mirror of
https://github.com/jbranchaud/til
synced 2026-08-31 16:51:46 +00:00
51 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
51 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
# Output Query Result In Nicely Formatted Table
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When I start a fresh SQLite connection and run a query, all the results are
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squished together in a way that is poorly formatted, hard to read, and missing
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column headers.
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```sql
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sqlite> select sessions.id, start_time, end_time, projects.name from sessions join projects on projects.id = sessions.project_id limit 3;
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1|2026-07-26T21:15:50.062936+00:00|2026-07-26T21:53:13.990Z|taco
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2|2026-07-26T21:53:40.019946+00:00|2026-07-26T22:14:09.168Z|TIL
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3|2026-08-02T17:00:16.119169+00:00|2026-08-02T17:30:16.119Z|py-vmt
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```
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I can drastically improve the look of this by turning _headers_ on and switching
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to _box_ mode.
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```sql
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sqlite> .headers on
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sqlite> .mode box
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sqlite> select sessions.id, start_time, end_time, projects.name from sessions join projects on projects.id = sessions.project_id limit 3;
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┌────┬──────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┬────────┐
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│ id │ start_time │ end_time │ name │
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├────┼──────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┼────────┤
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│ 1 │ 2026-07-26T21:15:50.062936+00:00 │ 2026-07-26T21:53:13.990Z │ taco │
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│ 2 │ 2026-07-26T21:53:40.019946+00:00 │ 2026-07-26T22:14:09.168Z │ TIL │
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│ 3 │ 2026-08-02T17:00:16.119169+00:00 │ 2026-08-02T17:30:16.119Z │ py-vmt │
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└────┴──────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┴────────┘
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```
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I personally find that much easier on the eyes. It is also a nicer format to
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copy and paste into a post like this or a formatted code block that I'm sharing
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with a colleague.
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I can also do this directly from the CLI with a one-liner using `-header` and
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`-box` like so:
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```bash
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❯ 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"
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┌────┬──────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┬────────┐
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│ id │ start_time │ end_time │ name │
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├────┼──────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┼────────┤
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│ 1 │ 2026-07-26T21:15:50.062936+00:00 │ 2026-07-26T21:53:13.990Z │ taco │
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│ 2 │ 2026-07-26T21:53:40.019946+00:00 │ 2026-07-26T22:14:09.168Z │ TIL │
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│ 3 │ 2026-08-02T17:00:16.119169+00:00 │ 2026-08-02T17:30:16.119Z │ py-vmt │
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└────┴──────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┴────────┘
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```
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Run the `.help` dot-command from a SQLite prompt for a full listing of these
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commands. See also `sqlite3 --help` from the CLI for usage details about all
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flags.
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