sqlite-utils dump command, closes #274

docs/cli.rst

@@ -1256,6 +1256,19 @@ You can disable WAL mode using ``disable-wal``::
 
 Both of these commands accept one or more database files as arguments.
 
+.. _cli_dump:
+
+Dumping the database to SQL
+===========================
+
+The ``dump`` command outputs a SQL dump of the schema and full contents of the specified database file::
+
+    $ sqlite-utils dump mydb.db
+    BEGIN TRANSACTION;
+    CREATE TABLE ...
+    ...
+    COMMIT;
+
 .. _cli_load_extension:
 
 Loading SQLite extensions

sqlite_utils/cli.py

@@ -308,6 +308,21 @@ def vacuum(path):
     sqlite_utils.Database(path).vacuum()
 
 
+@cli.command()
+@click.argument(
+    "path",
+    type=click.Path(exists=True, file_okay=True, dir_okay=False, allow_dash=False),
+    required=True,
+)
+@load_extension_option
+def dump(path, load_extension):
+    """Output a SQL dump of the schema and full contents of the database"""
+    db = sqlite_utils.Database(path)
+    _load_extensions(db, load_extension)
+    for line in db.conn.iterdump():
+        click.echo(line)
+
+
 @cli.command(name="add-column")
 @click.argument(
     "path",

tests/test_cli.py

@@ -502,6 +502,13 @@ def test_vacuum(db_path):
     assert 0 == result.exit_code
 
 
+def test_dump(db_path):
+    result = CliRunner().invoke(cli.cli, ["dump", db_path])
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert result.output.startswith("BEGIN TRANSACTION;")
+    assert result.output.strip().endswith("COMMIT;")
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("tables", ([], ["Gosh"], ["Gosh2"]))
 def test_optimize(db_path, tables):
     db = Database(db_path)