SQLite - Syntax



SQLite is followed by unique set of rules and guidelines called Syntax. This chapter lists all the basic SQLite Syntax.

Case Sensitivity

The important point to be noted is that SQLite is case insensitive, i.e. the clauses GLOB and glob have the same meaning in SQLite statements.

Comments

SQLite comments are extra notes, which you can add in your SQLite code to increase its readability and they can appear anywhere; whitespace can occur, including inside expressions and in the middle of other SQL statements but they cannot be nested.

SQL comments begin with two consecutive "-" characters (ASCII 0x2d) and extend up to and including the next newline character (ASCII 0x0a) or until the end of input, whichever comes first.

You can also use C-style comments, which begin with "/*" and extend up to and including the next "*/" character pair or until the end of input, whichever comes first. C-style comments can span multiple lines.

sqlite> .help -- This is a single line comment

SQLite Statements

All the SQLite statements start with any of the keywords like SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, ALTER, DROP, etc., and all the statements end with a semicolon (;).

SQLite ANALYZE Statement

ANALYZE;
or
ANALYZE database_name;
or
ANALYZE database_name.table_name;

SQLite AND/OR Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION-1 {AND|OR} CONDITION-2;

SQLite ALTER TABLE Statement

ALTER TABLE table_name ADD COLUMN column_def...;

SQLite ALTER TABLE Statement (Rename)

ALTER TABLE table_name RENAME TO new_table_name;

SQLite ATTACH DATABASE Statement

ATTACH DATABASE 'DatabaseName' As 'Alias-Name';

SQLite BEGIN TRANSACTION Statement

BEGIN;
or
BEGIN EXCLUSIVE TRANSACTION;

SQLite BETWEEN Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name BETWEEN val-1 AND val-2;

SQLite COMMIT Statement

COMMIT;

SQLite CREATE INDEX Statement

CREATE INDEX index_name
ON table_name ( column_name COLLATE NOCASE );

SQLite CREATE UNIQUE INDEX Statement

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name
ON table_name ( column1, column2,...columnN);

SQLite CREATE TABLE Statement

CREATE TABLE table_name(
   column1 datatype,
   column2 datatype,
   column3 datatype,
   .....
   columnN datatype,
   PRIMARY KEY( one or more columns )
);

SQLite CREATE TRIGGER Statement

CREATE TRIGGER database_name.trigger_name 
BEFORE INSERT ON table_name FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN 
   stmt1; 
   stmt2;
   ....
END;

SQLite CREATE VIEW Statement

CREATE VIEW database_name.view_name AS
SELECT statement....;

SQLite CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE Statement

CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE database_name.table_name USING weblog( access.log );
or
CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE database_name.table_name USING fts3( );

SQLite COMMIT TRANSACTION Statement

COMMIT;

SQLite COUNT Clause

SELECT COUNT(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION;

SQLite DELETE Statement

DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE {CONDITION};

SQLite DETACH DATABASE Statement

DETACH DATABASE 'Alias-Name';

SQLite DISTINCT Clause

SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name;

SQLite DROP INDEX Statement

DROP INDEX database_name.index_name;

SQLite DROP TABLE Statement

DROP TABLE database_name.table_name;

SQLite DROP VIEW Statement

DROP INDEX database_name.view_name;

SQLite DROP TRIGGER Statement

DROP INDEX database_name.trigger_name;

SQLite EXISTS Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name EXISTS (SELECT * FROM   table_name );

SQLite EXPLAIN Statement

EXPLAIN INSERT statement...;
or 
EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN SELECT statement...;

SQLite GLOB Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name GLOB { PATTERN };

SQLite GROUP BY Clause

SELECT SUM(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION
GROUP BY column_name;

SQLite HAVING Clause

SELECT SUM(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION
GROUP BY column_name
HAVING (arithematic function condition);

SQLite INSERT INTO Statement

INSERT INTO table_name( column1, column2....columnN)
VALUES ( value1, value2....valueN);

SQLite IN Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IN (val-1, val-2,...val-N);

SQLite Like Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name LIKE { PATTERN };

SQLite NOT IN Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name NOT IN (val-1, val-2,...val-N);

SQLite ORDER BY Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION
ORDER BY column_name {ASC|DESC};

SQLite PRAGMA Statement

PRAGMA pragma_name;

For example:

PRAGMA page_size;
PRAGMA cache_size = 1024;
PRAGMA table_info(table_name);

SQLite RELEASE SAVEPOINT Statement

RELEASE savepoint_name;

SQLite REINDEX Statement

REINDEX collation_name;
REINDEX database_name.index_name;
REINDEX database_name.table_name;

SQLite ROLLBACK Statement

ROLLBACK;
or
ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT savepoint_name;

SQLite SAVEPOINT Statement

SAVEPOINT savepoint_name;

SQLite SELECT Statement

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name;

SQLite UPDATE Statement

UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2....columnN=valueN
[ WHERE  CONDITION ];

SQLite VACUUM Statement

VACUUM;

SQLite WHERE Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION;
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