input is parsed into a sequence consisting of:

SQL statements;
dot-commands; or
CLI comments

SQL statements are free-form, and can be spread across multiple

lines, with whitespace or SQL comments embedded anywhere. They
are terminated by either a ';' character at the end of an input line, or a
'/' character or the word "go" on a line by itself. When not at the end
of an input line, the ';' character acts to separate SQL statements.
Trailing whitespace is ignored for purposes of termination.

A dot-command has a more restrictive structure:

It must begin with its "." at the left margin with no preceding
whitespace.
It must be entirely contained on a single input line.
It cannot occur in the middle of an ordinary SQL statement. In
other words, it cannot occur at a continuation prompt.
There is no comment syntax for dot-commands.

The CLI also accepts whole-line comments that begin with a '#'
character and extend to the end of the line. There can be no with
whitespace prior to the '#'.

4.2. Dot-command arguments

The arguments passed to dot-commands are parsed from the

command tail, per these rules:

1. The trailing newline and any other trailing whitespace is

discarded;
2. Whitespace immediately following the dot-command name, or
any argument input end bound is discarded;
3. An argument input begins with any non-whitespace character;
4. An argument input ends with a character which depends upon its
leading character thusly:
for a leading single-quote ('), a single-quote acts as the end
delimiter;
for a leading double-quote ("), an unescaped double-quote acts
as the end delimiter;
for any other leading character, the end delimiter is any
whitespace; and
the command tail end acts as the end delimiter for any
argument;

5. Within a double-quoted argument input, a backslash-escaped

double-quote is part of the argument rather than its terminating
quote;
6. Within a double-quoted argument, traditional C-string literal,
backslash escape sequence translation is done; and
7. Argument input delimiters (the bounding quotes or whitespace)
are discarded to yield the passed argument.

4.3. Dot-command execution

The dot-commands are interpreted by the sqlite3.exe command-line

program, not by SQLite itself. So none of the dot-commands will
work as an argument to SQLite interfaces such as sqlite3_prepare()
or sqlite3_exec().
5. Changing Output Formats

The sqlite3 program is able to show the results of a query in 14

different output formats:

ascii
box
csv
column
html
insert
json
line
list
markdown
quote
table
tabs
tcl

You can use the ".mode" dot command to switch between these
output formats. The default output mode is "list". In list mode, each
row of a query result is written on one line of output and each
column within that row is separated by a specific separator string.
The default separator is a pipe symbol ("|"). List mode is especially
useful when you are going to send the output of a query to another
program (such as AWK) for additional processing.

sqlite> .mode list

sqlite> select * from tbl1;
hello!|10
goodbye|20
sqlite>

Type ".mode" with no arguments to show the current mode:

sqlite> .mode
current output mode: list
sqlite>

Use the ".separator" dot command to change the separator. For

example, to change the separator to a comma and a space, you
could do this:

sqlite> .separator ", "

sqlite> select * from tbl1;
hello!, 10
goodbye, 20
sqlite>
The next ".mode" command might reset the ".separator" back to
some default value (depending on its arguments). So you will likely
need to repeat the ".separator" command whenever you change
modes if you want to continue using a non-standard separator.

In "quote" mode, the output is formatted as SQL literals. Strings are

enclosed in single-quotes and internal single-quotes are escaped by
doubling. Blobs are displayed in hexadecimal blob literal notation
(Ex: x'abcd'). Numbers are displayed as ASCII text and NULL values
are shown as "NULL". All columns are separated from each other by a
comma (or whatever alternative character is selected using
".separator").

sqlite> .mode quote

sqlite> select * from tbl1;
'hello!',10
'goodbye',20
sqlite>

In "line" mode, each column in a row of the database is shown on a

line by itself. Each line consists of the column name, an equal sign
and the column data. Successive records are separated by a blank
line. Here is an example of line mode output:

sqlite> .mode line

sqlite> select * from tbl1;
one = hello!
two = 10

one = goodbye
two = 20
sqlite>

In column mode, each record is shown on a separate line with the

data aligned in columns. For example:

sqlite> .mode column

sqlite> select * from tbl1;
one two
-------- ---
hello! 10
goodbye 20
sqlite>

In "column" mode (and also in "box", "table", and "markdown" modes)

the width of columns adjusts automatically. But you can override
this, providing a speicified width for each column using the ".width"
command. The arguments to ".width" are integers which are the
number of characters to devote to each column. Negative numbers
mean right-justify. Thus:
sqlite> .width 12 -6
sqlite> select * from tbl1;
one two
------------ ------
hello! 10
goodbye 20
sqlite>

A width of 0 means the column width is chosen automatically.

Unspecified column widths become zero. Hence, the command
".width" with no arguments resets all column widths to zero and
hence causes all column widths to be determined automatically.

The "column" mode is a tabular output format. Other tabular output

formats are "box", "markdown", and "table":

sqlite> .width
sqlite> .mode markdown
sqlite> select * from tbl1;
| one | two |
|---------|-----|
| hello! | 10 |
| goodbye | 20 |
sqlite> .mode table
sqlite> select * from tbl1;
+---------+-----+
| one | two |
+---------+-----+
| hello! | 10 |
| goodbye | 20 |
+---------+-----+
sqlite> .mode box
sqlite> select * from tbl1;
┌─────────┬─────┐
│ one │ two │
├─────────┼─────┤
│ hello! │ 10 │
│ goodbye │ 20 │
└─────────┴─────┘
sqlite>

The columnar modes accept some addition options to control

formatting. The "--wrap N" option (where N is an integer) causes
columns to wrap text that is longer than N characters. Wrapping is
disabled if N is zero.

sqlite> insert into tbl1 values('The quick fox

jumps over a lazy brown dog.',90);
sqlite> .mode box --wrap 30
sqlite> select * from tbl1 where two>50;
┌────────────────────────────────┬─────┐
│ one │ two │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────┤
│ The quick fox jumps over a laz │ 90 │
│ y brown dog. │ │
└────────────────────────────────┴─────┘
sqlite>

Wrapping happens after exactly N characters, which might be in the

middle of a word. To wrap at a word boundary, add the "--wordwrap
on" option (or just "-ww" for short):

sqlite> .mode box --wrap 30 -ww

sqlite> select * from tbl1 where two>50;
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────┐
│ one │ two │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────┤
│ The quick fox jumps over a │ 90 │
│ lazy brown dog. │ │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────┘
sqlite>

The "--quote" option causes the results in each column to be quoted

like an SQL literal, as in the "quote" mode. See the on-line help for
additional options.

The command ".mode box --wrap 60 --quote" is so useful for general-

purpose database queries that it is given its own alias. Instead of
typing out that whole 27-character command, you can just say
".mode qbox".

Another useful output mode is "insert". In insert mode, the output is

formatted to look like SQL INSERT statements. Use insert mode to
generate text that can later be used to input data into a different
database.

When specifying insert mode, you have to give an extra argument

which is the name of the table to be inserted into. For example:

sqlite> .mode insert new_table

sqlite> select * from tbl1 where two<50;
INSERT INTO "new_table" VALUES('hello',10);
INSERT INTO "new_table" VALUES('goodbye',20);
sqlite>

Other output modes include "csv", "json", and "tcl". Try these yourself
to see what they do.

6. Querying the database schema

The sqlite3 program provides several convenience commands that

are useful for looking at the schema of the database. There is
nothing that these commands do that cannot be done by some other
means. These commands are provided purely as a shortcut.
For example, to see a list of the tables in the database, you can enter
".tables".

sqlite> .tables
tbl1 tbl2
sqlite>

The ".tables" command is similar to setting list mode then executing

the following query:

SELECT name FROM sqlite_schema

WHERE type IN ('table','view') AND name NOT LIKE
'sqlite_%'
ORDER BY 1

But the ".tables" command does more. It queries the sqlite_schema

table for all attached databases, not just the primary database. And it
arranges its output into neat columns.

The ".indexes" command works in a similar way to list all of the

indexes. If the ".indexes" command is given an argument which is the
name of a table, then it shows just indexes on that table.

The ".schema" command shows the complete schema for the

database, or for a single table if an optional tablename argument is
provided:
sqlite> .schema
create table tbl1(one varchar(10), two smallint)
CREATE TABLE tbl2 (
f1 varchar(30) primary key,
f2 text,
f3 real
);
sqlite> .schema tbl2
CREATE TABLE tbl2 (
f1 varchar(30) primary key,
f2 text,
f3 real
);
sqlite>

The ".schema" command is roughly the same as setting list mode,

then entering the following query:

SELECT sql FROM sqlite_schema

ORDER BY tbl_name, type DESC, name

As with ".tables", the ".schema" command shows the schema for all
attached databases. If you only want to see the schema for a single
database (perhaps "main") then you can add an argument to
".schema" to restrict its output:
sqlite> .schema main.*

The ".schema" command can be augmented with the "--indent"

option, in which case it tries to reformat the various CREATE
statements of the schema so that they are more easily readable by
humans.

The ".databases" command shows a list of all databases open in the

current connection. There will always be at least 2. The first one is
"main", the original database opened. The second is "temp", the
database used for temporary tables. There may be additional
databases listed for databases attached using the ATTACH
statement. The first output column is the name the database is
attached with, and the second result column is the filename of the
external file. There may be a third result column which will be either
"'r/o'" or "'r/w'" depending on whether the database file is read-only or
read-write. And there might be a fourth result column showing the
result of sqlite3_txn_state() for that database file.

sqlite> .databases

The ".fullschema" dot-command works like the ".schema" command

in that it displays the entire database schema. But ".fullschema" also
includes dumps of the statistics tables "sqlite_stat1", "sqlite_stat3",
and "sqlite_stat4", if they exist. The ".fullschema" command normally
provides all of the information needed to exactly recreate a query
plan for a specific query. When reporting suspected problems with
the SQLite query planner to the SQLite development team,
developers are requested to provide the complete ".fullschema"
output as part of the trouble report. Note that the sqlite_stat3 and
sqlite_stat4 tables contain samples of index entries and so might
contain sensitive data, so do not send the ".fullschema" output of a
proprietary database over a public channel.

7. Opening Database Files

The ".open" command opens a new database connection, after first

closing the previously opened database command. In its simplest
form, the ".open" command merely invokes sqlite3_open() on the file
named as its argument. Use the name ":memory:" to open a new in-
memory database that disappears when the CLI exits or when the
".open" command is run again.

If the --new option is included with ".open", then the database is reset
prior to being opened. Any prior data is destroyed. This is a
destructive overwrite of prior data and no confirmation is requested,
so use this option carefully.

The --readonly option opens the database in read-only mode. Write

will be prohibited.
The --deserialize option causes the entire content of the on-disk file
to be read into memory and then opened as an in-memory database
using the sqlite3_deserialize() interface. This will, of course, require a
lot of memory if you have a large database. Also, any changes you
make to the database will not be saved back to disk unless you
explicitly save them using the ".save" or ".backup" commands.

The --append option causes the SQLite database to be appended to

an existing file rather than working as a stand-alone file. See the
appendvfs extension for more information.

The --zip option causes the specified input file to be interpreted as a

ZIP archive instead of as an SQLite database file.

The --hexdb option causes the database content to be to be read

from subsequent lines of input in a hex format, rather than from a
separate file on disk. The "dbtotxt" command-line tool can be used to
generate the appropriate text for a database. The --hexdb option is
intended for use by the SQLite developers for testing purposes. We
do not know of any use cases for this option outside of internal
SQLite testing and development.

8. Redirecting I/O

8.1. Writing results to a file

By default, sqlite3 sends query results to standard output. You can
change this using the ".output" and ".once" commands. Just put the
name of an output file as an argument to .output and all subsequent
query results will be written to that file. Or use the .once command
instead of .output and output will only be redirected for the single
next command before reverting to the console. Use .output with no
arguments to begin writing to standard output again. For example:

sqlite> .mode list

sqlite> .separator |
sqlite> .output test_file_1.txt
sqlite> select * from tbl1;
sqlite> .exit
$ cat test_file_1.txt
hello|10
goodbye|20
$

If the first character of the ".output" or ".once" filename is a pipe

symbol ("|") then the remaining characters are treated as a command
and the output is sent to that command. This makes it easy to pipe
the results of a query into some other process. For example, the
"open -f" command on a Mac opens a text editor to display the
content that it reads from standard input. So to see the results of a
query in a text editor, one could type:
sqlite> .once | open -f
sqlite> SELECT * FROM bigTable;

If the ".output" or ".once" commands have an argument of "-e" then

output is collected into a temporary file and the system text editor is
invoked on that text file. Thus, the command ".once -e" achieves the
same result as ".once '|open -f'" but with the benefit of being portable
across all systems.

If the ".output" or ".once" commands have a "-x" argument, that

causes them to accumulate output as Comma-Separated-Values
(CSV) in a temporary file, then invoke the default system utility for
viewing CSV files (usually a spreadsheet program) on the result. This
is a quick way of sending the result of a query to a spreadsheet for
easy viewing:

sqlite> .once -x
sqlite> SELECT * FROM bigTable;

The ".excel" command is an alias for ".once -x". It does exactly the
same thing.

8.2. Reading SQL from a file

In interactive mode, sqlite3 reads input text (either SQL statements
or dot-commands) from the keyboard. You can also redirect input
from a file when you launch sqlite3, of course, but then you do not
have the ability to interact with the program. Sometimes it is useful
to run an SQL script contained in a file entering other commands
from the command-line. For this, the ".read" dot-command is
provided.

The ".read" command takes a single argument which is (usually) the

name of a file from which to read input text.

sqlite> .read myscript.sql

The ".read" command temporarily stops reading from the keyboard

and instead takes its input from the file named. Upon reaching the
end of the file, input reverts back to the keyboard. The script file may
contain dot-commands, just like ordinary interactive input.

If the argument to ".read" begins with the "|" character, then instead
of opening the argument as a file, it runs the argument (without the
leading "|") as a command, then uses the output of that command as
its input. Thus, if you have a script that generates SQL, you can
execute that SQL directly using a command similar to the following:

sqlite> .read |myscript.bat

8.3. File I/O Functions

The command-line shell adds two application-defined SQL functions

that facilitate reading content from a file into a table column, and
writing the content of a column into a file, respectively.

The readfile(X) SQL function reads the entire content of the file
named X and returns that content as a BLOB. This can be used to
load content into a table. For example:

sqlite> CREATE TABLE images(name TEXT, type TEXT,

img BLOB);
sqlite> INSERT INTO images(name,type,img)
...>
VALUES('icon','jpeg',readfile('icon.jpg'));

The writefile(X,Y) SQL function write the blob Y into the file named X
and returns the number of bytes written. Use this function to extract
the content of a single table column into a file. For example:

sqlite> SELECT writefile('icon.jpg',img) FROM

images WHERE name='icon';

Note that the readfile(X) and writefile(X,Y) functions are extension

functions and are not built into the core SQLite library. These routines
are available as a loadable extension in the ext/misc/fileio.c source
file in the SQLite source code repositories.

8.4. The edit() SQL function

The CLI has another built-in SQL function named edit(). Edit() takes
one or two arguments. The first argument is a value - often a large
multi-line string to be edited. The second argument is the invocation
for a text editor. (It may include options to affect the editor's
behavior.) If the second argument is omitted, the VISUAL
environment variable is used. The edit() function writes its first
argument into a temporary file, invokes the editor on the temporary
file, rereads the file back into memory after the editor is done, then
returns the edited text.

The edit() function can be used to make changes to large text values.
For example:

sqlite> UPDATE docs SET body=edit(body) WHERE

name='report-15';

In this example, the content of the docs.body field for the entry
where docs.name is "report-15" will be sent to the editor. After the
editor returns, the result will be written back into the docs.body field.
The default operation of edit() is to invoke a text editor. But by using
an alternative edit program in the second argument, you can also get
it to edit images or other non-text resources. For example, if you
want to modify a JPEG image that happens to be stored in a field of
a table, you could run:

sqlite> UPDATE pics SET img=edit(img,'gimp')

WHERE id='pic-1542';

The edit program can also be used as a viewer, by simply ignoring the
return value. For example, to merely look at the image above, you
might run:

sqlite> SELECT length(edit(img,'gimp')) WHERE

id='pic-1542';

8.5. Importing files as CSV or other formats

Use the ".import" command to import CSV (comma separated value)

or similarly delimited data into an SQLite table. The ".import"
command takes two arguments which are the source from which
data is to be read and the name of the SQLite table into which the
data is to be inserted. The source argument is the name of a file to
be read or, if it begins with a "|" character, it specifies a command
which will be run to produce the input data.
Note that it may be important to set the "mode" before running the
".import" command. This is prudent to prevent the command-line
shell from trying to interpret the input file text as some format other
than how the file is structured. If the --csv or --ascii options are used,
they control import input delimiters. Otherwise, the delimiters are
those in effect for the current output mode.

To import into a table not in the "main" schema, the --schema option
may be used to specify that the table is in some other schema. This
can be useful for ATTACH'ed databases or to import into a TEMP
table.

When .import is run, its treatment of the first input row depends upon
whether the target table already exists. If it does not exist, the table
is automatically created and the content of the first input row is used
to set the name of all the columns in the table. In this case, the table
data content is taken from the second and subsequent input rows. If
the target table already exists, every row of the input, including the
first, is taken to be actual data content. If the input file contains an
initial row of column labels, you can make the .import command skip
that initial row using the "--skip 1" option.

Here is an example usage, loading a pre-existing temporary table

from a CSV file which has column names in its first row:
sqlite> .import --csv --skip 1 --schema temp
C:/work/somedata.csv tab1

8.6. Export to CSV

To export an SQLite table (or part of a table) as CSV, simply set the
"mode" to "csv" and then run a query to extract the desired rows of
the table.

sqlite> .headers on
sqlite> .mode csv
sqlite> .once c:/work/dataout.csv
sqlite> SELECT * FROM tab1;
sqlite> .system c:/work/dataout.csv

In the example above, the ".headers on" line causes column labels to
be printed as the first row of output. This means that the first row of
the resulting CSV file will contain column labels. If column labels are
not desired, set ".headers off" instead. (The ".headers off" setting is
the default and can be omitted if the headers have not been
previously turned on.)

The line ".once FILENAME" causes all query output to go into the
named file instead of being printed on the console. In the example
above, that line causes the CSV content to be written into a file
named "C:/work/dataout.csv".

The final line of the example (the ".system c:/work/dataout.csv") has

the same effect as double-clicking on the c:/work/dataout.csv file in
windows. This will typically bring up a spreadsheet program to
display the CSV file.

That command only works as written on Windows. The equivalent

line on a Mac would be:

sqlite> .system open dataout.csv

On Linux and other unix systems you will need to enter something
like:

sqlite> .system xdg-open dataout.csv

8.6.1. Export to Excel

To simplify export to a spreadsheet, the CLI provides the ".excel"

command which captures the output of a single query and sends
that output to the default spreadsheet program on the host
computer. Use it like this:
sqlite> .excel
sqlite> SELECT * FROM tab;

The command above writes the output of the query as CSV into a
temporary file, invokes the default handler for CSV files (usually the
preferred spreadsheet program such as Excel or LibreOffice), then
deletes the temporary file. This is essentially a short-hand method of
doing the sequence of ".csv", ".once", and ".system" commands
described above.

The ".excel" command is really an alias for ".once -x". The -x option to
.once causes it to writes results as CSV into a temporary file that is
named with a ".csv" suffix, then invoke the systems default handler
for CSV files.

There is also a ".once -e" command which works similarly, except

that it names the temporary file with a ".txt" suffix so that the default
text editor for the system will be invoked, instead of the default
spreadsheet.

9. Accessing ZIP Archives As Database Files

In addition to reading and writing SQLite database files, the sqlite3

program will also read and write ZIP archives. Simply specify a ZIP
archive filename in place of an SQLite database filename on the
initial command line, or in the ".open" command, and sqlite3 will
automatically detect that the file is a ZIP archive instead of an
SQLite database and will open it as such. This works regardless of
file suffix. So you can open JAR, DOCX, and ODP files and any other
file format that is really a ZIP archive and SQLite will read it for you.

A ZIP archive appears to be a database containing a single table with

the following schema:

CREATE TABLE zip(

name, // Name of the file
mode, // Unix-style file permissions
mtime, // Timestamp, seconds since 1970
sz, // File size after decompression
rawdata, // Raw compressed file data
data, // Uncompressed file content
method // ZIP compression method code
);

So, for example, if you wanted to see the compression efficiency

(expressed as the size of the compressed content relative to the
original uncompressed file size) for all files in the ZIP archive, sorted
from most compressed to least compressed, you could run a query
like this:

sqlite> SELECT name, (100.0*length(rawdata))/sz

FROM zip ORDER BY 2;
Or using file I/O functions, you can extract elements of the ZIP
archive:

sqlite> SELECT writefile(name,content) FROM zip

...> WHERE name LIKE 'docProps/%';

9.1. How ZIP archive access is implemented

The command-line shell uses the Zipfile virtual table to access ZIP
archives. You can see this by running the ".schema" command when
a ZIP archive is open:

sqlite> .schema
CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE zip USING
zipfile('document.docx')
/* zip(name,mode,mtime,sz,rawdata,data,method)
*/;

When opening a file, if the command-line client discovers that the file
is ZIP archive instead of an SQLite database, it actually opens an in-
memory database and then in that in-memory database it creates an
instance of the Zipfile virtual table that is attached to the ZIP archive.

The special processing for opening ZIP archives is a trick of the

command-line shell, not the core SQLite library. So if you want to
open a ZIP archive as a database in your application, you will need to
activate the Zipfile virtual table module then run an appropriate
CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE statement.

10. Converting An Entire Database To A Text

File

Use the ".dump" command to convert the entire contents of a

database into a single UTF-8 text file. This file can be converted back
into a database by piping it back into sqlite3.

A good way to make an archival copy of a database is this:

$ sqlite3 ex1 .dump | gzip -c >ex1.dump.gz

This generates a file named ex1.dump.gz that contains everything

you need to reconstruct the database at a later time, or on another
machine. To reconstruct the database, just type:

$ zcat ex1.dump.gz | sqlite3 ex2

The text format is pure SQL so you can also use the .dump command
to export an SQLite database into other popular SQL database
engines. Like this:

$ createdb ex2
$ sqlite3 ex1 .dump | psql ex2

11. Recover Data From a Corrupted Database

Like the ".dump" command, ".recover" attempts to convert the entire

contents of a database file to text. The difference is that instead of
reading data using the normal SQL database interface, ".recover"
attempts to reassemble the database based on data extracted
directly from as many database pages as possible. If the database is
corrupt, ".recover" is usually able to recover data from all
uncorrupted parts of the database, whereas ".dump" stops when the
first sign of corruption is encountered.

If the ".recover" command recovers one or more rows that it cannot

attribute to any database table, the output script creates a
"lost_and_found" table to store the orphaned rows. The schema of
the lost_and_found table is as follows:

CREATE TABLE lost_and_found(

rootpgno INTEGER, -- root page of
tree pgno is a part of
pgno INTEGER, -- page number
row was found on
nfield INTEGER, -- number of
fields in row
id INTEGER, -- value of
rowid field, or NULL
c0, c1, c2, c3... -- columns for
fields of row
);

The "lost_and_found" table contains one row for each orphaned row
recovered from the database. Additionally, there is one row for each
recovered index entry that cannot be attributed to any SQL index.
This is because, in an SQLite database, the same format is used to
store SQL index entries and WITHOUT ROWID table entries.

Column Contents

Even though it may not be possible to attribute the

row to a specific database table, it may be part of a
tree structure within the database file. In this case,
the root page number of that tree structure is stored
in this column. Or, if the page the row was found on
rootpgno is not part of a tree structure, this column stores a
copy of the value in column "pgno" - the page number
of the page the row was found on. In many, although
not all, cases, all rows in the lost_and_found table
with the same value in this column belong to the
same table.
The page number of the page on which this row was
pgno
found.

nfield The number of fields in this row.

If the row comes from a WITHOUT ROWID table, this

id column contains NULL. Otherwise, it contains the 64-
bit integer rowid value for the row.

The values for each column of the row are stored in

these columns. The ".recover" command creates the
c0, c1, c2...
lost_and_found table with as many columns as
required by the longest orphaned row.

If the recovered database schema already contains a table named

"lost_and_found", the ".recover" command uses the name
"lost_and_found0". If the name "lost_and_found0" is also already
taken, "lost_and_found1", and so on. The default name
"lost_and_found" may be overridden by invoking ".recover" with the --
lost-and-found switch. For example, to have the output script call the
table "orphaned_rows":

sqlite> .recover --lost-and-found orphaned_rows

12. Loading Extensions

You can add new custom application-defined SQL functions,
collating sequences, virtual tables, and VFSes to the command-line
shell at run-time using the ".load" command. First, build the
extension as a DLL or shared library (as described in the Run-Time
Loadable Extensions document) then type:

sqlite> .load /path/to/my_extension

Note that SQLite automatically adds the appropriate extension suffix

(".dll" on windows, ".dylib" on Mac, ".so" on most other unixes) to the
extension filename. It is generally a good idea to specify the full
pathname of the extension.

SQLite computes the entry point for the extension based on the
extension filename. To override this choice, simply add the name of
the extension as a second argument to the ".load" command.

Source code for several useful extensions can be found in the

ext/misc subdirectory of the SQLite source tree. You can use these
extensions as-is, or as a basis for creating your own custom
extensions to address your own particular needs.

13. Cryptographic Hashes Of Database

Content
The ".sha3sum" dot-command computes a SHA3 hash of the content
of the database. To be clear, the hash is computed over the database
content, not its representation on disk. This means, for example, that
a VACUUM or similar data-preserving transformation does not
change the hash.

The ".sha3sum" command supports options "--sha3-224", "--sha3-

256", "--sha3-384", and "--sha3-512" to define which variety of SHA3
to use for the hash. The default is SHA3-256.

The database schema (in the sqlite_schema table) is not normally

included in the hash, but can be added by the "--schema" option.

The ".sha3sum" command takes a single optional argument which is

a LIKE pattern. If this option is present, only tables whose names
match the LIKE pattern will be hashed.

The ".sha3sum" command is implemented with the help of the

extension function "sha3_query()" that is included with the
command-line shell.

14. Database Content Self-Tests

The ".selftest" command attempts to verify that a database is intact

and is not corrupt. The .selftest command looks for a table in
schema named "selftest" and defined as follows:
CREATE TABLE selftest(
tno INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, -- Test number
op TEXT, -- 'run' or 'memo'
cmd TEXT, -- SQL command to
run, or text of "memo"
ans TEXT -- Expected result of
the SQL command
);

The .selftest command reads the rows of the selftest table in

selftest.tno order. For each 'memo' row, it writes the text in 'cmd' to
the output. For each 'run' row, it runs the 'cmd' text as SQL and
compares the result to the value in 'ans', and shows an error
message if the results differ.

If there is no selftest table, the ".selftest" command runs PRAGMA

integrity_check.

The ".selftest --init" command creates the selftest table if it does not
already exists, then appends entries that check the SHA3 hash of the
content of all tables. Subsequent runs of ".selftest" will verify that the
database has not been changed in any way. To generate tests to
verify that a subset of the tables is unchanged, simply run ".selftest --
init" then DELETE the selftest rows that refer to tables that are not
constant.
15. SQLite Archive Support

The ".archive" dot-command and the "-A" command-line option

provide built-in support for the SQLite Archive format. The interface
is similar to that of the "tar" command on unix systems. Each
invocation of the ".ar" command must specify a single command
option. The following commands are available for ".archive":

Option Long Option Purpose

Create a new archive containing specified

-c --create
files.

-x --extract Extract specified files from archive.

-i --insert Add files to existing archive.

-r --remove Remove files from the archive.

-t --list List the files in the archive.

Add files to existing archive if they have

-u --update
changed.

As well as the command option, each invocation of ".ar" may specify

one or more modifier options. Some modifier options require an
argument, some do not. The following modifier options are available:
Option Long Option Purpose

-v --verbose List each file as it is processed.

If specified, use file FILE as the archive.

-f FILE --file FILE Otherwise, assume that the current "main"
database is the archive to be operated on.

Like --file, use file FILE as the archive, but

-a --append open the file using the apndvfs VFS so that
FILE FILE the archive will be appended to the end of
FILE if FILE already exists.

If specified, interpret all relative paths as

--directory
-C DIR relative to DIR, instead of the current
DIR
working directory.

Use glob(Y,X) to match arguments against

-g --glob
names in the archive.

Show the SQL that would be run to carry

-n --dryrun out the archive operation, but do not
actually change anything.

All subsequent command line words are

-- --
command arguments, not options.
For command-line usage, add the short style command-line options
immediately following the "-A", without an intervening space. All
subsequent arguments are considered to be part of the .archive
command. For example, the following commands are equivalent:

sqlite3 new_archive.db -Acv file1 file2 file3

sqlite3 new_archive.db ".ar -cv file1 file2
file3"

Long and short style options may be mixed. For example, the
following are equivalent:

-- Two ways to create a new archive named

"new_archive.db" containing
-- files "file1", "file2" and "file3".
.ar -c --file new_archive.db file1 file2 file3
.ar -f new_archive.db --create file1 file2 file3

Alternatively, the first argument following to ".ar" may be the

concatenation of the short form of all required options (without the "-
" characters). In this case arguments for options requiring them are
read from the command line next, and any remaining words are
considered command arguments. For example:

-- Create a new archive "new_archive.db"

containing files "file1" and
-- "file2" from directory "dir1".
.ar cCf dir1 new_archive.db file1 file2 file3

15.1. SQLite Archive Create Command

Create a new archive, overwriting any existing archive (either in the

current "main" db or in the file specified by a --file option). Each
argument following the options is a file to add to the archive.
Directories are imported recursively. See above for examples.

15.2. SQLite Archive Extract Command

Extract files from the archive (either to the current working directory
or to the directory specified by a --directory option). Files or
directories whose names match the arguments, as affected by the --
glob option, are extracted. Or, if no arguments follow the options, all
files and directories are extracted. Any specified directories are
extracted recursively. It is an error if any specified names or match
patterns cannot be found in the archive.

-- Extract all files from the archive in the

current "main" db to the
-- current working directory. List files as they
are extracted.
.ar --extract --verbose
-- Extract file "file1" from archive "ar.db" to
directory "dir1".
.ar fCx ar.db dir1 file1

-- Extract files with ".h" extension to directory

"headers".
.ar -gCx headers *.h

15.3. SQLite Archive List Command

List the contents of the archive. If no arguments are specified, then

all files are listed. Otherwise, only those which match the arguments,
as affected by the --glob option, are listed. Currently, the --verbose
option does not change the behaviour of this command. That may
change in the future.

-- List contents of archive in current "main"

db..
.ar --list

15.4. SQLite Archive Insert And Update

Commands
The --update and --insert commands work like --create command,
except that they do not delete the current archive before
commencing. New versions of files silently replace existing files with
the same names, but otherwise the initial contents of the archive (if
any) remain intact.

For the --insert command, all files listed are inserted into the archive.
For the --update command, files are only inserted if they do not
previously exist in the archive, or if their "mtime" or "mode" is
different from what is currently in the archive.

Compatibility node: Prior to SQLite version 3.28.0 (2019-04-16) only

the --update option was supported but that option worked like --insert
in that it always reinserted every file regardless of whether or not it
had changed.

15.5. SQLite Archive Remove Command

The --remove command deletes files and directories which match

the provided arguments (if any) as affected by the --glob option. It is
an error to provide arguments which match nothing in the archive.

15.6. Operations On ZIP Archives

If FILE is a ZIP archive rather than an SQLite Archive, the ".archive"

command and the "-A" command-line option still work. This is
accomplished using of the zipfile extension. Hence, the following
commands are roughly equivalent, differing only in output formatting:

Traditional Command Equivalent sqlite3.exe Command

unzip archive.zip sqlite3 -Axf archive.zip

unzip -l archive.zip sqlite3 -Atvf archive.zip

zip -r archive2.zip dir sqlite3 -Acf archive2.zip dir

15.7. SQL Used To Implement SQLite Archive

Operations

The various SQLite Archive Archive commands are implemented

using SQL statements. Application developers can easily add SQLite
Archive Archive reading and writing support to their own projects by
running the appropriate SQL.

To see what SQL statements are used to implement an SQLite

Archive operation, add the --dryrun or -n option. This causes the SQL
to be displayed but inhibits the execution of the SQL.

The SQL statements used to implement SQLite Archive operations

make use of various loadable extensions. These extensions are all
available in the SQLite source tree in the ext/misc/ subfolder. The
extensions needed for full SQLite Archive support include:
1. fileio.c — This extension adds SQL functions readfile() and
writefile() for reading and writing content from files on disk. The
fileio.c extension also includes fsdir() table-valued function for
listing the contents of a directory and the lsmode() function for
converting numeric st_mode integers from the stat() system call
into human-readable strings after the fashion of the "ls -l"
command.

2. sqlar.c — This extension adds the sqlar_compress() and

sqlar_uncompress() functions that are needed to compress and
uncompress file content as it is inserted and extracted from an
SQLite Archive.

3. zipfile.c — This extension implements the "zipfile(FILE)" table-

valued function which is used to read ZIP archives. This extension
is only needed when reading ZIP archives instead of SQLite
archives.

4. appendvfs.c — This extension implements a new VFS that allows

an SQLite database to be appended to some other file, such as an
executable. This extension is only needed if the --append option to
the .archive command is used.

16. SQL Parameters

SQLite allows bound parameters to appear in an SQL statement
anywhere that a literal value is allowed. The values for these
parameters are set using the sqlite3_bind_...() family of APIs.

Parameters can be either named or unnamed. An unnamed

parameter is a single question mark ("?"). Named parameters are a
"?" followed immediately by a number (ex: "?15" or "?123") or one of
the characters "$", ":", or "@" followed by an alphanumeric name (ex:
"$var1", ":xyz", "@bingo").

This command-line shell leaves unnamed parameters unbound,

meaning that they will have a value of an SQL NULL, but named
parameters might be assigned values. If there exists a TEMP table
named "sqlite_parameters" with a schema like this:

CREATE TEMP TABLE sqlite_parameters(

key TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
value
) WITHOUT ROWID;

And if there is an entry in that table where the key column exactly
matches the name of parameter (including the initial "?", "$", ":", or
"@" character) then the parameter is assigned the value of the value
column. If no entry exists, the parameter defaults to NULL.
The ".parameter" command exists to simplify managing this table.
The ".parameter init" command (often abbreviated as just ".param
init") creates the temp.sqlite_parameters table if it does not already
exist. The ".param list" command shows all entries in the
temp.sqlite_parameters table. The ".param clear" command drops
the temp.sqlite_parameters table. The ".param set KEY VALUE" and
".param unset KEY" commands create or delete entries from the
temp.sqlite_parameters table.

The VALUE passed to ".param set KEY VALUE" can be either a SQL
literal or any other SQL expression or query which can be evaluated
to yield a value. This allows values of differing types to be set. If such
evaluation fails, the provided VALUE is instead quoted and inserted
as text. Because such initial evaluation may or may not fail
depending upon the VALUE content, the reliable way to get a text
value is to enclose it with single-quotes protected from the above-
described command-tail parsing. For example, (unless one intends a
value of -1365):

.parameter init
.parameter set @phoneNumber "'202-456-1111'"

Note that the double-quotes serve to protect the single-quotes and

ensure that the quoted text is parsed as one argument.
The temp.sqlite_parameters table only provides values for
parameters in the command-line shell. The temp.sqlite_parameter
table has no effect on queries that are run directly using the SQLite
C-language API. Individual applications are expected to implement
their own parameter binding. You can search for "sqlite_parameters"
in the command-line shell source code to see how the command-
line shell does parameter binding, and use that as a hint for how to
implement it yourself.

17. Index Recommendations (SQLite Expert)

Note: This command is experimental. It may be removed or the

interface modified in incompatible ways at some point in the future.

For most non-trivial SQL databases, the key to performance is

creating the right SQL indexes. In this context "the right SQL indexes"
means those that cause the queries that an application needs to
optimize run fast. The ".expert" command can assist with this by
proposing indexes that might assist with specific queries, were they
present in the database.

The ".expert" command is issued first, followed by the SQL query on

a separate line. For example, consider the following session:

sqlite> CREATE TABLE x1(a, b, c);

-- Create table in database
sqlite> .expert
sqlite> SELECT * FROM x1 WHERE a=? AND b>?;
-- Analyze this SELECT
CREATE INDEX x1_idx_000123a7 ON x1(a, b);

0|0|0|SEARCH TABLE x1 USING INDEX x1_idx_000123a7

(a=? AND b>?)

sqlite> CREATE INDEX x1ab ON x1(a, b);

-- Create the recommended index
sqlite> .expert
sqlite> SELECT * FROM x1 WHERE a=? AND b>?;
-- Re-analyze the same SELECT
(no new indexes)

0|0|0|SEARCH TABLE x1 USING INDEX x1ab (a=? AND

b>?)

In the above, the user creates the database schema (a single table -
"x1"), and then uses the ".expert" command to analyze a query, in this
case "SELECT * FROM x1 WHERE a=? AND b>?". The shell tool
recommends that the user create a new index (index
"x1_idx_000123a7") and outputs the plan that the query would use in
EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN format. The user then creates an index with
an equivalent schema and runs the analysis on the same query
again. This time the shell tool does not recommend any new indexes,
and outputs the plan that SQLite will use for the query given the
existing indexes.

The ".expert" command accepts the following options:

Option Purpose

If present, output a more verbose report for

‑‑verbose
each query analyzed.

‑‑sample PERCENT This parameter defaults to 0, causing the

".expert" command to recommend indexes
based on the query and database schema
alone. This is similar to the way the SQLite
query planner selects indexes for queries if
the user has not run the ANALYZE command
on the database to generate data distribution
statistics.
If this option is passed a non-zero argument,
the ".expert" command generates similar
data distribution statistics for all indexes
considered based on PERCENT percent of
the rows currently stored in each database
table. For databases with unusual data
distributions, this may lead to better index
recommendations, particularly if the
application intends to run ANALYZE.
For small databases and modern CPUs,
there is usually no reason not to pass "--
sample 100". However, gathering data
distribution statistics can be expensive for
large database tables. If the operation is too
slow, try passing a smaller value for the --
sample option.

The functionality described in this section may be integrated into

other applications or tools using the SQLite expert extension code.

A database schema which incorporate SQL custom functions made

available via the extension load mechanism may need special
provision to work with the .expert feature. Because the feature uses
additional connections to implement its functionality, those custom
functions must be made available to those additional connections.
This can be done by means of the extension load/usage options
described at Automatically Load Statically Linked Extensions and
Persistent Loadable Extensions.

18. Working With Multiple Database

Connections
Beginning with version 3.37.0 (2021-11-27), the CLI has the ability to
hold multiple database connections open at once. Only one
database connection is active at a time. The inactive connections
are still open but are idle.

Use the ".connection" dot-command (often abbreviated as just

".conn") to see a list of database connections and an indication of
which one is currently active. Each database connection is identified
by an integer between 0 and 9. (There can be at most 10
simultaneously open connections.) Change to another database
connection, creating it if it does not already exist, by typing the
".conn" command followed by its number. Close a database
connection by typing ".conn close N" where N is the connection
number.

Though the underlying SQLite database connections are completely

independent of one another, many of the CLI settings, such as the
output format, are shared across all database connections. Thus,
changing the output mode in one connection will change it in them
all. On the other hand, some dot-commands such as .open only
affect the current connection.

19. Miscellaneous Extension Features

The CLI is built with several SQLite extensions that are not included
with the SQLite library. A few add features not described in the
preceding sections, namely:

the UINT collating sequence which treats unsigned integers

embedded in text according to their value, along with other text,
for ordering;
decimal arithmetic as provided by the decimal extension;
the generate_series() table-valued function; and
support for POSIX extended regular expressions bound to the
REGEXP operator.

20. Other Dot Commands

There are many other dot-commands available in the command-line

shell. See the ".help" command for a complete list for any particular
version and build of SQLite.

21. Using sqlite3 in a shell script

One way to use sqlite3 in a shell script is to use "echo" or "cat" to

generate a sequence of commands in a file, then invoke sqlite3 while
redirecting input from the generated command file. This works fine
and is appropriate in many circumstances. But as an added
convenience, sqlite3 allows a single SQL command to be entered on
the command line as a second argument after the database name.
When the sqlite3 program is launched with two arguments, the
second argument is passed to the SQLite library for processing, the
query results are printed on standard output in list mode, and the
program exits. This mechanism is designed to make sqlite3 easy to
use in conjunction with programs like "awk". For example:

$ sqlite3 ex1 'select * from tbl1' \

> | awk '{printf "<tr><td>%s<td>%s\n",$1,$2 }'
<tr><td>hello<td>10
<tr><td>goodbye<td>20
$

22. Marking The End Of An SQL Statement

SQLite commands are normally terminated by a semicolon. In the

CLI you can also use the word "GO" (case-insensitive) or a slash
character "/" on a line by itself to end a command. These are used by
SQL Server and Oracle, respectively, and are supported by the SQLite
CLI for compatibility. These won't work in sqlite3_exec(), because the
CLI translates these inputs into a semicolon before passing them
down into the SQLite core.

23. Command-line Options

There are many command-line options available to the CLI. Use the --
help command-line option to see a list:
$ sqlite3 --help
Usage: ./sqlite3 [OPTIONS] FILENAME [SQL]
FILENAME is the name of an SQLite database. A new
database is created
if the file does not previously exist.
OPTIONS include:
-A ARGS... run ".archive ARGS" and
exit
-append append the database to
the end of the file
-ascii set output mode to
'ascii'
-bail stop after hitting an
error
-batch force batch I/O
-box set output mode to 'box'
-column set output mode to
'column'
-cmd COMMAND run "COMMAND" before
reading stdin
-csv set output mode to 'csv'
-deserialize open the database using
sqlite3_deserialize()
-echo print commands before
execution
-init FILENAME read/process named file
-[no]header turn headers on or off
-help show this message
-html set output mode to HTML
-interactive force interactive I/O
-json set output mode to 'json'
-line set output mode to 'line'
-list set output mode to 'list'
-lookaside SIZE N use N entries of SZ bytes
for lookaside memory
-markdown set output mode to
'markdown'
-maxsize N maximum size for a --
deserialize database
-memtrace trace all memory
allocations and deallocations
-mmap N default mmap size set to
N
-newline SEP set output row separator.
Default: '\n'
-nofollow refuse to open symbolic
links to database files
-nonce STRING set the safe-mode escape
nonce
-nullvalue TEXT set text string for NULL
values. Default ''
-pagecache SIZE N use N slots of SZ bytes
each for page cache memory
-quote set output mode to
'quote'
-readonly open the database read-
only
-safe enable safe-mode
-separator SEP set output column
separator. Default: '|'
-stats print memory stats before
each finalize
-table set output mode to
'table'
-tabs set output mode to 'tabs'
-version show SQLite version
-vfs NAME use NAME as the default
VFS
-zip open the file as a ZIP
Archive

The CLI is flexible regarding command-line option formatting. Either

one or two leading "-" characters are permitted. Thus "-box" and "--
box" mean the same thing. Command-line options are processed
from left to right. Hence a "--box" option will override a prior "--quote"
option.
Most of the command-line options are self-explanatory, but a few
merit additional discussion below.

23.1. The --safe command-line option

The --safe command-line option attempts to disable all features of

the CLI that might cause any changes to the host computer other
than changes to the specific database file named on the command-
line. The idea is that if you receive a large SQL script from an
unknown or untrusted source, you can run that script to see what it
does without risking an exploit by using the --safe option. The --safe
option disables (among other things):

The .open command, unless the --hexdb option is used or the

filename is ":memory:". This prevents the script from reading or
writing any database files not named on the original command-
line.
The ATTACH SQL command.
SQL functions that have potentially harmful side-effects, such as
edit(), fts3_tokenizer(), load_extension(), readfile() and writefile().
The .backup and .save commands.
The .log command.
The .shell and .system commands.
The .excel, .once and .output commands.
Other commands that can have deleterious side effects.
Basically, any feature of the CLI that reads or writes from a file on
disk other than the main database file is disabled.

23.1.1. Bypassing --safe restrictions for specific

commands

If the "--nonce NONCE" option is also included on the command-line,

for some large and arbitrary NONCE string, then the ".nonce NONCE"
command (with the same large nonce string) will permit the next
SQL statement or dot-command to bypass the --safe restrictions.

Suppose you want to run a suspicious script and the script requires
one or two of the features that --safe normally disables. For example,
suppose it needs to ATTACH one additional database. Or suppose
the script needs to load a specific extension. This can be
accomplished by preceding the (carefully audited) ATTACH
statement or the ".load" command with an appropriate ".nonce"
command and supplying the same nonce value using the "--nonce"
command-line option. Those specific commands will then be
allowed to execute normally, but all other unsafe commands will still
be restricted.

The use of ".nonce" is dangerous in the sense that a mistake can

allow a hostile script to damage your system. Therefore, use ".nonce"
carefully, sparingly, and as a last resort when there are no other ways
to get a script to run under --safe mode.
24. Compiling the sqlite3 program from
sources

To compile the command-line shell on unix systems and on Windows

with MinGW, the usual configure-make command works:

sh configure; make

The configure-make works whether you are building from the

canonical sources from the source tree, or from an amalgamated
bundle. There are few dependencies. When building from canonical
sources, a working tclsh is required. If using an amalgamation
bundle, all the preprocessing work normally done by tclsh will have
already been carried out and only normal build tools are required.

A working zlib compression library is needed in order for the .archive

command to operate.

On Windows with MSVC, use nmake with the Makefile.msc:

nmake /f Makefile.msc

For correct operation of the .archive command, make a copy of the

zlib source code into the compat/zlib subdirectory of the source tree
and compile this way:
nmake /f Makefile.msc USE_ZLIB=1

24.1. Do-It-Yourself Builds

The source code to the sqlite3 command line interface is in a single

file named "shell.c". The shell.c source file is generated from other
sources, but most of the code for shell.c can be found in
src/shell.c.in. (Regenerate shell.c by typing "make shell.c" from the
canonical source tree.) Compile the shell.c file (together with the
sqlite3 library source code) to generate the executable. For example:

gcc -o sqlite3 shell.c sqlite3.c -ldl -lpthread -

lz -lm

The following additional compile-time options are recommended in

order to provide a full-featured command-line shell: