Description

tanloong

opened on May 12, 2025

Issue body actions

Feature or enhancement

Proposal:

The .help command in the sqlite3 CLI does not give much information. It only shows a brief message:

sqlite> .help
Enter SQL code and press enter.

It would be better if .help displayed a list of available commands, and .help <command> showed detailed help for that specific command.

Has this already been discussed elsewhere?

This is a minor feature, which does not need previous discussion elsewhere

Links to previous discussion of this feature:

No response

Linked PRs

• gh-133934: Improve .help in the sqlite3 CLI #133935
• gh-133934: Improve sqlite3 .help message #135224

Activity

1. tanloong

   added

   type-featureA feature request or enhancementA feature request or enhancement

   on May 12, 2025
2. ZeroIntensity

   added

   topic-sqlite3

   on May 12, 2025
3. github-project-automation

   added this to sqlite3 issueson May 12, 2025
4. picnixz

   added

   stdlibStandard Library Python modules in the Lib/ directoryStandard Library Python modules in the Lib/ directory

   on May 15, 2025
5. StanFromIreland commented on Jun 6, 2025

   

   StanFromIreland

   on Jun 6, 2025

   Member

   More actions

   We only need help for two commands, how about we hard-code it? I wrote a patch which can be seen below.

   Subject: [PATCH] Expand help
   ---
   Index: Lib/sqlite3/__main__.py
   IDEA additional info:
   Subsystem: com.intellij.openapi.diff.impl.patch.CharsetEP
   <+>UTF-8
   ===================================================================
   diff --git a/Lib/sqlite3/__main__.py b/Lib/sqlite3/__main__.py
   --- a/Lib/sqlite3/__main__.py	(revision 0df15d0d4d55dcf7b7a7f4b2985bf84fd092d257)
   +++ b/Lib/sqlite3/__main__.py	(date 1749219376897)
   @@ -63,7 +63,10 @@
                    case "version":
                        print(f"{sqlite3.sqlite_version}")
                    case "help":
   -                    print("Enter SQL code and press enter.")
   +                    t = theme.syntax
   +                    print(f"Enter SQL code or one of the below commands, and press enter.\n"
   +                          f"{t.builtin}.version{t.reset}    Print the SQLite version\n"
   +                          f"{t.builtin}.quit{t.reset}       Exit the CLI, equivalent to CTRL-D\n")
                    case "quit":
                        sys.exit(0)
                    case "":

   What do you think @erlend-aasland of this approach?

   Reacted by Erlend E. Aasland
6. erlend-aasland commented on Jun 6, 2025

   

   erlend-aasland

   on Jun 6, 2025

   Contributor

   More actions

   SGTM, Stan.

   Reacted by Stan Ulbrych
7. encukou

   added a commit that references this issue on Jun 19, 2025

   gh-133934: Mention special commands in sqlite3 `.help` message (GH-13…

   13efe3f
8. lkollar

   added a commit that references this issue on Jun 19, 2025

   pythongh-133934: Mention special commands in sqlite3 `.help` message (p…

   579db8d
9. StanFromIreland

   closed this as completedon Jun 23, 2025
10. github-project-automation

    moved this to Done in sqlite3 issueson Jun 23, 2025
11. Pranjal095

    added a commit that references this issue on Jul 12, 2025

    pythongh-133934: Mention special commands in sqlite3 `.help` message (p…

    6c39092
12. taegyunkim

    added a commit that references this issue on Aug 4, 2025

    pythongh-133934: Mention special commands in sqlite3 `.help` message (p…

    a7386c5
13. Agent-Hellboy

    added a commit that references this issue on Aug 19, 2025

    pythongh-133934: Mention special commands in sqlite3 `.help` message (p…

    5fa22fc

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