Index: src/shell.c.in
==================================================================
--- src/shell.c.in
+++ src/shell.c.in
@@ -5749,14 +5749,14 @@
 }
 
 /*
 ** Run an SQL command and return the single integer result.
 */
-static int db_int(ShellState *p, const char *zSql){
+static int db_int(sqlite3 *db, const char *zSql){
   sqlite3_stmt *pStmt;
   int res = 0;
-  sqlite3_prepare_v2(p->db, zSql, -1, &pStmt, 0);
+  sqlite3_prepare_v2(db, zSql, -1, &pStmt, 0);
   if( pStmt && sqlite3_step(pStmt)==SQLITE_ROW ){
     res = sqlite3_column_int(pStmt,0);
   }
   sqlite3_finalize(pStmt);
   return res;
@@ -5857,11 +5857,11 @@
   }else{
     zSchemaTab = sqlite3_mprintf("\"%w\".sqlite_schema", zDb);
   }
   for(i=0; i<ArraySize(aQuery); i++){
     char *zSql = sqlite3_mprintf(aQuery[i].zSql, zSchemaTab);
-    int val = db_int(p, zSql);
+    int val = db_int(p->db, zSql);
     sqlite3_free(zSql);
     utf8_printf(p->out, "%-20s %d\n", aQuery[i].zName, val);
   }
   sqlite3_free(zSchemaTab);
   sqlite3_file_control(p->db, zDb, SQLITE_FCNTL_DATA_VERSION, &iDataVersion);
@@ -7220,10 +7220,168 @@
       *pRc = SQLITE_NOMEM;
     }
   }
   return z;
 }
+
+
+/* 
+ * zAutoColumn(zCol, &db) => Maybe init db, add column zCol to it.
+ * zAutoColumn(0, &db) => (db!=0) Form columns spec for CREATE TABLE,
+ *   close db and set it to 0, and return the columns spec, to later
+ *   be sqlite3_free()'ed by the caller.
+ * The return is 0 when either:
+ *   (a) The db was not initialized and zCol==0 (There are no columns.)
+ *   (b) zCol!=0  (Column was added, db initialized as needed.)
+ */
+#ifdef SHELL_DEBUG
+#define rc_err_oom_die(rc) \
+  if( rc==SQLITE_NOMEM ) shell_check_oom(0); \
+  else if(!(rc==SQLITE_OK||rc==SQLITE_DONE)) \
+    fprintf(stderr,"E:%d\n",rc), assert(0)
+#else
+static void rc_err_oom_die(int rc){
+  if( rc==SQLITE_NOMEM ) shell_check_oom(0);
+  assert(rc==SQLITE_OK||rc==SQLITE_DONE);
+}
+#endif
+
+#ifdef SHELL_COLFIX_DB /* If this is set, the DB can be in a file. */
+static char zCOL_DB[] = SHELL_COLFIX_DB;
+#else  /* Otherwise, memory is faster/better for the transient DB. */
+static const char *zCOL_DB = ":memory:";
+#endif
+
+static char *zAutoColumn(const char *zColNew, sqlite3 **pDb){
+  /* Queries and D{D,M}L used here */
+  static const char const *zTabMake = "\
+CREATE TABLE ColNames(\
+ cpos INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,\
+ name TEXT, nlen INT, chop INT, reps INT, suff TEXT)\
+";
+  static const char const *zTabFill = "\
+INSERT INTO ColNames(name,nlen,chop,reps,suff)\
+ VALUES(iif(length(?1)>0,?1,'?'),max(length(?1),1),0,0,'')\
+";
+  static const char const *zHasDupes = "\
+SELECT count(DISTINCT substring(name,1,nlen-chop)||suff)\
+ <count(name) FROM ColNames\
+";
+  static const char const *zDedoctor = "\
+WITH chopped AS ( \
+ WITH RECURSIVE chopping(cpos, name, chop, nlen) AS ( \
+  SELECT cpos, name, 0, nlen FROM ColNames \
+  WHERE cpos IN ( \
+    WITH RECURSIVE choppable(nc, name, cpos) AS \
+     (SELECT nlen AS nc, name, cpos \
+      FROM ColNames \
+      UNION ALL \
+      SELECT nc-1 AS nc, name, cpos \
+      FROM choppable \
+      WHERE substring(name, nc, 1) BETWEEN '0' AND '9'\
+     ) SELECT cpos /*name*/ FROM choppable \
+       WHERE nc<length(name) and substring(name, nc, 1)='_'\
+  )\
+  UNION ALL\
+  SELECT cpos, name, chop+1 AS chop, nlen \
+  FROM chopping \
+  WHERE instr('_0123456789', substring(name, nlen-chop, 1))>0 \
+ )\
+ SELECT cpos, name, max(chop) AS chop FROM chopping s \
+ GROUP BY cpos \
+) UPDATE ColNames AS c \
+  SET chop=n.chop FROM chopped n WHERE c.cpos=n.cpos \
+";
+  static const char const *zSetReps = "\
+UPDATE ColNames AS t SET reps=\
+(SELECT count(*) FROM ColNames d \
+ WHERE substring(t.name,1,t.nlen-t.chop)=substring(d.name,1,d.nlen-d.chop)\
+)\
+";
+#ifdef SQLITE_ENABLE_MATH_FUNCTIONS
+  static const char const *zColDigits = "\
+SELECT CAST(ceil(log(count(*)+0.5)) AS INT) FROM ColNames \
+";
+#endif
+  static const char const *zRenameRank = "\
+UPDATE ColNames AS t SET suff=iif(reps>1, printf('_%0*d', $1, cpos), '')\
+";
+  static const char const *zCollectVar = "\
+SELECT\
+ '('||\
+ group_concat(\
+  cname||' TEXT',\
+  ','||iif((cpos-1)%4>0, ' ', x'0a'||' '))\
+ ||')' AS ColsSpec \
+FROM (\
+ SELECT cpos, printf('\"%w\"',printf('%.*s%s', nlen-chop,name,suff)) AS cname \
+ FROM ColNames ORDER BY cpos\
+)";
+
+  int rc;
+  sqlite3_stmt *pStmt = 0;
+  assert(pDb!=0);
+  if( zColNew ){
+    /* Add initial or additional column. Init db if necessary. */
+    if( *pDb==0 ){
+      if( SQLITE_OK!=sqlite3_open(zCOL_DB, pDb) ) return 0;
+#ifdef SHELL_COLFIX_DB
+      if(*zCOL_DB!=':')
+        sqlite3_exec(*pDb,"drop table if exists ColNames",0,0,0);
+#endif
+      rc = sqlite3_exec(*pDb, zTabMake, 0, 0, 0);
+      rc_err_oom_die(rc);
+    }
+    assert(*pDb!=0);
+    rc = sqlite3_prepare_v2(*pDb, zTabFill, -1, &pStmt, 0);
+    rc_err_oom_die(rc);
+    rc = sqlite3_bind_text(pStmt, 1, zColNew, -1, 0);
+    rc_err_oom_die(rc);
+    rc = sqlite3_step(pStmt);
+    rc_err_oom_die(rc);
+    sqlite3_finalize(pStmt);
+    return 0;
+  }else if( *pDb==0 ){
+    return 0;
+  }else{
+    /* Formulate the columns spec, close the DB, zero *pDb. */
+    char *zColsSpec = 0;
+    int hasDupes = db_int(*pDb, zHasDupes);
+#ifdef SQLITE_ENABLE_MATH_FUNCTIONS
+    int nDigits = (hasDupes)? db_int(*pDb, zColDigits) : 0;
+#else
+# define nDigits 2
+#endif
+    if( hasDupes ){
+      rc = sqlite3_exec(*pDb, zDedoctor, 0, 0, 0);
+      rc_err_oom_die(rc);
+      rc = sqlite3_exec(*pDb, zSetReps, 0, 0, 0);
+      rc_err_oom_die(rc);
+      rc = sqlite3_prepare_v2(*pDb, zRenameRank, -1, &pStmt, 0);
+      rc_err_oom_die(rc);
+      rc = sqlite3_bind_int(pStmt, 1, nDigits);
+      rc_err_oom_die(rc);
+      rc = sqlite3_step(pStmt);
+      sqlite3_finalize(pStmt);
+      assert(rc==SQLITE_DONE);
+    }
+    assert(db_int(*pDb, zHasDupes)==0); /* Consider: remove this */
+    rc = sqlite3_prepare_v2(*pDb, zCollectVar, -1, &pStmt, 0);
+    rc_err_oom_die(rc);
+    rc = sqlite3_step(pStmt);
+    if( rc==SQLITE_ROW ){
+      zColsSpec = sqlite3_mprintf("%s", sqlite3_column_text(pStmt, 0));
+    }else{
+      zColsSpec = 0;
+    }
+    sqlite3_finalize(pStmt);
+    sqlite3_close(*pDb);
+    *pDb = 0;
+    return zColsSpec;
+  }
+}
+
 
 /*
 ** When running the ".recover" command, each output table, and the special
 ** orphaned row table if it is required, is represented by an instance
 ** of the following struct.
@@ -8765,24 +8923,26 @@
     rc = sqlite3_prepare_v2(p->db, zSql, -1, &pStmt, 0);
     import_append_char(&sCtx, 0);    /* To ensure sCtx.z is allocated */
     if( rc && sqlite3_strglob("no such table: *", sqlite3_errmsg(p->db))==0 ){
       char *zCreate = sqlite3_mprintf("CREATE TABLE \"%w\".\"%w\"",
                                       zSchema, zTable);
-      char cSep = '(';
+      sqlite3 *dbCols = 0;
+      char *zColDefs;
       while( xRead(&sCtx) ){
-        zCreate = sqlite3_mprintf("%z%c\n  \"%w\" TEXT", zCreate, cSep, sCtx.z);
-        cSep = ',';
+        zAutoColumn(sCtx.z, &dbCols);
         if( sCtx.cTerm!=sCtx.cColSep ) break;
       }
-      if( cSep=='(' ){
+      zColDefs = zAutoColumn(0, &dbCols);
+      assert(dbCols==0);
+      if( zColDefs==0 ){
         sqlite3_free(zCreate);
         import_cleanup(&sCtx);
         utf8_printf(stderr,"%s: empty file\n", sCtx.zFile);
         rc = 1;
         goto meta_command_exit;
       }
-      zCreate = sqlite3_mprintf("%z\n)", zCreate);
+      zCreate = sqlite3_mprintf("%z%z\n", zCreate, zColDefs);
       if( eVerbose>=1 ){
         utf8_printf(p->out, "%s\n", zCreate);
       }
       rc = sqlite3_exec(p->db, zCreate, 0, 0, 0);
       if( rc ){

Index: test/shell1.test
==================================================================
--- test/shell1.test
+++ test/shell1.test
@@ -591,11 +591,12 @@
 } {0 {CREATE TABLE t1(x);
 CREATE VIEW v2 AS SELECT x+1 AS y FROM t1
 /* v2(y) */;
 CREATE VIEW v1 AS SELECT y+1 FROM v2
 /* v1("y+1") */;}}
-db eval {DROP VIEW v1; DROP VIEW v2; DROP TABLE t1;}
+
+  catch {db eval {DROP VIEW v1; DROP VIEW v2; DROP TABLE t1;}}
 }
 
 # .separator STRING  Change column separator used by output and .import
 do_test shell1-3.22.1 {
   catchcmd "test.db" ".separator"