From 7e4a02e66fda560e5d6a85580da02a8cbacb4390 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: jbranchaud <jbranchaud@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2026 21:05:44 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Add Output Query Result In Nicely Formatted Table as a SQLite
 TIL

---
 README.md                                     |  3 +-
 ...-query-result-in-nicely-formatted-table.md | 50 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 52 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 sqlite/output-query-result-in-nicely-formatted-table.md

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f653640..aaf1c10 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ working across different projects via [VisualMode](https://www.visualmode.dev/).
 
 For a steady stream of TILs, [sign up for my newsletter](https://visualmode.kit.com/newsletter).
 
-_1875 TILs and counting..._
+_1876 TILs and counting..._
 
 See some of the other learning resources I work on:
 
@@ -1656,6 +1656,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Display Results In Readable Column Format](sqlite/display-results-in-readable-column-format.md)
 - [Explore The Database Schema](sqlite/explore-the-database-schema.md)
 - [Manage Lightweight Schema Migrations With `user_version`](sqlite/manage-lightweight-schema-migrations-with-user-version.md)
+- [Output Query Result In Nicely Formatted Table](sqlite/output-query-result-in-nicely-formatted-table.md)
 
 ### Streaming
 
diff --git a/sqlite/output-query-result-in-nicely-formatted-table.md b/sqlite/output-query-result-in-nicely-formatted-table.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d776f98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sqlite/output-query-result-in-nicely-formatted-table.md
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# Output Query Result In Nicely Formatted Table
+
+When I start a fresh SQLite connection and run a query, all the results are
+squished together in a way that is poorly formatted, hard to read, and missing
+column headers.
+
+```sql
+sqlite> select sessions.id, start_time, end_time, projects.name from sessions join projects on projects.id = sessions.project_id limit 3;
+1|2026-07-26T21:15:50.062936+00:00|2026-07-26T21:53:13.990Z|taco
+2|2026-07-26T21:53:40.019946+00:00|2026-07-26T22:14:09.168Z|TIL
+3|2026-08-02T17:00:16.119169+00:00|2026-08-02T17:30:16.119Z|py-vmt
+```
+
+I can drastically improve the look of this by turning _headers_ on and switching
+to _box_ mode.
+
+```sql
+sqlite> .headers on
+sqlite> .mode box
+sqlite> select sessions.id, start_time, end_time, projects.name from sessions join projects on projects.id = sessions.project_id limit 3;
+┌────┬──────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┬────────┐
+│ id │            start_time            │         end_time         │  name  │
+├────┼──────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┼────────┤
+│ 1  │ 2026-07-26T21:15:50.062936+00:00 │ 2026-07-26T21:53:13.990Z │ taco   │
+│ 2  │ 2026-07-26T21:53:40.019946+00:00 │ 2026-07-26T22:14:09.168Z │ TIL    │
+│ 3  │ 2026-08-02T17:00:16.119169+00:00 │ 2026-08-02T17:30:16.119Z │ py-vmt │
+└────┴──────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┴────────┘
+```
+
+I personally find that much easier on the eyes. It is also a nicer format to
+copy and paste into a post like this or a formatted code block that I'm sharing
+with a colleague.
+
+I can also do this directly from the CLI with a one-liner using `-header` and
+`-box` like so:
+
+```bash
+❯ sqlite3 /Users/lastword/.local/share/vmt/sessions.db -header -box "select sessions.id, start_time, end_time, projects.name from sessions join projects on projects.id = sessions.project_id limit 3"
+┌────┬──────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┬────────┐
+│ id │            start_time            │         end_time         │  name  │
+├────┼──────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┼────────┤
+│ 1  │ 2026-07-26T21:15:50.062936+00:00 │ 2026-07-26T21:53:13.990Z │ taco   │
+│ 2  │ 2026-07-26T21:53:40.019946+00:00 │ 2026-07-26T22:14:09.168Z │ TIL    │
+│ 3  │ 2026-08-02T17:00:16.119169+00:00 │ 2026-08-02T17:30:16.119Z │ py-vmt │
+└────┴──────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┴────────┘
+```
+
+Run the `.help` dot-command from a SQLite prompt for a full listing of these
+commands. See also `sqlite3 --help` from the CLI for usage details about all
+flags.