SQLite error codes

The SQLITE_NOLFS error can be returned on systems that do not support large files when the database grows to be larger than what the filesystem can handle. "NOLFS" stands for "NO Large File Support".

The SQLITE_NOMEM result code indicates that SQLite was unable to allocate all the memory it needed to complete the operation. In other words, an internal call to sqlite3_malloc() or sqlite3_realloc() has failed in a case where the memory being allocated was required in order to continue the operation.

When attempting to open a file, the SQLITE_NOTADB error indicates that the file being opened does not appear to be an SQLite database file.

The SQLITE_NOTFOUND result code is exposed in three ways: The SQLITE_NOTFOUND result code is also used internally by the SQLite implementation, but those internal uses are not exposed to the application.

The SQLITE_NOTICE result code is not returned by any C/C++ interface. However, SQLITE_NOTICE (or rather one of its extended error codes) is sometimes used as the first argument in an sqlite3_log() callback to indicate that an unusual operation is taking place.

The SQLITE_NOTICE_RECOVER_ROLLBACK result code is passed to the callback of sqlite3_log() when a hot journal is rolled back.

The SQLITE_NOTICE_RECOVER_WAL result code is passed to the callback of sqlite3_log() when a WAL mode database file is recovered.

The SQLITE_PERM result code indicates that the requested access mode for a newly created database could not be provided.

The SQLITE_PROTOCOL result code indicates a problem with the file locking protocol used by SQLite. The SQLITE_PROTOCOL error is currently only returned when using WAL mode and attempting to start a new transaction. There is a race condition that can occur when two separate database connections both try to start a transaction at the same time in WAL mode. The loser of the race backs off and tries again, after a brief delay. If the same connection loses the locking race dozens of times over a span of multiple seconds, it will eventually give up and return SQLITE_PROTOCOL. The SQLITE_PROTOCOL error should appear in practice very, very rarely, and only when there are many separate processes all competing intensely to write to the same database.

The SQLITE_RANGE error indices that the parameter number argument to one of the sqlite3_bind routines or the column number in one of the sqlite3_column routines is out of range.

The SQLITE_READONLY result code is returned when an attempt is made to alter some data for which the current database connection does not have write permission.

The SQLITE_READONLY_CANTINIT result code originates in the xShmMap method of a VFS to indicate that the shared memory region used by WAL mode exists buts its content is unreliable and unusable by the current process since the current process does not have write permission on the shared memory region. (The shared memory region for WAL mode is normally a file with a "-wal" suffix that is mmapped into the process space. If the current process does not have write permission on that file, then it cannot write into shared memory.) Higher level logic within SQLite will normally intercept the error code and create a temporary in-memory shared memory region so that the current process can at least read the content of the database. This result code should not reach the application interface layer.

The SQLITE_READONLY_CANTLOCK error code is an extended error code for SQLITE_READONLY. The SQLITE_READONLY_CANTLOCK error code indicates that SQLite is unable to obtain a read lock on a WAL mode database because the shared-memory file associated with that database is read-only.

The SQLITE_READONLY_DBMOVED error code is an extended error code for SQLITE_READONLY. The SQLITE_READONLY_DBMOVED error code indicates that a database cannot be modified because the database file has been moved since it was opened, and so any attempt to modify the database might result in database corruption if the processes crashes because the rollback journal would not be correctly named.

The SQLITE_READONLY_DIRECTORY result code indicates that the database is read-only because process does not have permission to create a journal file in the same directory as the database and the creation of a journal file is a prerequisite for writing.

The SQLITE_READONLY_RECOVERY error code is an extended error code for SQLITE_READONLY. The SQLITE_READONLY_RECOVERY error code indicates that a WAL mode database cannot be opened because the database file needs to be recovered and recovery requires write access but only read access is available.

The SQLITE_READONLY_ROLLBACK error code is an extended error code for SQLITE_READONLY. The SQLITE_READONLY_ROLLBACK error code indicates that a database cannot be opened because it has a hot journal that needs to be rolled back but cannot because the database is readonly.

The SQLITE_SCHEMA result code indicates that the database schema has changed. This result code can be returned from sqlite3_step() for a prepared statement that was generated using sqlite3_prepare() or sqlite3_prepare16(). If the database schema was changed by some other process in between the time that the statement was prepared and the time the statement was run, this error can result. If a prepared statement is generated from sqlite3_prepare_v2() then the statement is automatically re-prepared if the schema changes, up to SQLITE_MAX_SCHEMA_RETRY times (default: 50). The sqlite3_step() interface will only return SQLITE_SCHEMA back to the application if the failure persists after this many retries.

The SQLITE_TOOBIG error code indicates that a string or BLOB was too large. The default maximum length of a string or BLOB in SQLite is 1,000,000,000 bytes. This maximum length can be changed at compile-time using the SQLITE_MAX_LENGTH compile-time option, or at run-time using the sqlite3_limit(db,SQLITE_LIMIT_LENGTH,...) interface. The SQLITE_TOOBIG error results when SQLite encounters a string or BLOB that exceeds the compile-time or run-time limit. The SQLITE_TOOBIG error code can also result when an oversized SQL statement is passed into one of the sqlite3_prepare_v2() interfaces. The maximum length of an SQL statement defaults to a similar value of 1,000,000,000 bytes. The maximum SQL statement length can be set at compile-time using SQLITE_MAX_SQL_LENGTH or at run-time using sqlite3_limit(db,SQLITE_LIMIT_SQL_LENGTH,...).

The SQLITE_WARNING result code is not returned by any C/C++ interface. However, SQLITE_WARNING (or rather one of its extended error codes) is sometimes used as the first argument in an sqlite3_log() callback to indicate that an unusual and possibly ill-advised operation is taking place.

The SQLITE_WARNING_AUTOINDEX result code is passed to the callback of sqlite3_log() whenever automatic indexing is used. This can serve as a warning to application designers that the database might benefit from additional indexes.