sqlite3_stmt: Prepared Statement (C API)

Remarks#

official documentation: Prepared Statement Object

Executing a Statement

A statement is constructed with a function such as sqlite3_prepare_v2().

A prepared statement object must be cleaned up with sqlite3_finalize(). Do not forget this in case of an error.

If parameters are used, set their values with the sqlite3_bind_xxx() functions.

The actual execution happens when sqlite3_step() is called.

const char *sql = "INSERT INTO MyTable(ID, Name) VALUES (?, ?)";
sqlite3_stmt *stmt;
int err;

err = sqlite3_prepare_v2(db, sql, -1, &stmt, NULL);
if (err != SQLITE_OK) {
    printf("prepare failed: %s\n", sqlite3_errmsg(db));
    return /* failure */;
}

sqlite3_bind_int (stmt, 1, 42);                          /* ID */
sqlite3_bind_text(stmt, 2, "Bob", -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT); /* name */

err = sqlite3_step(stmt);
if (err != SQLITE_DONE) {
    printf("execution failed: %s\n", sqlite3_errmsg(db));
    sqlite3_finalize(stmt);
    return /* failure */;
}

sqlite3_finalize(stmt);
return /* success */;

Reading Data from a Cursor

A SELECT query is executed like any other statement. To read the returned data, call sqlite3_step() in a loop. It returns:

SQLITE_ROW: if the data for the next row is available, or
SQLITE_DONE: if there are no more rows, or
any error code.

If a query does not return any rows, the very first step returns SQLITE_DONE.

To read the data from the current row, call the sqlite3_column_xxx() functions:

const char *sql = "SELECT ID, Name FROM MyTable";
sqlite3_stmt *stmt;
int err;

err = sqlite3_prepare_v2(db, sql, -1, &stmt, NULL);
if (err != SQLITE_OK) {
    printf("prepare failed: %s\n", sqlite3_errmsg(db));
    return /* failure */;
}

for (;;) {
    err = sqlite3_step(stmt);
    if (err != SQLITE_ROW)
        break;

    int         id   = sqlite3_column_int (stmt, 0);
    const char *name = sqlite3_column_text(stmt, 1);
    if (name == NULL)
        name = "(NULL)";
    printf("ID: %d, Name: %s\n", id, name);
}

if (err != SQLITE_DONE) {
    printf("execution failed: %s\n", sqlite3_errmsg(db));
    sqlite3_finalize(stmt);
    return /* failure */;
}

sqlite3_finalize(stmt);
return /* success */;

Executing a prepared statement multiple times

After a statement was executed, a call to sqlite3_reset() brings it back into the original state so that it can be re-executed.

Typically, while the statement itself stays the same, the parameters are changed:

const char *sql = "INSERT INTO MyTable(ID, Name) VALUES (?, ?)";
sqlite3_stmt *stmt;
int err;

err = sqlite3_prepare_v2(db, sql, -1, &stmt, NULL);
if (err != SQLITE_OK) {
    printf("prepare failed: %s\n", sqlite3_errmsg(db));
    return /* failure */;
}

for (...) {
    sqlite3_bind_int (stmt, 1, ...);   /* ID */
    sqlite3_bind_text(stmt, 2, ...);   /* name */

    err = sqlite3_step(stmt);
    if (err != SQLITE_DONE) {
        printf("execution failed: %s\n", sqlite3_errmsg(db));
        sqlite3_finalize(stmt);
        return /* failure */;
    }

    sqlite3_reset(stmt);
}

sqlite3_finalize(stmt);
return /* success */;