Opening sqlite3 database from python in read-only mode

Question:

While using sqlite3 from C/C++ I learned that it has a open-in-read-only mode option, which is very handy to avoid accidental data-corruption. Is there such a thing in the Python binding?

Asked By: dsign

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Answers:

As by the link given by @Chris, no. But there is another wrapper for sqlite3, which is less PEP 249-compliant and that wraps sqlite3 more tightly, assimilating new features of the engine: https://github.com/rogerbinns/apsw. That wrapper does support opening the database in read-only mode, plus other niceties.

Answered By: dsign

As of Python 3.4.0 you can open the database in read only mode with the following:

db = sqlite3.connect('file:/path/to/database?mode=ro', uri=True)

Also see the documentation.

Answered By: anthonyryan1

Workaround for Python 2.x:

fd = os.open(filename, os.O_RDONLY)
c = sqlite3.connect('/dev/fd/%d' % fd)
os.close(fd)

Not posix, but available on Linux, OS/X and most modern unixes.

Answered By: OrenT

Somewhat related, note that you can enable/disable modifications dynamically with a pragma:

pragma query_only = ON;   -- disable changes
pragma query_only = OFF;  -- enable changes
Answered By: P-Gn
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