Database Connection Configuration Options

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SQLite C Interface

Database Connection Configuration Options

#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_MAINDBNAME            1000 /* const char* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_LOOKASIDE             1001 /* void* int int */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_FKEY           1002 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_TRIGGER        1003 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_FTS3_TOKENIZER 1004 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_LOAD_EXTENSION 1005 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_NO_CKPT_ON_CLOSE      1006 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_QPSG           1007 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_TRIGGER_EQP           1008 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_RESET_DATABASE        1009 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_DEFENSIVE             1010 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_WRITABLE_SCHEMA       1011 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_LEGACY_ALTER_TABLE    1012 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_DQS_DML               1013 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_DQS_DDL               1014 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_VIEW           1015 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_LEGACY_FILE_FORMAT    1016 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_TRUSTED_SCHEMA        1017 /* int int* */
#define SQLITE_DBCONFIG_MAX                   1017 /* Largest DBCONFIG */

These constants are the available integer configuration options that can be passed as the second argument to the sqlite3_db_config() interface.

New configuration options may be added in future releases of SQLite. Existing configuration options might be discontinued. Applications should check the return code from sqlite3_db_config() to make sure that the call worked. R-42790-23372:[The sqlite3_db_config() interface will return a non-zero error code if a discontinued or unsupported configuration option is invoked. ]

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_LOOKASIDE

R-19648-30943:[This option takes three additional arguments that determine the lookaside memory allocator configuration for the database connection. ] R-26835-10964:[The first argument (the third parameter to sqlite3_db_config() is a pointer to a memory buffer to use for lookaside memory. ] R-61949-35727:[The first argument after the SQLITE_DBCONFIG_LOOKASIDE verb may be NULL in which case SQLite will allocate the lookaside buffer itself using sqlite3_malloc(). ] R-47871-25994:[The second argument is the size of each lookaside buffer slot. ] R-04460-53386:[The third argument is the number of slots. ] The size of the buffer in the first argument must be greater than or equal to the product of the second and third arguments. The buffer must be aligned to an 8-byte boundary. R-33038-09382:[If the second argument to SQLITE_DBCONFIG_LOOKASIDE is not a multiple of 8, it is internally rounded down to the next smaller multiple of 8. ] R-31654-04982:[The lookaside memory configuration for a database connection can only be changed when that connection is not currently using lookaside memory, or in other words when the "current value" returned by sqlite3_db_status(D,SQLITE_DBSTATUS_LOOKASIDE_USED,...) is zero. Any attempt to change the lookaside memory configuration when lookaside memory is in use leaves the configuration unchanged and returns SQLITE_BUSY. ]

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_FKEY

R-25136-65062:[This option is used to enable or disable the enforcement of foreign key constraints. ] There should be two additional arguments. The first argument is an integer which is 0 to disable FK enforcement, positive to enable FK enforcement or negative to leave FK enforcement unchanged. The second parameter is a pointer to an integer into which is written 0 or 1 to indicate whether FK enforcement is off or on following this call. The second parameter may be a NULL pointer, in which case the FK enforcement setting is not reported back.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_TRIGGER

R-02005-53466:[This option is used to enable or disable triggers. ] There should be two additional arguments. The first argument is an integer which is 0 to disable triggers, positive to enable triggers or negative to leave the setting unchanged. The second parameter is a pointer to an integer into which is written 0 or 1 to indicate whether triggers are disabled or enabled following this call. The second parameter may be a NULL pointer, in which case the trigger setting is not reported back.

Originally this option disabled all triggers. R-56352-62404:[However, since SQLite version 3.35.0, TEMP triggers are still allowed even if this option is off. So, in other words, this option now only disables triggers in the main database schema or in the schemas of ATTACH-ed databases. ]

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_VIEW

R-12600-09115:[This option is used to enable or disable views. ] There should be two additional arguments. The first argument is an integer which is 0 to disable views, positive to enable views or negative to leave the setting unchanged. The second parameter is a pointer to an integer into which is written 0 or 1 to indicate whether views are disabled or enabled following this call. The second parameter may be a NULL pointer, in which case the view setting is not reported back.

Originally this option disabled all views. R-46130-13641:[However, since SQLite version 3.35.0, TEMP views are still allowed even if this option is off. So, in other words, this option now only disables views in the main database schema or in the schemas of ATTACH-ed databases. ]

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_FTS3_TOKENIZER

R-48254-42943:[This option is used to enable or disable the fts3_tokenizer() function which is part of the FTS3 full-text search engine extension. ] There should be two additional arguments. The first argument is an integer which is 0 to disable fts3_tokenizer() or positive to enable fts3_tokenizer() or negative to leave the setting unchanged. The second parameter is a pointer to an integer into which is written 0 or 1 to indicate whether fts3_tokenizer is disabled or enabled following this call. The second parameter may be a NULL pointer, in which case the new setting is not reported back.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_LOAD_EXTENSION

R-27882-15425:[This option is used to enable or disable the sqlite3_load_extension() interface independently of the load_extension() SQL function. ] The sqlite3_enable_load_extension() API enables or disables both the C-API sqlite3_load_extension() and the SQL function load_extension(). There should be two additional arguments. When the first argument to this interface is 1, then only the C-API is enabled and the SQL function remains disabled. If the first argument to this interface is 0, then both the C-API and the SQL function are disabled. If the first argument is -1, then no changes are made to state of either the C-API or the SQL function. The second parameter is a pointer to an integer into which is written 0 or 1 to indicate whether sqlite3_load_extension() interface is disabled or enabled following this call. The second parameter may be a NULL pointer, in which case the new setting is not reported back.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_MAINDBNAME

R-06824-28531:[This option is used to change the name of the "main" database schema. ] R-34937-45675:[The sole argument is a pointer to a constant UTF8 string which will become the new schema name in place of "main". ] R-36257-52125:[SQLite does not make a copy of the new main schema name string, so the application must ensure that the argument passed into this DBCONFIG option is unchanged until after the database connection closes. ]

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_NO_CKPT_ON_CLOSE

Usually, when a database in wal mode is closed or detached from a database handle, SQLite checks if this will mean that there are now no connections at all to the database. If so, it performs a checkpoint operation before closing the connection. This option may be used to override this behaviour. The first parameter passed to this operation is an integer - positive to disable checkpoints-on-close, or zero (the default) to enable them, and negative to leave the setting unchanged. The second parameter is a pointer to an integer into which is written 0 or 1 to indicate whether checkpoints-on-close have been disabled - 0 if they are not disabled, 1 if they are.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_QPSG

R-40979-20331:[The SQLITE_DBCONFIG_ENABLE_QPSG option activates or deactivates the query planner stability guarantee (QPSG). When the QPSG is active, a single SQL query statement will always use the same algorithm regardless of values of bound parameters. ] The QPSG disables some query optimizations that look at the values of bound parameters, which can make some queries slower. But the QPSG has the advantage of more predictable behavior. With the QPSG active, SQLite will always use the same query plan in the field as was used during testing in the lab. The first argument to this setting is an integer which is 0 to disable the QPSG, positive to enable QPSG, or negative to leave the setting unchanged. The second parameter is a pointer to an integer into which is written 0 or 1 to indicate whether the QPSG is disabled or enabled following this call.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_TRIGGER_EQP

By default, the output of EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN commands does not include output for any operations performed by trigger programs. This option is used to set or clear (the default) a flag that governs this behavior. The first parameter passed to this operation is an integer - positive to enable output for trigger programs, or zero to disable it, or negative to leave the setting unchanged. The second parameter is a pointer to an integer into which is written 0 or 1 to indicate whether output-for-triggers has been disabled - 0 if it is not disabled, 1 if it is.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_RESET_DATABASE

Set the SQLITE_DBCONFIG_RESET_DATABASE flag and then run VACUUM in order to reset a database back to an empty database with no schema and no content. The following process works even for a badly corrupted database file:

If the database connection is newly opened, make sure it has read the database schema by preparing then discarding some query against the database, or calling sqlite3_table_column_metadata(), ignoring any errors. This step is only necessary if the application desires to keep the database in WAL mode after the reset if it was in WAL mode before the reset.
sqlite3_db_config(db, SQLITE_DBCONFIG_RESET_DATABASE, 1, 0);
sqlite3_exec(db, "VACUUM", 0, 0, 0);
sqlite3_db_config(db, SQLITE_DBCONFIG_RESET_DATABASE, 0, 0);

Because resetting a database is destructive and irreversible, the process requires the use of this obscure API and multiple steps to help ensure that it does not happen by accident. Because this feature must be capable of resetting corrupt databases, and shutting down virtual tables may require access to that corrupt storage, the library must abandon any installed virtual tables without calling their xDestroy() methods.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_DEFENSIVE

The SQLITE_DBCONFIG_DEFENSIVE option activates or deactivates the "defensive" flag for a database connection. When the defensive flag is enabled, language features that allow ordinary SQL to deliberately corrupt the database file are disabled. The disabled features include but are not limited to the following:

The PRAGMA writable_schema=ON statement.
The PRAGMA journal_mode=OFF statement.
The PRAGMA schema_version=N statement.
Writes to the sqlite_dbpage virtual table.
Direct writes to shadow tables.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_WRITABLE_SCHEMA

The SQLITE_DBCONFIG_WRITABLE_SCHEMA option activates or deactivates the "writable_schema" flag. This has the same effect and is logically equivalent to setting PRAGMA writable_schema=ON or PRAGMA writable_schema=OFF. The first argument to this setting is an integer which is 0 to disable the writable_schema, positive to enable writable_schema, or negative to leave the setting unchanged. The second parameter is a pointer to an integer into which is written 0 or 1 to indicate whether the writable_schema is enabled or disabled following this call.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_LEGACY_ALTER_TABLE

The SQLITE_DBCONFIG_LEGACY_ALTER_TABLE option activates or deactivates the legacy behavior of the ALTER TABLE RENAME command such it behaves as it did prior to version 3.24.0 (2018-06-04). See the "Compatibility Notice" on the ALTER TABLE RENAME documentation for additional information. This feature can also be turned on and off using the PRAGMA legacy_alter_table statement.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_DQS_DML

The SQLITE_DBCONFIG_DQS_DML option activates or deactivates the legacy double-quoted string literal misfeature for DML statements only, that is DELETE, INSERT, SELECT, and UPDATE statements. The default value of this setting is determined by the -DSQLITE_DQS compile-time option.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_DQS_DDL

The SQLITE_DBCONFIG_DQS option activates or deactivates the legacy double-quoted string literal misfeature for DDL statements, such as CREATE TABLE and CREATE INDEX. The default value of this setting is determined by the -DSQLITE_DQS compile-time option.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_TRUSTED_SCHEMA

The SQLITE_DBCONFIG_TRUSTED_SCHEMA option tells SQLite to assume that database schemas are untainted by malicious content. When the SQLITE_DBCONFIG_TRUSTED_SCHEMA option is disabled, SQLite takes additional defensive steps to protect the application from harm including:

Prohibit the use of SQL functions inside triggers, views, CHECK constraints, DEFAULT clauses, expression indexes, partial indexes, or generated columns unless those functions are tagged with SQLITE_INNOCUOUS.
Prohibit the use of virtual tables inside of triggers or views unless those virtual tables are tagged with SQLITE_VTAB_INNOCUOUS.

This setting defaults to "on" for legacy compatibility, however all applications are advised to turn it off if possible. This setting can also be controlled using the PRAGMA trusted_schema statement.

SQLITE_DBCONFIG_LEGACY_FILE_FORMAT

The SQLITE_DBCONFIG_LEGACY_FILE_FORMAT option activates or deactivates the legacy file format flag. When activated, this flag causes all newly created database file to have a schema format version number (the 4-byte integer found at offset 44 into the database header) of 1. This in turn means that the resulting database file will be readable and writable by any SQLite version back to 3.0.0 (2004-06-18). Without this setting, newly created databases are generally not understandable by SQLite versions prior to 3.3.0 (2006-01-11). As these words are written, there is now scarcely any need to generated database files that are compatible all the way back to version 3.0.0, and so this setting is of little practical use, but is provided so that SQLite can continue to claim the ability to generate new database files that are compatible with version 3.0.0.

Note that when the SQLITE_DBCONFIG_LEGACY_FILE_FORMAT setting is on, the VACUUM command will fail with an obscure error when attempting to process a table with generated columns and a descending index. This is not considered a bug since SQLite versions 3.3.0 and earlier do not support either generated columns or decending indexes.

See also lists of Objects, Constants, and Functions.

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