--raw-lines option, closes #539

docs/cli-reference.rst

@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ See :ref:`cli_query`.
       --json-cols                 Detect JSON cols and output them as JSON, not
                                   escaped strings
       -r, --raw                   Raw output, first column of first row
+      --raw-lines                 Raw output, first column of each row
       -p, --param <TEXT TEXT>...  Named :parameters for SQL query
       --functions TEXT            Python code defining one or more custom SQL
                                   functions
@@ -192,6 +193,7 @@ See :ref:`cli_memory`.
       --json-cols                 Detect JSON cols and output them as JSON, not
                                   escaped strings
       -r, --raw                   Raw output, first column of first row
+      --raw-lines                 Raw output, first column of each row
       -p, --param <TEXT TEXT>...  Named :parameters for SQL query
       --encoding TEXT             Character encoding for CSV input, defaults to
                                   utf-8

docs/cli.rst

@@ -239,6 +239,9 @@ For example, to retrieve a binary image from a ``BLOB`` column and store it in a
 
     $ sqlite-utils photos.db "select contents from photos where id=1" --raw > myphoto.jpg
 
+To return the first column of each result as raw data, separated by newlines, use ``--raw-lines``::
+
+    $ sqlite-utils photos.db "select caption from photos" --raw-lines > captions.txt
 
 .. _cli_query_parameters:
 

sqlite_utils/cli.py

@@ -1653,6 +1653,7 @@ def drop_view(path, view, ignore, load_extension):
 )
 @output_options
 @click.option("-r", "--raw", is_flag=True, help="Raw output, first column of first row")
+@click.option("--raw-lines", is_flag=True, help="Raw output, first column of each row")
 @click.option(
     "-p",
     "--param",
@@ -1677,6 +1678,7 @@ def query(
     fmt,
     json_cols,
     raw,
+    raw_lines,
     param,
     load_extension,
     functions,
@@ -1700,7 +1702,19 @@ def query(
         _register_functions(db, functions)
 
     _execute_query(
-        db, sql, param, raw, table, csv, tsv, no_headers, fmt, nl, arrays, json_cols
+        db,
+        sql,
+        param,
+        raw,
+        raw_lines,
+        table,
+        csv,
+        tsv,
+        no_headers,
+        fmt,
+        nl,
+        arrays,
+        json_cols,
     )
 
 
@@ -1728,6 +1742,7 @@ def query(
 )
 @output_options
 @click.option("-r", "--raw", is_flag=True, help="Raw output, first column of first row")
+@click.option("--raw-lines", is_flag=True, help="Raw output, first column of each row")
 @click.option(
     "-p",
     "--param",
@@ -1773,6 +1788,7 @@ def memory(
     fmt,
     json_cols,
     raw,
+    raw_lines,
     param,
     encoding,
     no_detect_types,
@@ -1879,12 +1895,36 @@ def memory(
         _register_functions(db, functions)
 
     _execute_query(
-        db, sql, param, raw, table, csv, tsv, no_headers, fmt, nl, arrays, json_cols
+        db,
+        sql,
+        param,
+        raw,
+        raw_lines,
+        table,
+        csv,
+        tsv,
+        no_headers,
+        fmt,
+        nl,
+        arrays,
+        json_cols,
     )
 
 
 def _execute_query(
-    db, sql, param, raw, table, csv, tsv, no_headers, fmt, nl, arrays, json_cols
+    db,
+    sql,
+    param,
+    raw,
+    raw_lines,
+    table,
+    csv,
+    tsv,
+    no_headers,
+    fmt,
+    nl,
+    arrays,
+    json_cols,
 ):
     with db.conn:
         try:
@@ -1903,6 +1943,13 @@ def _execute_query(
                 sys.stdout.buffer.write(data)
             else:
                 sys.stdout.write(str(data))
+        elif raw_lines:
+            for row in cursor:
+                data = row[0]
+                if isinstance(data, bytes):
+                    sys.stdout.buffer.write(data + b"\n")
+                else:
+                    sys.stdout.write(str(data) + "\n")
         elif fmt or table:
             print(
                 tabulate.tabulate(

tests/test_cli.py

@@ -916,6 +916,21 @@ def test_query_raw(db_path, content, is_binary):
         assert result.output == str(content)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "content,is_binary",
+    [(b"\x00\x0Fbinary", True), ("this is text", False), (1, False), (1.5, False)],
+)
+def test_query_raw_lines(db_path, content, is_binary):
+    Database(db_path)["files"].insert_all({"content": content} for _ in range(3))
+    result = CliRunner().invoke(
+        cli.cli, [db_path, "select content from files", "--raw-lines"]
+    )
+    if is_binary:
+        assert result.stdout_bytes == b"\n".join(content for _ in range(3)) + b"\n"
+    else:
+        assert result.output == "\n".join(str(content) for _ in range(3)) + "\n"
+
+
 def test_query_memory_does_not_create_file(tmpdir):
     owd = os.getcwd()
     try: