| name | sqlite | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| description | SQLite - embedded database, SQL queries, schema design, Python integration, optimization | ||||||||||||
| metadata |
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SQLite - self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration SQL database engine.
SQLite is an embedded relational database. The entire database is stored in a single cross-platform disk file. No server process needed.
- Serverless - No separate server process
- Zero config - No installation or setup
- Single file - Entire database in one
.dbfile - ACID - Full transactional support
- Cross-platform - Works everywhere
See Slicker.me SQLite Features for a comprehensive feature overview.
import sqlite3
# Connect (creates file if not exists)
conn = sqlite3.connect('myapp.db')
# Use as context manager (auto-commits)
with sqlite3.connect('myapp.db') as conn:
conn.execute("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT, email TEXT)")
conn.execute("INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES (?, ?)", ("Alice", "alice@example.com"))
conn.commit()
# In-memory database
conn = sqlite3.connect(':memory:')# Access columns by name
conn = sqlite3.connect('myapp.db')
conn.row_factory = sqlite3.Row
cursor = conn.execute("SELECT * FROM users")
for row in cursor:
print(row['name'], row['email'])
# Or use dict factory
def dict_factory(cursor, row):
return {col[0]: row[i] for i, col in enumerate(cursor.description)}
conn.row_factory = dict_factoryimport sqlite3
conn = sqlite3.connect('app.db')
conn.row_factory = sqlite3.Row
# Create
conn.execute("""
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS products (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
name TEXT NOT NULL,
price REAL NOT NULL,
category TEXT,
in_stock INTEGER DEFAULT 1,
created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
)
""")
# Insert
conn.execute("INSERT INTO products (name, price, category) VALUES (?, ?, ?)",
("Widget", 9.99, "gadgets"))
# Bulk insert
products = [("A", 1.0, "cat1"), ("B", 2.0, "cat2"), ("C", 3.0, "cat1")]
conn.executemany("INSERT INTO products (name, price, category) VALUES (?, ?, ?)", products)
conn.commit()
# Read
cursor = conn.execute("SELECT * FROM products WHERE price > ?", (2.0,))
for row in cursor:
print(dict(row))
# Update
conn.execute("UPDATE products SET price = ? WHERE name = ?", (12.99, "Widget"))
conn.commit()
# Delete
conn.execute("DELETE FROM products WHERE id = ?", (1,))
conn.commit()
conn.close()SQLite uses dynamic typing with storage classes:
- NULL - Null value
- INTEGER - Signed integer (1-8 bytes)
- REAL - Floating point (8-byte IEEE)
- TEXT - UTF-8, UTF-16BE, or UTF-16LE string
- BLOB - Binary data
-- Basic table
CREATE TABLE users (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
username TEXT NOT NULL UNIQUE,
email TEXT NOT NULL UNIQUE,
password_hash TEXT NOT NULL,
is_active INTEGER DEFAULT 1,
created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
updated_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);
-- With foreign key
CREATE TABLE orders (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
user_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
total REAL NOT NULL,
status TEXT DEFAULT 'pending',
created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
FOREIGN KEY (user_id) REFERENCES users(id) ON DELETE CASCADE
);
-- Enable foreign keys (required in SQLite)
PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON;
-- Index
CREATE INDEX idx_orders_user_id ON orders(user_id);
CREATE INDEX idx_orders_status ON orders(status);
-- Unique constraint
CREATE TABLE tags (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
name TEXT NOT NULL UNIQUE
);
-- Composite index
CREATE INDEX idx_products_cat_price ON products(category, price);-- SQLite supports limited ALTER TABLE
ALTER TABLE users ADD COLUMN avatar TEXT;
ALTER TABLE users RENAME COLUMN username TO handle;
ALTER TABLE users RENAME TO accounts;
-- For complex changes, recreate:
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
CREATE TABLE users_new (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
name TEXT NOT NULL,
email TEXT UNIQUE
);
INSERT INTO users_new SELECT id, name, email FROM users;
DROP TABLE users;
ALTER TABLE users_new RENAME TO users;
COMMIT;# Manual transaction
conn = sqlite3.connect('app.db')
conn.execute("PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON")
try:
conn.execute("BEGIN")
conn.execute("INSERT INTO orders (user_id, total) VALUES (?, ?)", (1, 99.99))
conn.execute("UPDATE users SET is_active = 1 WHERE id = ?", (1,))
conn.commit()
except Exception as e:
conn.rollback()
raise
# Context manager (auto-commit or rollback)
with conn:
conn.execute("INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES (?)", ("Bob",))
# Auto-commits on success, auto-rollback on exception-- Inner join
SELECT o.id, u.username, o.total, o.status
FROM orders o
JOIN users u ON o.user_id = u.id
WHERE o.status = 'completed';
-- Left join
SELECT u.username, COUNT(o.id) as order_count, COALESCE(SUM(o.total), 0) as total_spent
FROM users u
LEFT JOIN orders o ON u.id = o.user_id
GROUP BY u.id
HAVING order_count > 0;
-- Subquery
SELECT * FROM products
WHERE price > (SELECT AVG(price) FROM products);
-- Common Table Expression (CTE)
WITH active_users AS (
SELECT id, username FROM users WHERE is_active = 1
)
SELECT au.username, COUNT(o.id) as orders
FROM active_users au
LEFT JOIN orders o ON au.id = o.user_id
GROUP BY au.id;-- Row number
SELECT name, price,
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY price DESC) as rank
FROM products;
-- Partitioned aggregation
SELECT name, category, price,
RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY category ORDER BY price DESC) as category_rank,
AVG(price) OVER (PARTITION BY category) as avg_category_price
FROM products;
-- Running total
SELECT id, total,
SUM(total) OVER (ORDER BY id) as running_total
FROM orders;-- Insert or replace
INSERT OR REPLACE INTO users (id, name, email)
VALUES (1, 'Alice', 'alice@new.com');
-- Insert or ignore (skip if conflict)
INSERT OR IGNORE INTO users (id, name, email)
VALUES (1, 'Alice', 'alice@example.com');
-- UPSERT with DO UPDATE (SQLite 3.24+)
INSERT INTO users (username, email)
VALUES ('bob', 'bob@example.com')
ON CONFLICT(username) DO UPDATE SET
email = excluded.email;-- Create FTS table
CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE articles_fts USING fts5(title, body, content='articles', content_rowid='id');
-- Populate
INSERT INTO articles_fts (rowid, title, body) SELECT id, title, body FROM articles;
-- Search
SELECT * FROM articles_fts WHERE articles_fts MATCH 'sqlite AND python';
SELECT * FROM articles_fts WHERE articles_fts MATCH 'sqlite OR database';
SELECT * FROM articles_fts WHERE articles_fts MATCH '"full text search"';
-- Ranked results
SELECT rank, * FROM articles_fts WHERE articles_fts MATCH 'sqlite' ORDER BY rank;
-- Keep FTS in sync with triggers
CREATE TRIGGER articles_ai AFTER INSERT ON articles BEGIN
INSERT INTO articles_fts (rowid, title, body) VALUES (new.id, new.title, new.body);
END;
CREATE TRIGGER articles_ad AFTER DELETE ON articles BEGIN
INSERT INTO articles_fts (articles_fts, rowid, title, body) VALUES ('delete', old.id, old.title, old.body);
END;-- Store JSON in TEXT column
CREATE TABLE events (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
data TEXT
);
-- Extract values
SELECT json_extract(data, '$.name') FROM events;
SELECT json_extract(data, '$.tags[0]') FROM events;
-- Insert JSON
INSERT INTO events (data) VALUES (json('{"name": "click", "tags": ["ui", "btn"]}'));
-- JSON functions
SELECT json_type(data) FROM events; -- 'object'
SELECT json_array_length(data, '$.tags') FROM events; -- 2
SELECT json_insert(data, '$.count', 1) FROM events;
SELECT json_set(data, '$.count', 42) FROM events;conn = sqlite3.connect('app.db')
# Performance
conn.execute("PRAGMA journal_mode = WAL") # Write-Ahead Logging
conn.execute("PRAGMA synchronous = NORMAL") # Balance safety/speed
conn.execute("PRAGMA cache_size = -64000") # 64MB cache
conn.execute("PRAGMA temp_store = MEMORY") # Temp tables in memory
conn.execute("PRAGMA mmap_size = 268435456") # 256MB memory map
# Safety
conn.execute("PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON") # Enable FK constraints
conn.execute("PRAGMA busy_timeout = 5000") # Wait 5s on lock-- Explain query plan
EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = 'test@example.com';
-- Check indexes
SELECT * FROM pragma_index_list('users');
-- Table info
PRAGMA table_info(users);
PRAGMA index_list(users);
PRAGMA index_info(idx_users_email);# Fast bulk insert
conn.execute("PRAGMA synchronous = OFF")
conn.execute("PRAGMA journal_mode = MEMORY")
conn.executemany(
"INSERT INTO large_table (col1, col2) VALUES (?, ?)",
data # list of tuples
)
conn.commit()
conn.execute("PRAGMA synchronous = NORMAL")
conn.execute("PRAGMA journal_mode = WAL")import sqlite3
def backup_database(src_path, dst_path):
src = sqlite3.connect(src_path)
dst = sqlite3.connect(dst_path)
src.backup(dst)
dst.close()
src.close()
# Or via command line
# sqlite3 app.db ".backup backup.db"import sqlite3
import threading
from contextlib import contextmanager
class SQLitePool:
def __init__(self, db_path, max_connections=5):
self.db_path = db_path
self._local = threading.local()
def get_connection(self):
if not hasattr(self._local, 'conn'):
self._local.conn = sqlite3.connect(self.db_path)
self._local.conn.row_factory = sqlite3.Row
self._local.conn.execute("PRAGMA journal_mode = WAL")
self._local.conn.execute("PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON")
return self._local.conn
@contextmanager
def cursor(self):
conn = self.get_connection()
cursor = conn.cursor()
try:
yield cursor
conn.commit()
except Exception:
conn.rollback()
raise
finally:
cursor.close()import sqlite3
MIGRATIONS = {
1: """
CREATE TABLE users (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
name TEXT NOT NULL,
email TEXT UNIQUE NOT NULL
);
""",
2: """
CREATE TABLE orders (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
user_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
total REAL NOT NULL,
FOREIGN KEY (user_id) REFERENCES users(id)
);
CREATE INDEX idx_orders_user ON orders(user_id);
""",
}
def run_migrations(db_path):
conn = sqlite3.connect(db_path)
conn.execute("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS _migrations (version INTEGER PRIMARY KEY)")
current = conn.execute("SELECT MAX(version) FROM _migrations").fetchone()[0] or 0
for version, sql in sorted(MIGRATIONS.items()):
if version > current:
conn.executescript(sql)
conn.execute("INSERT INTO _migrations (version) VALUES (?)", (version,))
conn.commit()
print(f"Migration {version} applied")
conn.close()# Open database
sqlite3 myapp.db
# Execute SQL
sqlite3 myapp.db "SELECT * FROM users;"
# Import CSV
sqlite3 myapp.db -csv -header "SELECT * FROM users;" > output.csv
# Export schema
sqlite3 myapp.db ".schema"
# Dump database
sqlite3 myapp.db ".dump" > backup.sql
# Restore from dump
sqlite3 new.db < backup.sql
# List tables
sqlite3 myapp.db ".tables"
# Describe table
sqlite3 myapp.db ".schema users"- SQLite Docs: https://www.sqlite.org/docs.html
- SQLite Python: https://docs.python.org/3/library/sqlite3.html
- SQL As Understood By SQLite: https://www.sqlite.org/lang.html