sqlite-utils insert/upsert --type colunm-name type option, closes #131

docs/changelog.rst

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ Unreleased
 
 - ``sqlite-utils query`` can now read the SQL query from standard input by passing ``-`` in place of the query, for example ``echo "select * from dogs" | sqlite-utils query dogs.db -``. (:issue:`765`)
 - ``sqlite-utils insert`` and ``sqlite-utils upsert`` now accept a ``--code`` option for :ref:`providing a block of Python code <cli_insert_code>` (or a path to a ``.py`` file) that defines a ``rows()`` function or ``rows`` iterable of rows to insert, as an alternative to importing from a file. (:issue:`684`)
+- ``sqlite-utils insert`` and ``sqlite-utils upsert`` now accept ``--type column-name type`` to :ref:`override the type automatically chosen when the table is created <cli_insert_csv_tsv_column_types>`. This is useful for CSV or TSV columns such as ZIP codes that look like integers but should be stored as ``TEXT`` to preserve leading zeros. (:issue:`131`)
 
 .. _v4_0:
 

docs/cli-reference.rst

@@ -246,6 +246,9 @@ See :ref:`cli_inserting_data`, :ref:`cli_insert_csv_tsv`, :ref:`cli_insert_unstr
       - Use --lines to write each incoming line to a column called "line"
       - Use --text to write the entire input to a column called "text"
 
+      Use --type column-name type to override the type automatically chosen when the
+      table is created.
+
       You can also use --convert to pass a fragment of Python code that will be used
       to convert each input.
 
@@ -306,6 +309,7 @@ See :ref:`cli_inserting_data`, :ref:`cli_insert_csv_tsv`, :ref:`cli_insert_unstr
       --alter                   Alter existing table to add any missing columns
       --not-null TEXT           Columns that should be created as NOT NULL
       --default <TEXT TEXT>...  Default value that should be set for a column
+      --type <TEXT CHOICE>...   Column types to use when creating the table
       --no-detect-types         Treat all CSV/TSV columns as TEXT
       --analyze                 Run ANALYZE at the end of this operation
       --load-extension TEXT     Path to SQLite extension, with optional :entrypoint
@@ -335,6 +339,9 @@ See :ref:`cli_upsert`.
 
       If the table already exists and has a primary key, --pk can be omitted.
 
+      Use --type column-name type to override the type automatically chosen when the
+      table is created.
+
       Example:
 
           echo '[
@@ -366,6 +373,7 @@ See :ref:`cli_upsert`.
       --alter                   Alter existing table to add any missing columns
       --not-null TEXT           Columns that should be created as NOT NULL
       --default <TEXT TEXT>...  Default value that should be set for a column
+      --type <TEXT CHOICE>...   Column types to use when creating the table
       --no-detect-types         Treat all CSV/TSV columns as TEXT
       --analyze                 Run ANALYZE at the end of this operation
       --load-extension TEXT     Path to SQLite extension, with optional :entrypoint

docs/cli.rst

@@ -1366,6 +1366,25 @@ Will produce this schema with automatically detected types:
        "weight" REAL
     );
 
+.. _cli_insert_csv_tsv_column_types:
+
+Overriding column types
+-----------------------
+
+Use ``--type column-name type`` to override the type automatically chosen when the table is created. This option can be used more than once, and works with both ``insert`` and ``upsert``:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    sqlite-utils insert places.db places places.csv --csv \
+        --type zipcode text \
+        --type score real
+
+This is useful for values such as ZIP codes, which may look like integers but should be stored as ``TEXT`` to preserve leading zeros.
+
+The column type should be one of ``TEXT``, ``INTEGER``, ``FLOAT``, ``REAL`` or ``BLOB``. Column types are matched case-insensitively.
+
+As with detected column types, ``--type`` only affects tables created by the command. If the table already exists, its existing column types are left unchanged.
+
 To disable type detection and treat all columns as TEXT, use ``--no-detect-types``:
 
 .. code-block:: bash