You can't do that, but there's probably a way to get the overall result you want. What is the point in setting SQLite to store a journal file in memory, but then moving that memory to non-volatile memory ? Doesn't that have the same result as just leaving the journal file in the same folder as the database, which is the default ? What result as you searching for ? And what kind of hardware are you using ? A normal desktop computer, a smartphone, or an embedded processor ?