Run multiple sqlite queries at once via #bash #sqlite #sql

Multiple sqlite queries come together to form up scripts. Although UI apps like sqlite browser (which is my favorite btw) does great job to run scripts together easily, from bash it’s a little tricky. Because you need some automation around your queries to clean up the database before certain ops.

# For some bash niceness demonstration within sql queries. 
# Don't get sql injected though (create safe strings).
d=$(date '+%Y-%m-%d')

# Let's form up a script with 3 instructions.
query=".mode column
	UPDATE some_table SET title = 'new title' WHERE day > '${d}';
    SELECT * FROM some_other_table WHERE day > '${d}';

# For debugging purposes.
echo "Running this query: ${query}"

# Sqlite reads from stdin so we should give what it needs.
# Make sure you wrap $query with quotation marks otherwise your 
# query won't be piped to sqlite properly due to line breaks.
echo "$query" | sqlite3 some.db

echo "Running the query is finished"
}