Documentation Source Text

<title>SQLite Autoincrement</title>
<h1>SQLite Autoincrement</h1>
<tcl>hd_keywords AUTOINCREMENT</tcl>




























<p>
^In SQLite, table rows normally have a 64-bit signed integer [ROWID]
which is unique among all rows in the same table.
([WITHOUT ROWID] tables are the exception.)
</p>

<title>SQLite Autoincrement</title>

<tcl>hd_keywords AUTOINCREMENT</tcl>
<h1 align=center>Autoincrement In SQLite</h1>

<h2>Summary</h2>

<ol type="1">
<li><p>
  The AUTOINCREMENT keyword imposes extra CPU, memory, disk space,
  and disk I/O overhead and should be avoided if not strictly needed.
  It is usually not needed.
<li><p>
  In SQLite, a column with type INTEGER PRIMARY KEY is an alias for the [ROWID]
  (except in [WITHOUT ROWID] tables) which is always a 64-bit signed integer.
<li><p>
  On an [INSERT], if the ROWID or INTEGER PRIMARY KEY column is not 
  explicitly given a value, then it
  will be filled automatically with an unused integer, usually the
  one more than the largest ROWID currently in use.
  This is true regardless of whether or not the AUTOINCREMENT keyword is used.
<li><p>
  If the AUTOINCREMENT keyword appears after INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, that
  changes the automatic ROWID assignment algorithm to prevent
  the reuse of ROWIDs over the lifetime of the database.  In other words,
  the purpose of AUTOINCREMENT is to prevent the reuse of ROWIDs from
  previously deleted rows.
</ol>

<h2>Background</h2>

<p>
^In SQLite, table rows normally have a 64-bit signed integer [ROWID]
which is unique among all rows in the same table.
([WITHOUT ROWID] tables are the exception.)
</p>