Create

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS foo (
    /* ... */
);

ID

id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY

Data types

From Data types in the docs.

Available

Type Description
NULL The value is a NULL value.
INTEGER The value is a signed integer, stored in 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 8 bytes depending on the magnitude of the value.
REAL The value is a floating point value, stored as an 8-byte IEEE floating point number.
TEXT The value is a text string, stored using the database encoding (UTF-8, UTF-16BE or UTF-16LE).
BLOB The value is a blob of data, stored exactly as it was input.

Text

location VARCHAR(50)

Number

foo INTEGER
bar INTEGER(8)

Cast to integer:

CAST(foo AS INTEGER)

Timestamp

Use current time if value is not set.

updated_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

Time

See Date and time functions.

Functions:

  • DATE
  • TIME
  • DATETIME
  • JULIANDAY
  • STRFTIME

Now.

SELECT DATE('now')

String format. Pass in 'now' for easy testing, or a timestamp column.

SELECT STRFTIME('%s','now')

Get just year.

SELECT STRFTIME('%Y', 'now')
Symbol Description Range
%d day of month DD
%m month MM
%H hour MM
%M minute SS
%Y year YYYY

Core functions

CLI help

Man page

Example

Query:

$ sqlite db.sqlite 'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM foo;'

Interactive:

$ sqlite db.sqlite

Run a command. Quotes are needed.

$ sqlite db.sqlite -csv ".import file.csv my_table"

You can also use -cmd ".import file.csv my_table" but then you go into interactive mode because there is no file input.

In the console:

sqlite> -help
sqlite> .mode csv
sqlite> import file.csv my_table

Usage

For version on macOS:

$ sqlite3 -version
# 3.28.0 2019-04-15 14:49:49 378230ae7f4b721c8b8d83c8ceb891449685cd23b1702a57841f1be40b5daapl

$ sqlite3 -help

sqlite3 -help
Usage: sqlite3 [OPTIONS] FILENAME [SQL]
FILENAME is the name of an SQLite database. A new database is created
if the file does not previously exist.
OPTIONS include:
   -append              append the database to the end of the file
   -ascii               set output mode to 'ascii'
   -bail                stop after hitting an error
   -batch               force batch I/O
   -column              set output mode to 'column'
   -cmd COMMAND         run "COMMAND" before reading stdin
   -csv                 set output mode to 'csv'
   -deserialize         open the database using sqlite3_deserialize()
   -echo                print commands before execution
   -init FILENAME       read/process named file
   -[no]header          turn headers on or off
   -help                show this message
   -html                set output mode to HTML
   -interactive         force interactive I/O
   -line                set output mode to 'line'
   -list                set output mode to 'list'
   -lookaside SIZE N    use N entries of SZ bytes for lookaside memory
   -maxsize N           maximum size for a --deserialize database
   -memtrace            trace all memory allocations and deallocations
   -newline SEP         set output row separator. Default: '\n'
   -nullvalue TEXT      set text string for NULL values. Default ''
   -pagecache SIZE N    use N slots of SZ bytes each for page cache memory
   -quote               set output mode to 'quote'
   -readonly            open the database read-only
   -separator SEP       set output column separator. Default: '|'
   -stats               print memory stats before each finalize
   -version             show SQLite version
   -vfs NAME            use NAME as the default VFS