Documentation Source Text

<li>Added the <em>experimental</em> [sqlite3_snapshot_get()], [sqlite3_snapshot_open()],
    and [sqlite3_snapshot_free()] interfaces.  These are subject to change or removal in
    a subsequent release.
<li>Enhance the ['utc' modifier] in the [date and time functions] so that it is a no-op if
    the date/time is known to already be in UTC.  (This is not a compatibility break since
    the behavior has long been documented as "undefined" in that case.)
<li>Added the [json_group_array()] and [json_group_object()] SQL functions in the
    [json] extension.
<li>Many small performance optimizations.
<p><b>Portability enhancements:</b>
<li>Work around a sign-exension bug in the optimizer of the HP C compiler on HP/UX.
    [https://www.sqlite.org/src/fdiff?sbs=1&v1=869c95b0fc73026d&v2=232c242a0ccb3d67|(details)]
<p><b>Enhancements to the [command-line shell]:</b>
<li>Added the ".changes ON|OFF" and ".vfsinfo" [dot-commands].
<li>Translate between MBCS and UTF8 when
    running in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cmd.exe|cmd.exe] on Windows.
<p><b>Enhancements to makefiles:</b>
<li>Added the --enable-editline and --enable-static-shell options
    to the various autoconf-generated configure scripts.
<li>Omit all use of "awk" in the makefiles, to make building easier for MSVC users.
<p><b>Important fixes:</b>

}</tcl>

<p>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.

<tcl>hd_fragment dotcmd {dot-commands}</tcl>
<h3>Special commands to sqlite3 (dot-commands)</h3>

<p>
Most of the time, sqlite3 just reads lines of input and passes them
on to the SQLite library for execution.
But if an input line begins with a dot ("."), then
that line is 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.
</p>

<p>
For a listing of the available dot commands, you can enter ".help"
at any time.  For example:
</p>

<tcl>DisplayCode {
sqlite> (((.help)))
.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
.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

.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.
.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
.vfsname ?AUX?         Print the name of the VFS stack
.width NUM1 NUM2 ...   Set column widths for "column" mode
                         Negative values right-justify
sqlite> 
}</tcl>

<h3>Rules for "dot-commands"</h3>

<p>^The maximum parameter number is set at compile-time by
the [SQLITE_MAX_VARIABLE_NUMBER] macro.  ^(An individual [database connection]
D can reduce its maximum parameter number below the compile-time maximum
using the [sqlite3_limit](D, [SQLITE_LIMIT_VARIABLE_NUMBER],...) interface.)^
</p>

<tcl>hd_fragment like LIKE ESCAPE</tcl>
<h3>The LIKE, GLOB, REGEXP, and MATCH operators</h3>
<p>^The LIKE operator does a pattern matching comparison. ^The operand
to the right of the LIKE operator contains the pattern and the left hand
operand contains the string to match against the pattern.

<tcl>hd_puts "^A percent symbol (\"%\") in the LIKE pattern matches any
sequence of zero or more characters in the string.  ^An underscore
(\"_\") in the LIKE pattern matches any single character in the