.. _python_api:

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 sqlite-utils command-line tool
================================

The ``sqlite-utils`` command-line tool can be used to manipulate SQLite databases in a number of different ways.

Listing tables
==============

You can list the names of tables in a database using the ``table_names`` subcommand::

    $ sqlite-utils table_names mydb.db
    dogs
    cats
    chickens

If you just want to see the FTS4 tables, you can use ``--fts4`` (or ``--fts5`` for FTS5 tables)::

    $ sqlite-utils table_names --fts4 docs.db
    docs_fts

Vacuum
======

You can run VACUUM to optimize your database like so::

    $ sqlite-utils vacuum mydb.db

Optimize
========

The optimize command can dramatically reduce the size of your database if you are using SQLite full-text search. It runs OPTIMIZE against all of our FTS4 and FTS5 tables, then runs VACUUM.

If you just want to run OPTIMIZE without the VACUUM, use the ``--no-vacuum`` flag.

::

    # Optimize all FTS tables and then VACUUM
    $ sqlite-utils optimize mydb.db

    # Optimize but skip the VACUUM
    $ sqlite-utils optimize --no-vacuum mydb.db