How to Manage Data with SQLite in Python

SQLite is a small, fast, full-featured relational database engine that is the most used relational database system in the world that comes with Python in the form of the Python SQLite. You don’t need a database server or a connection to a remote database to use SQLite. SQLite uses a simple file to store data, or you could keep the whole database in memory.

SQLite comes bundled with Python, which means you don’t have to install third-party modules to add database capabilities to your Python program, just use the built-in database engine. In this article, we’ll look at the Python SQLite3 module and show you how to create, connect to, and manipulate data in an SQLite database from Python.

SQLite data types

SQLite uses a relational database structure. This means you will use SQL to add, update, and access the data in the database. The data is stored in tables that consist of columns, and the data in these columns must be of a consistent type. Here are the data types that SQLite supports:

• NULL: A NULL value
• INTEGER: An integer value
• REAL: A floating-point (decimal) value
• TEXT: A text value
• BLOB: A large binary object

If you’re familiar with other relational databases, then you may notice that the data types in SQLite are limited. For example, there is no date or varchar type. This may mean SQLite won’t fit some database needs, but it’s still useful for many applications.

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