Using SQLite

Name

.import — Import an external data file into a table

Common Usage

.import filename table-name

Description

The .import command attempts to import data from an external file and insert it into the specified table. The table must already exist. The file should be a text file with one row per line. Each line should consist of a value separated by the current separator string. The values in each line must match the number and order of columns returned by the command SELECT * FROM table-name. The import feature does not understand any form of value quotation or character escape, so any instance of the separator string within a value will cause an error. Any attempt to import a file that uses quotations will result in the quotations being taken as a literal part of the value.

The built-in import functionality is extremely simple, and is not designed to work with robust file formats. If you have a need to frequently import a specific data format (including so-called universal formats, such as CSV), it may be simpler and easier to write your own importer. This can often be done reasonably quickly in the scripting language of your choice, or by writing a read-only external module.