SQLite – How to Properly Format SQLite Shell Output

sqlite

If I go to mysql shell and type SELECT * FROM users I get –

+--------+----------------+---------------------------------+----------+-----------+--------------------+--------------------+
| USERID | NAME           | EMAILID                         | PASSWORD | USER_TYPE | CONTACT_ID_FKUSERS | COMPANY_ID_FKUSERS |
+--------+----------------+---------------------------------+----------+-----------+--------------------+--------------------+
|    137 | X              | b@cc.com                        | #        | ADMIN     |                166 |                110 |
|    138 | Kshitiz        | ksharma@aaa.com                 | asdf     | ADMIN     |                167 |                111 |
+--------+----------------+---------------------------------+----------+-----------+--------------------+--------------------+

Oracle sqlplus shows – 

USERID     NAME  EMAILID    PASSWORD   USER_TYPE  CONTACT_ID_FKUSERS COMPANY_ID_FKUSERS
---------- ----- ---------- ---------- ---------- ------------------ ------------------
137        X     b@cc.com   #          ADMIN                     166                110
137        X     b@cc.com   #          ADMIN                     166                110

Sqlite shell shows – 

137|X|b@cc.com|#|ADMIN|166|110
138|Kshitiz|ksharma@aaa.com|asdf|ADMIN|167|111
  1. Is there a way to beautify the output from sqlite shell?
  2. Is there an alternative shell that's better than default distribution? (CLI clients only)

Best Answer

For "human readable" output, you can use column mode, and turn header output on. That will get you something similar to the sqlplus output in your examples:

sqlite> select * from foo;
234|kshitiz|dba.se

sqlite> .mode column
sqlite> select * from foo;
234         kshitiz     dba.se

sqlite> .headers on
sqlite> select * from foo;
bar         baz         baf
----------  ----------  ----------
234         kshitiz     dba.se
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