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 for-
mats. sqlite3 can also be used within shell scripts and other applica-
tions 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 3.43.0 2023-08-11 17:45:23
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 ses-
sion. 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 data-
base files, or perform administrative operations upon the attached data-
bases (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
The available commands differ by version and build options, so they are
not listed here. Please refer to your local copy for all available op-
tions.
INIT FILE
sqlite3 reads an initialization file to set the configuration of the in-
teractive environment. Throughout initialization, any previously speci-
fied 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 ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/sqlite3/sqliterc or ~/.sqliterc exists,
the first of those to be found is processed during startup. 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
https://sqlite.org/cli.html
https://sqlite.org/fiddle (a WebAssembly build of the CLI app)
The sqlite3-doc package.
AUTHOR
This manual page was originally written by Andreas Rottmann <rotty@de-
bian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).
It was subsequently revised by Bill Bumgarner <bbum@mac.com>, Laszlo
Boszormenyi <gcs@debian.hu>, and the sqlite3 developers.
Fri Aug 11 23:50:12 CET 2023 SQLITE3(1)
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