Using SQLite

Name

temp_store — Control the temporary storage mode

Common Usage

PRAGMA temp_store;
PRAGMA temp_store = mode;

Description

The temp_store pragma gets or sets the storage mode used by temporary database files. This pragma does not affect journal files.

SQLite supports the following storage modes:

Mode	Meaning
0 or DEFAULT	Use compile-time default. Normally FILE.
1 or FILE	Use file-based storage
2 or MEMORY	Use memory-based storage

The set mode can be either the name or the integer equivalent. The returned value will always be an integer.

Memory-based storage will make temporary databases equivalent to in-memory databases. File-based databases will initially be in-memory databases, until they outgrow the page cache. This means that many “file-based” temporary databases never actually make it into a file.

Changing the mode will cause all temporary databases (and the data they contain) to be deleted.

In some cases, this pragma can be disabled with the SQLITE_TEMP_STORE compile-time directive. Possible compile-time values include:

Value	Meaning
0	Always use files, ignore pragma
1	Allow pragma, default to files
2	Allow pragma, default to memory
3	Always use memory, ignore pragma

The default value is 1. Temporary storage defaults to using files, but allows the temp_store pragma to override that choice.

See Also

temp_store_directory, journal_mode