Documentation Source Text

<title>Command Line Shell For SQLite</title>
<tcl>hd_keywords {CLI} {Command Line Interface} {command-line shell} \
     {command-line interface} </tcl>
<table_of_contents>

<tcl>hd_fragment intro</tcl>
<h1>Getting Started</h1>

<p>The SQLite project provides a simple command-line program named
<b>sqlite3</b> (or <b>sqlite3.exe</b> on Windows)
that allows the user to manually enter and execute SQL
statements against an SQLite database.  This document provides a brief
introduction on how to use the <b>sqlite3</b> program.

<p>Start the <b>sqlite3</b> program by typing "sqlite3" at the
command prompt, optionally followed 
by the name the file that holds the SQLite database.  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, then deleted when 
the "sqlite3" program exits.

<p>On startup, the <b>sqlite3</b> program will show a brief banner
message then prompt you to enter SQL.  Type in SQL statements (terminated

sqlite> (((select * from tbl1;)))
hello!|10
goodbye|20
sqlite>
}
</tclscript>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 be

Connected to a transient in-memory database.
Use ".open FILENAME" to reopen on a persistent database.
sqlite> (((.open ex1.db)))
sqlite> 
}</tclscript>

<p>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".</p>

<p>Alternatively, you can create a new database using the default temporary
storage, then save that database into a disk file using the ".save" command:

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

<tclscript>DisplayCode {
sqlite> (((.help)))
.archive ...           Manage SQL archives: ".archive --help" for details
.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
.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
.eqp on|off|full       Enable or disable automatic EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN
.exit                  Exit this program
.expert                EXPERIMENTAL. Suggest indexes for specified queries
.fullschema ?--indent? Show schema and the content of sqlite_stat tables
.headers on|off        Turn display of headers on or off
.help                  Show this message
.import FILE TABLE     Import data from FILE into TABLE
.imposter INDEX TABLE  Create imposter table TABLE on index INDEX
.indexes ?TABLE?       Show names of all indexes
                         If TABLE specified, only show indexes for tables

generates tests to verify that a subset of the tables are unchanged,
simply run ".selftest --init" then [DELETE] the selftest rows that
refer to tables that are not constant.  

<tcl>hd_fragment sqlar {SQL Archive} {.archive command}</tcl>
<h1>SQLAR Archive Support</h1>

<p>The ".archive" dot-command (often abbreviated as ".ar")
provides built-in support for the 
[https://sqlite.org/sqlar|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:

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