Documentation Source Text

                         If TABLE specified, only dump tables matching
                         LIKE pattern TABLE.
.echo on|off           Turn command echo on or off
.eqp on|off            Enable or disable automatic EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN
.exit                  Exit this program
.explain ?on|off?      Turn output mode suitable for EXPLAIN on or off.
                         With no args, it turns EXPLAIN on.

.headers on|off        Turn display of headers on or off
.help                  Show this message
.import FILE TABLE     Import data from FILE into TABLE
.indices ?TABLE?       Show names of all indices
                         If TABLE specified, only show indices for tables
                         matching LIKE pattern TABLE.
.load FILE ?ENTRY?     Load an extension library
................................................................................
.quit                  Exit this program
.read FILENAME         Execute SQL in FILENAME
.restore ?DB? FILE     Restore content of DB (default "main") from FILE
.save FILE             Write in-memory database into FILE
.schema ?TABLE?        Show the CREATE statements
                         If TABLE specified, only show tables matching
                         LIKE pattern TABLE.
.separator STRING      Change separator used by output mode and .import

.shell CMD ARGS...     Run CMD ARGS... in a system shell
.show                  Show the current values for various settings
.stats on|off          Turn stats 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.
................................................................................
one         two       
----------  ----------
hello       10        
goodbye     20        
sqlite>
}</tcl>

<p>By default, each column is at least 10 characters wide. 

Data that is too wide to fit in a column is truncated.  You can
adjust the column widths using the ".width" command.  Like this:</p>

<tcl>DisplayCode {
sqlite> (((.width 12 6)))
sqlite> (((select * from tbl1;)))
one           two   
................................................................................

<p>When specifying insert mode, you have to give an extra argument
which is the name of the table to be inserted into.  For example:</p>

<tcl>DisplayCode {
sqlite> (((.mode insert new_table)))
sqlite> (((select * from tbl1;)))
INSERT INTO 'new_table' VALUES('hello',10);
INSERT INTO 'new_table' VALUES('goodbye',20);
sqlite>
}</tcl>


<p>The last output mode is "html".  In this mode, sqlite3 writes
the results of the query as an XHTML table.  The beginning
&lt;TABLE&gt; and the ending &lt;/TABLE&gt; are not written, but
all of the intervening &lt;TR&gt;s, &lt;TH&gt;s, and &lt;TD&gt;s
are.  The html output mode is envisioned as being useful for
CGI.</p>


<p>The ".explain" dot command can be used to set the output mode
to "column" and to set the column widths to values that are reasonable
for looking at the output of an EXPLAIN command.  The EXPLAIN command
is an SQLite-specific SQL extension that is useful for debugging.  If any
regular SQL is prefaced by EXPLAIN, then the SQL command is parsed and
analyzed but is not executed.  Instead, the sequence of virtual machine
instructions that would have been used to execute the SQL command are
returned like a query result.  For example:</p>

<tcl>DisplayCode {
................................................................................
19    VerifyCookie   0     1     0                    00               
20    TableLock      0     2     1     tbl1           00  iDb=0 root=2 write=1
21    Integer        20    3     0                    00  r[3]=20      
22    Goto           0     2     0                    00               
}</tcl>

<p>Notice how the shell changes the indentation of some opcodes to
help show the loop structure of the VDBE program.

<h3>Writing results to a file</h3>

<p>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
................................................................................
it reads from standard input.  So to see the results of a query
in a text editor, one could type:</p>

<tcl>DisplayCode {
sqlite3> (((.once '|open -f')))
sqlite3> (((SELECT * FROM bigTable;)))
}</tcl>

































<h3>Querying the database schema</h3>

<p>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.</p>

                         If TABLE specified, only dump tables matching
                         LIKE pattern TABLE.
.echo on|off           Turn command echo on or off
.eqp on|off            Enable or disable automatic EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN
.exit                  Exit this program
.explain ?on|off?      Turn output mode suitable for EXPLAIN on or off.
                         With no args, it turns EXPLAIN on.
.fullschema            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
.indices ?TABLE?       Show names of all indices
                         If TABLE specified, only show indices for tables
                         matching LIKE pattern TABLE.
.load FILE ?ENTRY?     Load an extension library
................................................................................
.quit                  Exit this program
.read FILENAME         Execute SQL in FILENAME
.restore ?DB? FILE     Restore content of DB (default "main") from FILE
.save FILE             Write in-memory database into FILE
.schema ?TABLE?        Show the CREATE statements
                         If TABLE specified, only show tables matching
                         LIKE pattern TABLE.
.separator STRING ?NL? Change separator used by output mode and .import
                         NL is the end-of-line mark for CSV
.shell CMD ARGS...     Run CMD ARGS... in a system shell
.show                  Show the current values for various settings
.stats on|off          Turn stats 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.
................................................................................
one         two       
----------  ----------
hello       10        
goodbye     20        
sqlite>
}</tcl>

<p>By default, each column is between 1 and 10 characters wide, depending
on the column header name and the width of the first column of data.
Data that is too wide to fit in a column is truncated.  You can
adjust the column widths using the ".width" command.  Like this:</p>

<tcl>DisplayCode {
sqlite> (((.width 12 6)))
sqlite> (((select * from tbl1;)))
one           two   
................................................................................

<p>When specifying insert mode, you have to give an extra argument
which is the name of the table to be inserted into.  For example:</p>

<tcl>DisplayCode {
sqlite> (((.mode insert new_table)))
sqlite> (((select * from tbl1;)))
INSERT INTO "new_table" VALUES('hello',10);
INSERT INTO "new_table" VALUES('goodbye',20);
sqlite>
}</tcl>


<p>The last output mode is "html".  In this mode, sqlite3 writes
the results of the query as an XHTML table.  The beginning
&lt;TABLE&gt; and the ending &lt;/TABLE&gt; are not written, but
all of the intervening &lt;TR&gt;s, &lt;TH&gt;s, and &lt;TD&gt;s
are.  The html output mode is envisioned as being useful for
CGI.</p>

<tcl>hd_fragment explain {explain dot-command}</tcl>
<p>The ".explain" dot command can be used to set the output mode
to "column" and to set the column widths to values that are reasonable
for looking at the output of an [EXPLAIN] command.  The EXPLAIN command
is an SQLite-specific SQL extension that is useful for debugging.  If any
regular SQL is prefaced by EXPLAIN, then the SQL command is parsed and
analyzed but is not executed.  Instead, the sequence of virtual machine
instructions that would have been used to execute the SQL command are
returned like a query result.  For example:</p>

<tcl>DisplayCode {
................................................................................
19    VerifyCookie   0     1     0                    00               
20    TableLock      0     2     1     tbl1           00  iDb=0 root=2 write=1
21    Integer        20    3     0                    00  r[3]=20      
22    Goto           0     2     0                    00               
}</tcl>

<p>Notice how the shell changes the indentation of some opcodes to
help show the loop structure of the [VDBE] program.

<h3>Writing results to a file</h3>

<p>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
................................................................................
it reads from standard input.  So to see the results of a query
in a text editor, one could type:</p>

<tcl>DisplayCode {
sqlite3> (((.once '|open -f')))
sqlite3> (((SELECT * FROM bigTable;)))
}</tcl>

<tcl>hd_fragment fileio {file I/O functions}</tcl>
<h4>File I/O Functions</h4>

<p>The command-line shell adds two [application-defined SQL functions] that
facilitate read content from a file into an table column, and writing the
content of a column into a file, respectively.

<p>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:

<tcl>DisplayCode {
sqlite> (((CREATE TABLE images(name TEXT, type TEXT, img BLOB);)))
sqlite> (((INSERT INTO images(name,type,img))))
   ...> (((  VALUES('icon','jpeg',readfile('icon.jpg'));)))
}</tcl>

<p>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:

<tcl>DisplayCode {
sqlite> (((SELECT writefile('icon.jpg',img) FROM images WHERE name='icon';)))
}</tcl>

<p>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
[http://www.sqlite.org/src/artifact?ci=trunk&filename=ext/misc/fileio.c|ext/misc/fileio.c]
source file in the [SQLite source code repositories].


<h3>Querying the database schema</h3>

<p>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.</p>

filename encoding is 3XXYY00.  For branch version 3.X.Y.Z, the encoding is
3XXYYZZ.

<p>The <i>date</i> in template (4) is of the form: YYYYMMDDHHMM

<a name="cvs"></a>
<a name="fossil"></a>

<h3>Source Code Repositories</h3>

<p>
The SQLite source code is maintained in three geographically-dispersed
self-synchronizing
[http://www.fossil-scm.org/ | Fossil] repositories that are
available for anonymous read-only access.  Anyone can 

filename encoding is 3XXYY00.  For branch version 3.X.Y.Z, the encoding is
3XXYYZZ.

<p>The <i>date</i> in template (4) is of the form: YYYYMMDDHHMM

<a name="cvs"></a>
<a name="fossil"></a>
<tcl>hd_fragment srctree {SQLite source code repositories} {code repositories}</tcl>
<h3>Source Code Repositories</h3>

<p>
The SQLite source code is maintained in three geographically-dispersed
self-synchronizing
[http://www.fossil-scm.org/ | Fossil] repositories that are
available for anonymous read-only access.  Anyone can 

<p>^The CREATE INDEX command consists of the keywords "CREATE INDEX" followed
by the name of the new index, the keyword "ON", the name of a previously
created table that is to be indexed, and a parenthesized list of names of
columns in the table that are used for the index key.
If the optional WHERE clause is included, then the index is a "[partial index]".
</p>

<tcl>hd_fragment {descidx} {descending indices} {descending index}</tcl>
<p>^Each column name can be followed by one of the "ASC" or "DESC" keywords
to indicate sort order.  ^The sort order may or may not be ignored depending
on the database file format, and in particular the [schema format number].
^The "legacy" schema format (1) ignores index
sort order.  ^The descending index schema format (4) takes index sort order
into account.  Only versions of SQLite 3.3.0 and later are able to understand
the descending index format. For compatibility, version of SQLite between 3.3.0

<p>^The CREATE INDEX command consists of the keywords "CREATE INDEX" followed
by the name of the new index, the keyword "ON", the name of a previously
created table that is to be indexed, and a parenthesized list of names of
columns in the table that are used for the index key.
If the optional WHERE clause is included, then the index is a "[partial index]".
</p>

<tcl>hd_fragment {descidx} {descending indices} {descending index} {descending indexes}</tcl>
<p>^Each column name can be followed by one of the "ASC" or "DESC" keywords
to indicate sort order.  ^The sort order may or may not be ignored depending
on the database file format, and in particular the [schema format number].
^The "legacy" schema format (1) ignores index
sort order.  ^The descending index schema format (4) takes index sort order
into account.  Only versions of SQLite 3.3.0 and later are able to understand
the descending index format. For compatibility, version of SQLite between 3.3.0

<title>SQLite Virtual Machine Opcodes</title>
<tcl>hd_keywords {virtual machine instructions}</tcl>


<h2>SQLite Virtual Machine Opcodes</h2>

<tcl>
set uuid {}
catch {
  exec fossil sha1sum $::SRC/src/vdbe.c 
} uuid
set uuid [lindex $uuid 0]
................................................................................
</tcl>

<h3>Introduction</h3>

<p>In order to execute an SQL statement, the SQLite library first parses
the SQL, analyzes the statement, then generates a short program to execute
the statement.  The program is generated for a "virtual machine" implemented
by the SQLite library.  This document describes the operation of that
virtual machine.</p>


<p>This document is intended as a reference, not a tutorial.
A separate <a href="vdbe.html">Virtual Machine Tutorial</a> is 
available.  If you are looking for a narrative description
of how the virtual machine works, you should read the tutorial
and not this document.  Once you have a basic idea of what the
virtual machine does, you can refer back to this document for
the details on a particular opcode.
Unfortunately, the virtual machine tutorial was written for
SQLite version 1.0.  There are substantial changes in the virtual
machine for version 2.0 and again for version 3.0.0 and again
for version 3.5.5 and the document has not been updated.  But the

basic concepts behind the virtual machine still apply.
</p>

<p>The source code to the virtual machine is in the 
[http://www.sqlite.org/src/finfo?name=src/vdbe.c | vdbe.c] source
file.  All of the opcode definitions further down in this document are
contained in comments in the source file.  In fact, the opcode table
................................................................................
pointer to the implementation of an application-defined SQL
function, or various other things.  P5 is an unsigned character
normally used as a flag.
Some operators use all five operands.  Some use
one or two.  Some operators use none of the operands.<p>

<p>The virtual machine begins execution on instruction number 0.
Execution continues until a Halt instruction is seen, or 
the program counter becomes one greater than the address of
last instruction, or there is an execution error.
When the virtual machine halts, all memory
that it allocated is released and all database cursors it may
have had open are closed.  If the execution stopped due to an
error, any pending transactions are terminated and changes made
to the database are rolled back.</p>
................................................................................
read data from a cursor
(Column), advance the cursor to the next entry in the table
(Next) or index (NextIdx), and many other operations.
All cursors are automatically
closed when the virtual machine terminates.</p>

<p>The virtual machine contains an arbitrary number of registers
locations with addresses beginning at one and growing upward.
Each memory location can hold an arbitrary string.  The registers
hold all intermediate results of a calculation.</p>



<h3>Viewing Programs Generated By SQLite</h3>

<p>Every SQL statement that SQLite interprets results in a program
for the virtual machine.  But if you precede the SQL statement with
the keyword [EXPLAIN] the virtual machine will not execute the
program.  Instead, the instructions of the program will be returned
like a query result.  This feature is useful for debugging and
for learning how the virtual machine operates.</p>

<p>You can use the [CLI | sqlite3.exe command-line interface (CLI)]
tool to see the
instructions generated by an SQL statement.  The following is
an example:</p>

<tcl>
proc Code {body} {
  hd_puts {<blockquote><pre>}
  regsub -all {&} [string trim $body] {\&amp;} body
  regsub -all {>} $body {\&gt;} body
  regsub -all {<} $body {\&lt;} body
................................................................................
25    TableLock      0     2     1     tbl1           00  iDb=0 root=2 write=1
26    Integer        20    3     0                    00  r[3]=20      
27    Goto           0     2     0                    00               
}
</tcl>

<p>All you have to do is add the [EXPLAIN] keyword to the front of the
SQL statement.  But if you use the ".explain" command in the [CLI],
it will set up the output mode to make the program more easily
viewable.</p>

<p>Depending on compile-time options, you 
can put the SQLite virtual machine in a mode where it will trace its
execution by writing messages to standard output.  The non-standard
SQL "PRAGMA" comments can be used to turn tracing on and off.  To
turn tracing on, enter:
</p>

<blockquote><pre>
PRAGMA vdbe_trace=on;
</pre></blockquote>

<p>
You can turn tracing back off by entering a similar statement but
changing the value "on" to "off".</p>


<h3>The Opcodes</h3>

<p>There are currently <tcl>hd_puts [llength $OpcodeList]</tcl>
opcodes defined by the virtual machine.
All currently defined opcodes are described in the table below.
This table was generated automatically by scanning the source code
from the file

<title>SQLite Virtual Machine Opcodes</title>
<tcl>hd_keywords {virtual machine instructions} {VDBE} {virtual machine} \
         {opcodes}</tcl>

<h2>The SQLite Virtual Machine</h2>

<tcl>
set uuid {}
catch {
  exec fossil sha1sum $::SRC/src/vdbe.c 
} uuid
set uuid [lindex $uuid 0]
................................................................................
</tcl>

<h3>Introduction</h3>

<p>In order to execute an SQL statement, the SQLite library first parses
the SQL, analyzes the statement, then generates a short program to execute
the statement.  The program is generated for a "virtual machine" implemented
by the SQLite library.  That virtual machine is sometimes called the
"VDBE" or "Virtual DataBase Engine".
This document describes the operation of the VDBE.</p>

<p>This document is intended as a reference, not a tutorial.
A separate <a href="vdbe.html">Virtual Machine Tutorial</a> is 
available.  If you are looking for a narrative description
of how the virtual machine works, you should read the tutorial
and not this document.  Once you have a basic idea of what the
virtual machine does, you can refer back to this document for
the details on a particular opcode.
Unfortunately, the virtual machine tutorial was written for
SQLite version 1.0.  There are substantial changes in the virtual
machine for version 2.0 and again for version 3.0.0 and again
for version 3.5.5 and the tutorial document has not been updated.
But the
basic concepts behind the virtual machine still apply.
</p>

<p>The source code to the virtual machine is in the 
[http://www.sqlite.org/src/finfo?name=src/vdbe.c | vdbe.c] source
file.  All of the opcode definitions further down in this document are
contained in comments in the source file.  In fact, the opcode table
................................................................................
pointer to the implementation of an application-defined SQL
function, or various other things.  P5 is an unsigned character
normally used as a flag.
Some operators use all five operands.  Some use
one or two.  Some operators use none of the operands.<p>

<p>The virtual machine begins execution on instruction number 0.
Execution continues until a Halt instruction is seen, or until
the program counter becomes one greater than the address of
last instruction, or there is an execution error.
When the virtual machine halts, all memory
that it allocated is released and all database cursors it may
have had open are closed.  If the execution stopped due to an
error, any pending transactions are terminated and changes made
to the database are rolled back.</p>
................................................................................
read data from a cursor
(Column), advance the cursor to the next entry in the table
(Next) or index (NextIdx), and many other operations.
All cursors are automatically
closed when the virtual machine terminates.</p>

<p>The virtual machine contains an arbitrary number of registers
with addresses beginning at one and growing upward.
Each register can a single SQL value (a string, a BLOB, a signed 64-bit
integer, a 64-bit floating point number, or a NULL).  A register might
also hold objects used internally by SQLite, such as a RowSet or Frame.
</p>

<h3>Viewing Programs Generated By SQLite</h3>

<p>Every SQL statement that SQLite interprets results in a program
for the virtual machine.  But if you precede the SQL statement with
the keyword [EXPLAIN] the virtual machine will not execute the
program.  Instead, the instructions of the program will be returned
like a query result.  This feature is useful for debugging and
for learning how the virtual machine operates.  For example:




</p>

<tcl>
proc Code {body} {
  hd_puts {<blockquote><pre>}
  regsub -all {&} [string trim $body] {\&amp;} body
  regsub -all {>} $body {\&gt;} body
  regsub -all {<} $body {\&lt;} body
................................................................................
25    TableLock      0     2     1     tbl1           00  iDb=0 root=2 write=1
26    Integer        20    3     0                    00  r[3]=20      
27    Goto           0     2     0                    00               
}
</tcl>

<p>All you have to do is add the [EXPLAIN] keyword to the front of the
SQL statement.  But if you use the "[explain dot-command|.explain]"
command in the [CLI],
it will set up the output mode to make the VDBE code easier for 
humans to read.</p>

<p>When SQLite is compiled with the [SQLITE_DEBUG] compile-time option,
extra [PRAGMA] commands are available that are useful for debugging and
for exploring the operation of the VDBE.  For example the [vdbe_trace]
pragma can be enabled to cause a disassembly of each VDBE opcode to be
printed on standard output as the opcode is executed.  These debugging
pragmas include:
<ul>
<li> [PRAGMA parser_trace]
<li> [PRAGMA vdbe_addoptrace]
<li> [PRAGMA vdbe_debug]
<li> [PRAGMA vdbe_listing]
<li> [PRAGMA vdbe_trace]
</ul>
</p>

<h3>The Opcodes</h3>

<p>There are currently <tcl>hd_puts [llength $OpcodeList]</tcl>
opcodes defined by the virtual machine.
All currently defined opcodes are described in the table below.
This table was generated automatically by scanning the source code
from the file

<title>The Virtual Database Engine of SQLite</title>
<tcl>
hd_puts {
<h2>The Virtual Database Engine of SQLite</h2>

<blockquote><b>

This document describes the virtual machine used in SQLite version 2.8.0. 
The virtual machine in SQLite version 3.0 and 3.1 is very similar in

concept but many of the opcodes have changed and the algorithms are
somewhat different.  Use this document as a rough guide to the idea
behind the virtual machine in SQLite version 3, not as a reference on
how the virtual machine works.

</b></blockquote>
}


hd_puts {
<p>If you want to know how the SQLite library works internally,
you need to begin with a solid understanding of the Virtual Database
Engine or VDBE.  The VDBE occurs right in the middle of the
processing stream (see the <a href="arch.html">architecture diagram</a>)
and so it seems to touch most parts of the library.  Even
parts of the code that do not directly interact with the VDBE

<title>The Virtual Database Engine of SQLite</title>


<h2>The Virtual Database Engine of SQLite</h2>

<blockquote><font color="red">
<b>Obsolete Documentation Warning:</b>
This document describes the virtual machine used in SQLite version 2.8.0. 
The virtual machine in SQLite version 3.0 and 3.1 is similar in
concept but is now register-based instead of stack-based, has five
operands per opcode instead of three, and has a different set of
opcodes from those shown below.  See the [virtual machine instructions]
document for the current set of VDBE opcodes and a brief overview
of how the VDBE operates.  This document is retained as an historical
reference.
</font></blockquote>


<tcl>
hd_puts {
<p>If you want to know how the SQLite library works internally,
you need to begin with a solid understanding of the Virtual Database
Engine or VDBE.  The VDBE occurs right in the middle of the
processing stream (see the <a href="arch.html">architecture diagram</a>)
and so it seems to touch most parts of the library.  Even
parts of the code that do not directly interact with the VDBE