This package is a thin wrapper around sqlite's C API.

While the core functionality works right now, the API is still subject to changes.

If you use this library, expect to have to make changes when you update the code.

Zig master is the only required dependency.

For sqlite, you have options depending on your target:

• On Windows the only supported way at the moment to build zig-sqlite is with the bundled sqlite source code file.
• On Linux we have two options:
  • use the system and development package for sqlite (libsqlite3-dev for Debian and derivatives, sqlite3-devel for Fedora)
  • use the bundled sqlite source code file.

• Preparing, executing statements
• comptime checked bind parameters

There are two primary ways to include zig-sqlite in your project:

• using the zigmod package manager
• using a git submodule

Add this to your zig.mod file:

dependencies:
  - src: git https://github.com/vrischmann/zig-sqlite branch-master

Note that if you're building an executable and not a library you should use dev_dependencies instead.

Next run zigmod fetch; it should create a deps.zig file.

Now in your build.zig you can access the package like this:

const deps = @import("deps.zig");
...
deps.addAllTo(exe);

This is the easiest way to add zig-sqlite because it uses the bundled source code, avoiding all sorts of linking problems.

If you don't want to use a package manager you can simply add this repository as a git submodule.

Then you need to chose if you want to use the system sqlite library or the bundled source code.

If you want to use the system sqlite library, add the following to your build.zig target(s):

exe.linkLibC();
exe.linkSystemLibrary("sqlite3");
exe.addPackage(.{ .name = "sqlite", .path = "third_party/zig-sqlite/sqlite.zig" });

If you want to use the bundled sqlite source code file, first you need to add it as a static library in your build.zig file:

const sqlite = b.addStaticLibrary("sqlite", null);
sqlite.addCSourceFile("third_party/zig-sqlite/sqlite3.c", &[_][]const u8{"-std=c99"});
sqlite.linkLibC();

Now it's just a matter of linking your build.zig target(s) to this library instead of the system one:

exe.linkLibC();
exe.linkLibrary(sqlite);
exe.addPackage(.{ .name = "sqlite", .path = "third_party/zig-sqlite/sqlite.zig" });

If you're building with glibc you must make sure that the version used is at least 2.28.

You can do that in your build.zig file:

var target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{});
target.setGnuLibCVersion(2, 28, 0);
exe.setTarget(target);

Or with -Dtarget:

$ zig build -Dtarget=native-linux-gnu.2.28

Import zig-sqlite like this:

const sqlite = @import("sqlite");

You must create and initialize an instance of sqlite.Db:

var db = try sqlite.Db.init(.{
    .mode = sqlite.Db.Mode{ .File = "/home/vincent/mydata.db" },
    .open_flags = .{
        .write = true,
        .create = true,
    },
    .threading_mode = .MultiThread,
});

The init method takes a InitOptions struct which will be used to configure sqlite.

Only the mode field is mandatory, the other fields have sane default values.

sqlite works exclusively by using prepared statements. The wrapper type is sqlite.Statement. Here is how you get one:

const query =
    \\SELECT id, name, age, salary FROM employees WHERE age > ? AND age < ?
;

var stmt = try db.prepare(query);
defer stmt.deinit();

The Db.prepare method takes a comptime query string.

If you want failure diagnostics you can use prepareWithDiags like this:

var diags = sqlite.Diagnostics{};
var stmt = db.prepareWithDiags(query, .{ .diags = &diags }) catch |err| {
    std.log.err("unable to prepare statement, got error {s}. diagnostics: {s}", .{ err, diags });
    return err;
};
defer stmt.deinit();

For queries which do not return data (INSERT, UPDATE) you can use the exec method:

const query =
    \\UPDATE foo SET salary = ? WHERE id = ?
;

var stmt = try db.prepare(query);
defer stmt.deinit();

try stmt.exec(.{
    .salary = 20000,
    .id = 40,
});

See the section "Bind parameters and resultset rows" for more information on the types mapping rules.

You can reuse a statement by resetting it like this:

const query =
    \\UPDATE foo SET salary = ? WHERE id = ?
;

var stmt = try db.prepare(query);
defer stmt.deinit();

var id: usize = 0;
while (id < 20) : (id += 1) {
    stmt.reset();
    try stmt.exec(.{
        .salary = 2000,
        .id = id,
    });
}

For queries which return data you have multiple options:

• Statement.all which takes an allocator and can allocate memory.
• Statement.one which does not take an allocator and cannot allocate memory (aside from what sqlite allocates itself).
• Statement.oneAlloc which takes an allocator and can allocate memory.

All these methods take a type as first parameter.

The type represents a "row", it can be:

• a struct where each field maps to the corresponding column in the resultset (so field 0 must map to column 1 and so on).
• a single type, in that case the resultset must only return one column.

The type can be a pointer but only when using the methods taking an allocator.

Not all types are allowed, see the section "Bind parameters and resultset rows" for more information on the types mapping rules.

Using one:

const query =
    \\SELECT name, age FROM employees WHERE id = ?
;

var stmt = try db.prepare(query);
defer stmt.deinit();

const row = try stmt.one(
    struct {
        name: [128:0]u8,
        age: usize,
    },
    .{},
    .{ .id = 20 },
);
if (row) |row| {
    std.log.debug("name: {}, age: {}", .{std.mem.spanZ(&row.name), row.age});
}

Notice that to read text we need to use a 0-terminated array; if the name column is bigger than 127 bytes the call to one will fail.

If the length of the data is variable then the sentinel is mandatory: without one there would be no way to know where the data ends in the array.

However if the length is fixed, you can read into a non 0-terminated array, for example:

const query =
    \\SELECT id FROM employees WHERE name = ?
;

var stmt = try db.prepare(query);
defer stmt.deinit();

const row = try stmt.one(
    [16]u8,
    .{},
    .{ .name = "Vincent" },
);
if (row) |id| {
    std.log.debug("id: {s}", .{std.fmt.fmtSliceHexLower(&id)});
}

If the column data doesn't have the correct length a error.ArraySizeMismatch will be returned.

The convenience function sqlite.Db.one works exactly the same way:

const query =
    \\SELECT age FROM employees WHERE id = ?
;

const row = try db.one(usize, query, .{}, .{ .id = 20 });
if (row) |age| {
    std.log.debug("age: {}", .{age});
}

Using all:

const query =
    \\SELECT name FROM employees WHERE age > ? AND age < ?
;

var stmt = try db.prepare(query);
defer stmt.deinit();

const names = try stmt.all([]const u8, allocator, .{}, .{
    .age1 = 20,
    .age2 = 40,
});
for (names) |name| {
    std.log.debug("name: {s}", .{ name });
}

Using oneAlloc:

const query =
    \\SELECT name FROM employees WHERE id = ?
;

var stmt = try db.prepare(query);
defer stmt.deinit();

const row = try stmt.oneAlloc([]const u8, allocator, .{}, .{
    .id = 200,
});
if (row) |name| {
    std.log.debug("name: {}", .{name});
}

Another way to get the data returned by a query is to use the sqlite.Iterator type.

You can only get one by calling the iterator method on a statement.

The iterator method takes a type which is the same as with all, one or oneAlloc: every row retrieved by calling next or nextAlloc will have this type.

Iterating is done by calling the next or nextAlloc method on an iterator. Just like before, next cannot allocate memory while nextAlloc can allocate memory.

next or nextAlloc will either return an optional value or an error; you should keep iterating until null is returned.

var stmt = try db.prepare("SELECT age FROM user WHERE age < ?");
defer stmt.deinit();

var iter = try stmt.iterator(usize, .{
    .age = 20,
});

while (try iter.next(.{})) |age| {
    std.debug.print("age: {}\n", .{age});
}

var stmt = try db.prepare("SELECT name FROM user WHERE age < ?");
defer stmt.deinit();

var iter = try stmt.iterator([]const u8, .{
    .age = 20,
});

while (true) {
    var arena = std.heap.ArenaAllocator.init(allocator);
    defer arena.deinit();

    const name = (try iter.nextAlloc(&arena.allocator, .{})) orelse break;
    std.debug.print("name: {}\n", .{name});
}

Since sqlite doesn't have many types only a small number of Zig types are allowed in binding parameters and in resultset mapping types.

Here are the rules for bind parameters:

• any Zig Int or ComptimeInt is treated as a INTEGER.
• any Zig Float or ComptimeFloat is treated as a REAL.
• []const u8, []u8 is treated as a TEXT.
• the custom sqlite.Blob type is treated as a BLOB.
• the custom sqlite.Text type is treated as a TEXT.
• the null value is treated as a NULL.
• non-null optionals are treated like a regular value, null optionals are treated as a NULL.

Here are the rules for resultset rows:

• INTEGER can be read into any Zig Int provided the data fits.
• REAL can be read into any Zig Float provided the data fits.
• TEXT can be read into a []const u8 or []u8.
• TEXT can be read into any array of u8 with a sentinel provided the data fits.
• BLOB follows the same rules as TEXT.
• NULL can be read into any optional.

Note that arrays must have a sentinel because we need a way to communicate where the data actually stops in the array, so for example use [200:0]u8 for a TEXT field.

Prepared statements contain comptime metadata which is used to validate every call to exec, one and all at compile time.

The first check makes sure you provide the same number of bind parameters as there are bind markers in the query string.

Take the following code:

var stmt = try db.prepare("SELECT id FROM user WHERE age > ? AND age < ? AND weight > ?");
defer stmt.deinit();

const rows = try stmt.all(usize, .{}, .{
    .age_1 = 10,
    .age_2 = 20,
});
_ = rows;

It fails with this compilation error:

/home/vincent/dev/perso/libs/zig-sqlite/sqlite.zig:738:17: error: number of bind markers not equal to number of fields
                @compileError("number of bind markers not equal to number of fields");
                ^
/home/vincent/dev/perso/libs/zig-sqlite/sqlite.zig:817:22: note: called from here
            self.bind(values);
                     ^
/home/vincent/dev/perso/libs/zig-sqlite/sqlite.zig:905:41: note: called from here
            var iter = try self.iterator(Type, values);
                                        ^
./src/main.zig:19:30: note: called from here
    const rows = try stmt.all(usize, allocator, .{}, .{
                             ^
./src/main.zig:5:29: note: called from here
pub fn main() anyerror!void {

The second (and more interesting) check makes sure you provide appropriately typed values as bind parameters.

This check is not automatic since with a standard SQL query we have no way to know the types of the bind parameters, to use it you must provide theses types in the SQL query with a custom syntax.

For example, take the same code as above but now we also bind the last parameter:

var stmt = try db.prepare("SELECT id FROM user WHERE age > ? AND age < ? AND weight > ?");
defer stmt.deinit();

const rows = try stmt.all(usize, .{ .allocator = allocator }, .{
    .age_1 = 10,
    .age_2 = 20,
    .weight = false,
});
_ = rows;

This compiles correctly even if the weight field in our user table is of the type INTEGER.

We can make sure the bind parameters have the right type if we rewrite the query like this:

var stmt = try db.prepare("SELECT id FROM user WHERE age > ? AND age < ? AND weight > ?{usize}");
defer stmt.deinit();

const rows = try stmt.all(usize, .{ .allocator = allocator }, .{
    .age_1 = 10,
    .age_2 = 20,
    .weight = false,
});
_ = rows;

Now this fails to compile:

/home/vincent/dev/perso/libs/zig-sqlite/sqlite.zig:745:25: error: value type bool is not the bind marker type usize
                        @compileError("value type " ++ @typeName(struct_field.field_type) ++ " is not the bind marker type " ++ @typeName(typ));
                        ^
/home/vincent/dev/perso/libs/zig-sqlite/sqlite.zig:817:22: note: called from here
            self.bind(values);
                     ^
/home/vincent/dev/perso/libs/zig-sqlite/sqlite.zig:905:41: note: called from here
            var iter = try self.iterator(Type, values);
                                        ^
./src/main.zig:19:30: note: called from here
    const rows = try stmt.all(usize, allocator, .{}, .{
                             ^
./src/main.zig:5:29: note: called from here
pub fn main() anyerror!void {

The syntax is straightforward: a bind marker ? followed by {, a Zig type name and finally }.

There are a limited number of types allowed currently:

• all integer types.
• all arbitrary bit-width integer types.
• all float types.
• bool.
• strings with []const u8 or []u8.
• strings with sqlite.Text.
• blobs with sqlite.Blob.

It's probably possible to support arbitrary types if they can be marshaled to a sqlite type. This is something to investigate.

NOTE: this is done at compile time and is quite CPU intensive, therefore it's possible you'll have to play with @setEvalBranchQuota to make it compile.

To finish our example, passing the proper type allows it compile:

var stmt = try db.prepare("SELECT id FROM user WHERE age > ? AND age < ? AND weight > ?{usize}");
defer stmt.deinit();

const rows = try stmt.all(usize, .{}, .{
    .age_1 = 10,
    .age_2 = 20,
    .weight = @as(usize, 200),
});
_ = rows;