An sqlite3 Primer
Once you have some form of SQLite installed, the first step is normally to run
sqlite3
and play around. The
sqlite3
tool accepts SQL commands
from an interactive prompt and passes those commands to the SQLite core for
processing.
Even if you have no intention of distributing a copy of
sqlite3
with your application, it
is extremely useful to have a copy around for testing and debugging queries.
If your application uses a customized build of the SQLite core, you will
likely want to build a copy of sqlite3
using the same build parameters.
To get started, just run the SQLite command. If you
provide a filename (such as test.db),
sqlite3 will open (or create) that file. If no filename is given, sqlite3
will automatically open an unnamed temporary database:
$ sqlite3 test.db
SQLite version 3.6.23.1
Enter ".help" for instructions
Enter SQL statements terminated with a ";"
sqlite>
The sqlite>
prompt means sqlite3
is ready to accept
commands. We can start with some basic expressions:
sqlite> SELECT 3 * 5, 10;
15|10
sqlite>
SQL commands can also be entered across multiple lines.
If no terminating semicolon is found, the statement is assumed to continue.
In that case, the prompt will change to ...>
to indicate sqlite3
is waiting for more input:
sqlite>SELECT 1 + 2
, ...>6 + 3;
3|9 sqlite>
If you ever find yourself at the ...>
prompt unexpectedly, make sure
you finished up the previous line with a semicolon.
In addition to processing SQL statements, there is a series of shell-specific ...
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