# DBI specification

#### Kirill Müller

Abstract

The DBI package defines the generic DataBase Interface for R. The connection to individual DBMS is provided by other packages that import DBI (so-called DBI backends). This document formalizes the behavior expected by the methods declared in DBI and implemented by the individual backends. To ensure maximum portability and exchangeability, and to reduce the effort for implementing a new DBI backend, the DBItest package defines a comprehensive set of test cases that test conformance to the DBI specification. This document is derived from comments in the test definitions of the DBItest package. Any extensions or updates to the tests will be reflected in this document.

## DBI: R Database Interface

DBI defines an interface for communication between R and relational database management systems. All classes in this package are virtual and need to be extended by the various R/DBMS implementations (so-called DBI backends).

### Definition

A DBI backend is an R package which imports the DBI and methods packages. For better or worse, the names of many existing backends start with ‘R’, e.g., RSQLite, RMySQL, RSQLServer; it is up to the backend author to adopt this convention or not.

### DBI classes and methods

A backend defines three classes, which are subclasses of DBIDriver, DBIConnection, and DBIResult. The backend provides implementation for all methods of these base classes that are defined but not implemented by DBI. All methods defined in DBI are reexported (so that the package can be used without having to attach DBI), and have an ellipsis `...` in their formals for extensibility.

### Construction of the DBIDriver object

The backend must support creation of an instance of its DBIDriver subclass with a constructor function. By default, its name is the package name without the leading ‘R’ (if it exists), e.g., `SQLite` for the RSQLite package. However, backend authors may choose a different name. The constructor must be exported, and it must be a function that is callable without arguments. DBI recommends to define a constructor with an empty argument list.

### Examples

    RSQLite::SQLite()

## Determine the SQL data type of an object

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbDataType(dbObj, obj, ...)

### Description

Returns an SQL string that describes the SQL data type to be used for an object. The default implementation of this generic determines the SQL type of an R object according to the SQL 92 specification, which may serve as a starting point for driver implementations. DBI also provides an implementation for data.frame which will return a character vector giving the type for each column in the dataframe.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbDataType("MariaDBConnection")`

- `RMariaDB::dbDataType("MariaDBDriver")`

- `RSQLite::dbDataType("SQLiteConnection")`

- `RSQLite::dbDataType("SQLiteDriver")`

### Arguments

`dbObj` | A object inheriting from DBIDriver or DBIConnection
`obj` | An R object whose SQL type we want to determine.
`...` | Other arguments passed on to methods.

### Details

The data types supported by databases are different than the data types in R, but the mapping between the primitive types is straightforward:

- Any of the many fixed and varying length character types are mapped to character vectors

- Fixed-precision (non-IEEE) numbers are mapped into either numeric or integer vectors.

Notice that many DBMS do not follow IEEE arithmetic, so there are potential problems with under/overflows and loss of precision.

### Value

`dbDataType()` returns the SQL type that corresponds to the `obj` argument as a non-empty character string. For data frames, a character vector with one element per column is returned.

### Failure modes

An error is raised for invalid values for the `obj` argument such as a `NULL` value.

### Specification

The backend can override the `dbDataType()` generic for its driver class.

This generic expects an arbitrary object as second argument. To query the values returned by the default implementation, run `example(dbDataType, package = "DBI")`. If the backend needs to override this generic, it must accept all basic R data types as its second argument, namely logical, integer, numeric, character, dates (see Dates), date-time (see DateTimeClasses), and difftime. If the database supports blobs, this method also must accept lists of raw vectors, and blob::blob objects. As-is objects (i.e., wrapped by `I()`) must be supported and return the same results as their unwrapped counterparts. The SQL data type for factor and ordered is the same as for character. The behavior for other object types is not specified.

All data types returned by `dbDataType()` are usable in an SQL statement of the form `"CREATE TABLE test (a ...)"`.

### Examples

    dbDataType(ANSI(), 1:5)
    dbDataType(ANSI(), 1)
    dbDataType(ANSI(), TRUE)
    dbDataType(ANSI(), Sys.Date())
    dbDataType(ANSI(), Sys.time())
    dbDataType(ANSI(), Sys.time() - as.POSIXct(Sys.Date()))
    dbDataType(ANSI(), c("x", "abc"))
    dbDataType(ANSI(), list(raw(10), raw(20)))
    dbDataType(ANSI(), I(3))

    dbDataType(ANSI(), iris)

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbDataType(con, 1:5)
    dbDataType(con, 1)
    dbDataType(con, TRUE)
    dbDataType(con, Sys.Date())
    dbDataType(con, Sys.time())
    dbDataType(con, Sys.time() - as.POSIXct(Sys.Date()))
    dbDataType(con, c("x", "abc"))
    dbDataType(con, list(raw(10), raw(20)))
    dbDataType(con, I(3))

    dbDataType(con, iris)

    dbDisconnect(con)

## Create a connection to a DBMS

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbConnect(drv, ...)

### Description

Connect to a DBMS going through the appropriate authentication procedure. Some implementations may allow you to have multiple connections open, so you may invoke this function repeatedly assigning its output to different objects. The authentication mechanism is left unspecified, so check the documentation of individual drivers for details. Use `dbCanConnect()` to check if a connection can be established.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbConnect("MariaDBDriver")`

- `RSQLite::dbConnect("SQLiteConnection")`

- `RSQLite::dbConnect("SQLiteDriver")`

### Arguments

`drv` | an object that inherits from DBIDriver, or an existing DBIConnection object (in order to clone an existing connection).
`...` | authentication arguments needed by the DBMS instance; these typically include `user`, `password`, `host`, `port`, `dbname`, etc. For details see the appropriate `DBIDriver`.

### Value

`dbConnect()` returns an S4 object that inherits from DBIConnection. This object is used to communicate with the database engine.

A `format()` method is defined for the connection object. It returns a string that consists of a single line of text.

### Specification

DBI recommends using the following argument names for authentication parameters, with `NULL` default:

- `user` for the user name (default: current user)

- `password` for the password

- `host` for the host name (default: local connection)

- `port` for the port number (default: local connection)

- `dbname` for the name of the database on the host, or the database file name

The defaults should provide reasonable behavior, in particular a local connection for `host = NULL`. For some DBMS (e.g., PostgreSQL), this is different to a TCP/IP connection to `localhost`.

In addition, DBI supports the `bigint` argument that governs how 64-bit integer data is returned. The following values are supported:

- `"integer"`: always return as `integer`, silently overflow

- `"numeric"`: always return as `numeric`, silently round

- `"character"`: always return the decimal representation as `character`

- `"integer64"`: return as a data type that can be coerced using `as.integer()` (with warning on overflow), `as.numeric()` and `as.character()`

### Examples

    # SQLite only needs a path to the database. (Here, ":memory:" is a special
    # path that creates an in-memory database.) Other database drivers
    # will require more details (like user, password, host, port, etc.)
    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")
    con

    dbListTables(con)

    dbDisconnect(con)

    # Bad, for subtle reasons:
    # This code fails when RSQLite isn't loaded yet,
    # because dbConnect() doesn't know yet about RSQLite.
    dbListTables(con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:"))

## Disconnect (close) a connection

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbDisconnect(conn, ...)

### Description

This closes the connection, discards all pending work, and frees resources (e.g., memory, sockets).

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbDisconnect("MariaDBConnection")`

- `RSQLite::dbDisconnect("SQLiteConnection")`

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.
`...` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbDisconnect()` returns `TRUE`, invisibly.

### Failure modes

A warning is issued on garbage collection when a connection has been released without calling `dbDisconnect()`, but this cannot be tested automatically. A warning is issued immediately when calling `dbDisconnect()` on an already disconnected or invalid connection.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")
    dbDisconnect(con)

## Execute a query on a given database connection

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbSendQuery(conn, statement, ...)

### Description

The `dbSendQuery()` method only submits and synchronously executes the SQL query to the database engine. It does not extract any records — for that you need to use the `dbFetch()` method, and then you must call `dbClearResult()` when you finish fetching the records you need. For interactive use, you should almost always prefer `dbGetQuery()`.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbSendQuery("MariaDBConnection", "character")`

- `RSQLite::dbSendQuery("SQLiteConnection", "character")`

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.
`statement` | a character string containing SQL.
`...` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Additional arguments

The following arguments are not part of the `dbSendQuery()` generic (to improve compatibility across backends) but are part of the DBI specification:

- `params` (default: `NULL`)

- `immediate` (default: `NULL`)

They must be provided as named arguments. See the “Specification” sections for details on their usage.

### Specification

No warnings occur under normal conditions. When done, the DBIResult object must be cleared with a call to `dbClearResult()`. Failure to clear the result set leads to a warning when the connection is closed.

If the backend supports only one open result set per connection, issuing a second query invalidates an already open result set and raises a warning. The newly opened result set is valid and must be cleared with `dbClearResult()`.

The `param` argument allows passing query parameters, see `dbBind()` for details.

### Specification for the `immediate` argument

The `immediate` argument supports distinguishing between “direct” and “prepared” APIs offered by many database drivers. Passing `immediate = TRUE` leads to immediate execution of the query or statement, via the “direct” API (if supported by the driver). The default `NULL` means that the backend should choose whatever API makes the most sense for the database, and (if relevant) tries the other API if the first attempt fails. A successful second attempt should result in a message that suggests passing the correct `immediate` argument. Examples for possible behaviors:

1. DBI backend defaults to `immediate = TRUE` internally

   1. A query without parameters is passed: query is executed

   2. A query with parameters is passed:

      1. `params` not given: rejected immediately by the database because of a syntax error in the query, the backend tries `immediate = FALSE` (and gives a message)

      2. `params` given: query is executed using `immediate = FALSE`

2. DBI backend defaults to `immediate = FALSE` internally

   1. A query without parameters is passed:

      1. simple query: query is executed

      2. “special” query (such as setting a config options): fails, the backend tries `immediate = TRUE` (and gives a message)

   2. A query with parameters is passed:

      1. `params` not given: waiting for parameters via `dbBind()`

      2. `params` given: query is executed

### Details

This method is for `SELECT` queries only. Some backends may support data manipulation queries through this method for compatibility reasons. However, callers are strongly encouraged to use `dbSendStatement()` for data manipulation statements.

The query is submitted to the database server and the DBMS executes it, possibly generating vast amounts of data. Where these data live is driver-specific: some drivers may choose to leave the output on the server and transfer them piecemeal to R, others may transfer all the data to the client – but not necessarily to the memory that R manages. See individual drivers’ `dbSendQuery()` documentation for details.

### Value

`dbSendQuery()` returns an S4 object that inherits from DBIResult. The result set can be used with `dbFetch()` to extract records. Once you have finished using a result, make sure to clear it with `dbClearResult()`.

### The data retrieval flow

This section gives a complete overview over the flow for the execution of queries that return tabular data.

Most of this flow, except calling `dbBind()`, is implemented by `dbGetQuery()`, which should be sufficient unless you want to access the results in a paged way or you have a parameterized query. This flow requires an active connection established by `dbConnect()`. See also `vignette("dbi-advanced")` for a walkthrough.

1. Use `dbSendQuery()` to create a result set object of class DBIResult.

2. Optionally, bind query parameters with `dbBind()`. This is required only if the query contains placeholders such as `?` or `\$1`, depending on the database backend.

3. Optionally, use `dbColumnInfo()` to retrieve the structure of the result set without retrieving actual data.

4. Use `dbFetch()` to get the entire result set, a page of results, or the remaining rows. Fetching zero rows is also possible to retrieeve the structure of the result set as a data frame. This step can be called multiple times. Only forward paging is supported, you need to cache previous pages if you need to navigate backwards.

5. Use `dbHasCompleted()` to tell when you’re done. This method returns `TRUE` if no more rows are available for fetching.

6. Use `dbClearResult()` to clean up the result set object. This step is mandatory even if no rows have been fetched or if an error has occured during the processing. It is good practice to use `on.exit()` or `withr::defer()` to ensure that this step is always executed.

### Failure modes

An error is raised when issuing a query over a closed or invalid connection, or if the query is not a non-`NA` string. An error is also raised if the syntax of the query is invalid and all query parameters are given (by passing the `params` argument) or the `immediate` argument is set to `TRUE`.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars)
    rs <- dbSendQuery(con, "SELECT * FROM mtcars WHERE cyl = 4")
    dbFetch(rs)
    dbClearResult(rs)

    # Pass one set of values with the param argument:
    rs <- dbSendQuery(
      con,
      "SELECT * FROM mtcars WHERE cyl = ?",
      params = list(4L)
    )
    dbFetch(rs)
    dbClearResult(rs)

    # Pass multiple sets of values with dbBind():
    rs <- dbSendQuery(con, "SELECT * FROM mtcars WHERE cyl = ?")
    dbBind(rs, list(6L))
    dbFetch(rs)
    dbBind(rs, list(8L))
    dbFetch(rs)
    dbClearResult(rs)

    dbDisconnect(con)

## Fetch records from a previously executed query

This section describes the behavior of the following methods:

    dbFetch(res, n = -1, ...)

    fetch(res, n = -1, ...)

### Description

Fetch the next `n` elements (rows) from the result set and return them as a data.frame.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbFetch("MariaDBResult")`

- `RSQLite::dbFetch("SQLiteResult")`

### Arguments

`res` | An object inheriting from DBIResult, created by `dbSendQuery()`.
`n` | maximum number of records to retrieve per fetch. Use `n = -1` or `n = Inf` to retrieve all pending records. Some implementations may recognize other special values.
`...` | Other arguments passed on to methods.

### Details

`fetch()` is provided for compatibility with older DBI clients - for all new code you are strongly encouraged to use `dbFetch()`. The default implementation for `dbFetch()` calls `fetch()` so that it is compatible with existing code. Modern backends should implement for `dbFetch()` only.

### Value

`dbFetch()` always returns a data.frame with as many rows as records were fetched and as many columns as fields in the result set, even if the result is a single value or has one or zero rows.

### The data retrieval flow

This section gives a complete overview over the flow for the execution of queries that return tabular data.

Most of this flow, except calling `dbBind()`, is implemented by `dbGetQuery()`, which should be sufficient unless you want to access the results in a paged way or you have a parameterized query. This flow requires an active connection established by `dbConnect()`. See also `vignette("dbi-advanced")` for a walkthrough.

1. Use `dbSendQuery()` to create a result set object of class DBIResult.

2. Optionally, bind query parameters with `dbBind()`. This is required only if the query contains placeholders such as `?` or `\$1`, depending on the database backend.

3. Optionally, use `dbColumnInfo()` to retrieve the structure of the result set without retrieving actual data.

4. Use `dbFetch()` to get the entire result set, a page of results, or the remaining rows. Fetching zero rows is also possible to retrieeve the structure of the result set as a data frame. This step can be called multiple times. Only forward paging is supported, you need to cache previous pages if you need to navigate backwards.

5. Use `dbHasCompleted()` to tell when you’re done. This method returns `TRUE` if no more rows are available for fetching.

6. Use `dbClearResult()` to clean up the result set object. This step is mandatory even if no rows have been fetched or if an error has occured during the processing. It is good practice to use `on.exit()` or `withr::defer()` to ensure that this step is always executed.

### Failure modes

An attempt to fetch from a closed result set raises an error. If the `n` argument is not an atomic whole number greater or equal to -1 or Inf, an error is raised, but a subsequent call to `dbFetch()` with proper `n` argument succeeds. Calling `dbFetch()` on a result set from a data manipulation query created by `dbSendStatement()` can be fetched and return an empty data frame, with a warning.

### Specification

Fetching multi-row queries with one or more columns by default returns the entire result. Multi-row queries can also be fetched progressively by passing a whole number (integer or numeric) as the `n` argument. A value of Inf for the `n` argument is supported and also returns the full result. If more rows than available are fetched, the result is returned in full without warning. If fewer rows than requested are returned, further fetches will return a data frame with zero rows. If zero rows are fetched, the columns of the data frame are still fully typed. Fetching fewer rows than available is permitted, no warning is issued when clearing the result set.

A column named `row_names` is treated like any other column.

The column types of the returned data frame depend on the data returned:

- integer (or coercible to an integer) for integer values between -2^31 and 2^31 - 1, with NA for SQL `NULL` values

- numeric for numbers with a fractional component, with NA for SQL `NULL` values

- logical for Boolean values (some backends may return an integer); with NA for SQL `NULL` values

- character for text, with NA for SQL `NULL` values

- lists of raw for blobs with NULL entries for SQL NULL values

- coercible using `as.Date()` for dates, with NA for SQL `NULL` values (also applies to the return value of the SQL function `current_date`)

- coercible using `hms::as_hms()` for times, with NA for SQL `NULL` values (also applies to the return value of the SQL function `current_time`)

- coercible using `as.POSIXct()` for timestamps, with NA for SQL `NULL` values (also applies to the return value of the SQL function `current_timestamp`)

If dates and timestamps are supported by the backend, the following R types are used:

- Date for dates (also applies to the return value of the SQL function `current_date`)

- POSIXct for timestamps (also applies to the return value of the SQL function `current_timestamp`)

R has no built-in type with lossless support for the full range of 64-bit or larger integers. If 64-bit integers are returned from a query, the following rules apply:

- Values are returned in a container with support for the full range of valid 64-bit values (such as the `integer64` class of the bit64 package)

- Coercion to numeric always returns a number that is as close as possible to the true value

- Loss of precision when converting to numeric gives a warning

- Conversion to character always returns a lossless decimal representation of the data

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars)

    # Fetch all results
    rs <- dbSendQuery(con, "SELECT * FROM mtcars WHERE cyl = 4")
    dbFetch(rs)
    dbClearResult(rs)

    # Fetch in chunks
    rs <- dbSendQuery(con, "SELECT * FROM mtcars")
    while (!dbHasCompleted(rs)) {
      chunk <- dbFetch(rs, 10)
      print(nrow(chunk))
    }

    dbClearResult(rs)
    dbDisconnect(con)

## Clear a result set

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbClearResult(res, ...)

### Description

Frees all resources (local and remote) associated with a result set. This step is mandatory for all objects obtained by calling `dbSendQuery()` or `dbSendStatement()`.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbClearResult("MariaDBResult")`

- `RSQLite::dbClearResult("SQLiteResult")`

### Arguments

`res` | An object inheriting from DBIResult.
`...` | Other arguments passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbClearResult()` returns `TRUE`, invisibly, for result sets obtained from both `dbSendQuery()` and `dbSendStatement()`.

### The data retrieval flow

This section gives a complete overview over the flow for the execution of queries that return tabular data.

Most of this flow, except calling `dbBind()`, is implemented by `dbGetQuery()`, which should be sufficient unless you want to access the results in a paged way or you have a parameterized query. This flow requires an active connection established by `dbConnect()`. See also `vignette("dbi-advanced")` for a walkthrough.

1. Use `dbSendQuery()` to create a result set object of class DBIResult.

2. Optionally, bind query parameters with `dbBind()`. This is required only if the query contains placeholders such as `?` or `\$1`, depending on the database backend.

3. Optionally, use `dbColumnInfo()` to retrieve the structure of the result set without retrieving actual data.

4. Use `dbFetch()` to get the entire result set, a page of results, or the remaining rows. Fetching zero rows is also possible to retrieeve the structure of the result set as a data frame. This step can be called multiple times. Only forward paging is supported, you need to cache previous pages if you need to navigate backwards.

5. Use `dbHasCompleted()` to tell when you’re done. This method returns `TRUE` if no more rows are available for fetching.

6. Use `dbClearResult()` to clean up the result set object. This step is mandatory even if no rows have been fetched or if an error has occured during the processing. It is good practice to use `on.exit()` or `withr::defer()` to ensure that this step is always executed.

### The command execution flow

This section gives a complete overview over the flow for the execution of SQL statements that have side effects such as stored procedures, inserting or deleting data, Most of this flow, except calling `dbBind()`, is implemented by `dbExecute()`, which should be sufficient for non-parameterized queries. This flow requires an active connection established by `dbConnect()`. See also `vignette("dbi-advanced")` for a walkthrough.

1. Use `dbSendStatement()` to create a result set object of class DBIResult. For some queries you need to pass `immediate = TRUE`.

2. Optionally, bind query parameters with `dbBind()`. This is required only if the query contains placeholders such as `?` or `\$1`, depending on the database backend.

3. Optionally, use `dbGetRowsAffected()` to retrieve the number of rows affected by the query.

4. Use `dbClearResult()` to clean up the result set object. This step is mandatory even if no rows have been fetched or if an error has occured during the processing. It is good practice to use `on.exit()` or `withr::defer()` to ensure that this step is always executed.

### Failure modes

An attempt to close an already closed result set issues a warning in both cases.

### Specification

`dbClearResult()` frees all resources associated with retrieving the result of a query or update operation. The DBI backend can expect a call to `dbClearResult()` for each `dbSendQuery()` or `dbSendStatement()` call.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    rs <- dbSendQuery(con, "SELECT 1")
    print(dbFetch(rs))

    dbClearResult(rs)
    dbDisconnect(con)

## Bind values to a parameterized/prepared statement

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbBind(res, params, ...)

### Description

For parametrized or prepared statements, the `dbSendQuery()` and `dbSendStatement()` functions can be called with statements that contain placeholders for values. The `dbBind()` function binds these placeholders to actual values, and is intended to be called on the result set before calling `dbFetch()` or `dbGetRowsAffected()`.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbBind("MariaDBResult")`

- `RSQLite::dbBind("SQLiteResult")`

### Arguments

`res` | An object inheriting from DBIResult.
`params` | A list of bindings, named or unnamed.
`...` | Other arguments passed on to methods.

### Details

DBI supports parametrized (or prepared) queries and statements via the `dbBind()` generic. Parametrized queries are different from normal queries in that they allow an arbitrary number of placeholders, which are later substituted by actual values. Parametrized queries (and statements) serve two purposes:

- The same query can be executed more than once with different values. The DBMS may cache intermediate information for the query, such as the execution plan, and execute it faster.

- Separation of query syntax and parameters protects against SQL injection.

The placeholder format is currently not specified by DBI; in the future, a uniform placeholder syntax may be supported. Consult the backend documentation for the supported formats. For automated testing, backend authors specify the placeholder syntax with the `placeholder_pattern` tweak. Known examples are:

- `?` (positional matching in order of appearance) in RMySQL and RSQLite

- `\$1` (positional matching by index) in RPostgres and RSQLite

- `:name` and `\$name` (named matching) in RSQLite

### Value

`dbBind()` returns the result set, invisibly, for queries issued by `dbSendQuery()` and also for data manipulation statements issued by `dbSendStatement()`.

### The data retrieval flow

This section gives a complete overview over the flow for the execution of queries that return tabular data.

Most of this flow, except calling `dbBind()`, is implemented by `dbGetQuery()`, which should be sufficient unless you want to access the results in a paged way or you have a parameterized query. This flow requires an active connection established by `dbConnect()`. See also `vignette("dbi-advanced")` for a walkthrough.

1. Use `dbSendQuery()` to create a result set object of class DBIResult.

2. Optionally, bind query parameters with `dbBind()`. This is required only if the query contains placeholders such as `?` or `\$1`, depending on the database backend.

3. Optionally, use `dbColumnInfo()` to retrieve the structure of the result set without retrieving actual data.

4. Use `dbFetch()` to get the entire result set, a page of results, or the remaining rows. Fetching zero rows is also possible to retrieeve the structure of the result set as a data frame. This step can be called multiple times. Only forward paging is supported, you need to cache previous pages if you need to navigate backwards.

5. Use `dbHasCompleted()` to tell when you’re done. This method returns `TRUE` if no more rows are available for fetching.

6. Use `dbClearResult()` to clean up the result set object. This step is mandatory even if no rows have been fetched or if an error has occured during the processing. It is good practice to use `on.exit()` or `withr::defer()` to ensure that this step is always executed.

### The command execution flow

This section gives a complete overview over the flow for the execution of SQL statements that have side effects such as stored procedures, inserting or deleting data, Most of this flow, except calling `dbBind()`, is implemented by `dbExecute()`, which should be sufficient for non-parameterized queries. This flow requires an active connection established by `dbConnect()`. See also `vignette("dbi-advanced")` for a walkthrough.

1. Use `dbSendStatement()` to create a result set object of class DBIResult. For some queries you need to pass `immediate = TRUE`.

2. Optionally, bind query parameters with `dbBind()`. This is required only if the query contains placeholders such as `?` or `\$1`, depending on the database backend.

3. Optionally, use `dbGetRowsAffected()` to retrieve the number of rows affected by the query.

4. Use `dbClearResult()` to clean up the result set object. This step is mandatory even if no rows have been fetched or if an error has occured during the processing. It is good practice to use `on.exit()` or `withr::defer()` to ensure that this step is always executed.

### Failure modes

Calling `dbBind()` for a query without parameters raises an error. Binding too many or not enough values, or parameters with wrong names or unequal length, also raises an error. If the placeholders in the query are named, all parameter values must have names (which must not be empty or `NA`), and vice versa, otherwise an error is raised. The behavior for mixing placeholders of different types (in particular mixing positional and named placeholders) is not specified.

Calling `dbBind()` on a result set already cleared by `dbClearResult()` also raises an error.

### Specification

DBI clients execute parametrized statements as follows:

1. Call `dbSendQuery()` or `dbSendStatement()` with a query or statement that contains placeholders, store the returned DBIResult object in a variable. Mixing placeholders (in particular, named and unnamed ones) is not recommended. It is good practice to register a call to `dbClearResult()` via `on.exit()` right after calling `dbSendQuery()` or `dbSendStatement()` (see the last enumeration item). Until `dbBind()` has been called, the returned result set object has the following behavior:

   - `dbFetch()` raises an error (for `dbSendQuery()`)

   - `dbGetRowCount()` returns zero (for `dbSendQuery()`)

   - `dbGetRowsAffected()` returns an integer `NA` (for `dbSendStatement()`)

   - `dbIsValid()` returns `TRUE`

   - `dbHasCompleted()` returns `FALSE`

2. Construct a list with parameters that specify actual values for the placeholders. The list must be named or unnamed, depending on the kind of placeholders used. Named values are matched to named parameters, unnamed values are matched by position in the list of parameters. All elements in this list must have the same lengths and contain values supported by the backend; a data.frame is internally stored as such a list. The parameter list is passed to a call to `dbBind()` on the `DBIResult` object.

3. Retrieve the data or the number of affected rows from the `DBIResult` object.

   - For queries issued by `dbSendQuery()`, call `dbFetch()`.

   - For statements issued by `dbSendStatements()`, call `dbGetRowsAffected()`. (Execution begins immediately after the `dbBind()` call, the statement is processed entirely before the function returns.)

4. Repeat 2. and 3. as necessary.

5. Close the result set via `dbClearResult()`.

The elements of the `params` argument do not need to be scalars, vectors of arbitrary length (including length 0) are supported. For queries, calling `dbFetch()` binding such parameters returns concatenated results, equivalent to binding and fetching for each set of values and connecting via `rbind()`. For data manipulation statements, `dbGetRowsAffected()` returns the total number of rows affected if binding non-scalar parameters. `dbBind()` also accepts repeated calls on the same result set for both queries and data manipulation statements, even if no results are fetched between calls to `dbBind()`, for both queries and data manipulation statements.

If the placeholders in the query are named, their order in the `params` argument is not important.

At least the following data types are accepted on input (including NA):

- integer

- numeric

- logical for Boolean values

- character (also with special characters such as spaces, newlines, quotes, and backslashes)

- factor (bound as character, with warning)

- Date (also when stored internally as integer)

- POSIXct timestamps

- POSIXlt timestamps

- difftime values (also with units other than seconds and with the value stored as integer)

- lists of raw for blobs (with `NULL` entries for SQL NULL values)

- objects of type blob::blob

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "iris", iris)

    # Using the same query for different values
    iris_result <- dbSendQuery(con, "SELECT * FROM iris WHERE [Petal.Width] > ?")
    dbBind(iris_result, list(2.3))
    dbFetch(iris_result)
    dbBind(iris_result, list(3))
    dbFetch(iris_result)
    dbClearResult(iris_result)

    # Executing the same statement with different values at once
    iris_result <- dbSendStatement(con, "DELETE FROM iris WHERE [Species] = $species")
    dbBind(iris_result, list(species = c("setosa", "versicolor", "unknown")))
    dbGetRowsAffected(iris_result)
    dbClearResult(iris_result)

    nrow(dbReadTable(con, "iris"))

    dbDisconnect(con)

## Send query, retrieve results and then clear result set

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbGetQuery(conn, statement, ...)

### Description

Returns the result of a query as a data frame. `dbGetQuery()` comes with a default implementation (which should work with most backends) that calls `dbSendQuery()`, then `dbFetch()`, ensuring that the result is always free-d by `dbClearResult()`. For retrieving chunked/paged results or for passing query parameters, see `dbSendQuery()`, in particular the “The data retrieval flow” section.

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.
`statement` | a character string containing SQL.
`...` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Additional arguments

The following arguments are not part of the `dbGetQuery()` generic (to improve compatibility across backends) but are part of the DBI specification:

- `n` (default: -1)

- `params` (default: `NULL`)

- `immediate` (default: `NULL`)

They must be provided as named arguments. See the “Specification” and “Value” sections for details on their usage.

### Specification

A column named `row_names` is treated like any other column.

The `n` argument specifies the number of rows to be fetched. If omitted, fetching multi-row queries with one or more columns returns the entire result. A value of Inf for the `n` argument is supported and also returns the full result. If more rows than available are fetched (by passing a too large value for `n`), the result is returned in full without warning. If zero rows are requested, the columns of the data frame are still fully typed. Fetching fewer rows than available is permitted, no warning is issued.

The `param` argument allows passing query parameters, see `dbBind()` for details.

### Specification for the `immediate` argument

The `immediate` argument supports distinguishing between “direct” and “prepared” APIs offered by many database drivers. Passing `immediate = TRUE` leads to immediate execution of the query or statement, via the “direct” API (if supported by the driver). The default `NULL` means that the backend should choose whatever API makes the most sense for the database, and (if relevant) tries the other API if the first attempt fails. A successful second attempt should result in a message that suggests passing the correct `immediate` argument. Examples for possible behaviors:

1. DBI backend defaults to `immediate = TRUE` internally

   1. A query without parameters is passed: query is executed

   2. A query with parameters is passed:

      1. `params` not given: rejected immediately by the database because of a syntax error in the query, the backend tries `immediate = FALSE` (and gives a message)

      2. `params` given: query is executed using `immediate = FALSE`

2. DBI backend defaults to `immediate = FALSE` internally

   1. A query without parameters is passed:

      1. simple query: query is executed

      2. “special” query (such as setting a config options): fails, the backend tries `immediate = TRUE` (and gives a message)

   2. A query with parameters is passed:

      1. `params` not given: waiting for parameters via `dbBind()`

      2. `params` given: query is executed

### Details

This method is for `SELECT` queries only (incl. other SQL statements that return a `SELECT`-alike result, e. g. execution of a stored procedure or data manipulation queries like `INSERT INTO ... RETURNING ...`). To execute a stored procedure that does not return a result set, use `dbExecute()`.

Some backends may support data manipulation statements through this method for compatibility reasons. However, callers are strongly advised to use `dbExecute()` for data manipulation statements.

### Value

`dbGetQuery()` always returns a data.frame with as many rows as records were fetched and as many columns as fields in the result set, even if the result is a single value or has one or zero rows.

### Implementation notes

Subclasses should override this method only if they provide some sort of performance optimization.

### Failure modes

An error is raised when issuing a query over a closed or invalid connection, if the syntax of the query is invalid, or if the query is not a non-`NA` string. If the `n` argument is not an atomic whole number greater or equal to -1 or Inf, an error is raised, but a subsequent call to `dbGetQuery()` with proper `n` argument succeeds.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars)
    dbGetQuery(con, "SELECT * FROM mtcars")
    dbGetQuery(con, "SELECT * FROM mtcars", n = 6)

    # Pass values using the param argument:
    # (This query runs eight times, once for each different
    # parameter. The resulting rows are combined into a single
    # data frame.)
    dbGetQuery(
      con,
      "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM mtcars WHERE cyl = ?",
      params = list(1:8)
    )

    dbDisconnect(con)

## Execute a data manipulation statement on a given database connection

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbSendStatement(conn, statement, ...)

### Description

The `dbSendStatement()` method only submits and synchronously executes the SQL data manipulation statement (e.g., `UPDATE`, `DELETE`, `INSERT INTO`, `DROP TABLE`, …) to the database engine. To query the number of affected rows, call `dbGetRowsAffected()` on the returned result object. You must also call `dbClearResult()` after that. For interactive use, you should almost always prefer `dbExecute()`.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbSendStatement("MariaDBConnection", "character")`

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.
`statement` | a character string containing SQL.
`...` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Additional arguments

The following arguments are not part of the `dbSendStatement()` generic (to improve compatibility across backends) but are part of the DBI specification:

- `params` (default: `NULL`)

- `immediate` (default: `NULL`)

They must be provided as named arguments. See the “Specification” sections for details on their usage.

### Specification

No warnings occur under normal conditions. When done, the DBIResult object must be cleared with a call to `dbClearResult()`. Failure to clear the result set leads to a warning when the connection is closed. If the backend supports only one open result set per connection, issuing a second query invalidates an already open result set and raises a warning. The newly opened result set is valid and must be cleared with `dbClearResult()`.

The `param` argument allows passing query parameters, see `dbBind()` for details.

### Specification for the `immediate` argument

The `immediate` argument supports distinguishing between “direct” and “prepared” APIs offered by many database drivers. Passing `immediate = TRUE` leads to immediate execution of the query or statement, via the “direct” API (if supported by the driver). The default `NULL` means that the backend should choose whatever API makes the most sense for the database, and (if relevant) tries the other API if the first attempt fails. A successful second attempt should result in a message that suggests passing the correct `immediate` argument. Examples for possible behaviors:

1. DBI backend defaults to `immediate = TRUE` internally

   1. A query without parameters is passed: query is executed

   2. A query with parameters is passed:

      1. `params` not given: rejected immediately by the database because of a syntax error in the query, the backend tries `immediate = FALSE` (and gives a message)

      2. `params` given: query is executed using `immediate = FALSE`

2. DBI backend defaults to `immediate = FALSE` internally

   1. A query without parameters is passed:

      1. simple query: query is executed

      2. “special” query (such as setting a config options): fails, the backend tries `immediate = TRUE` (and gives a message)

   2. A query with parameters is passed:

      1. `params` not given: waiting for parameters via `dbBind()`

      2. `params` given: query is executed

### Details

`dbSendStatement()` comes with a default implementation that simply forwards to `dbSendQuery()`, to support backends that only implement the latter.

### Value

`dbSendStatement()` returns an S4 object that inherits from DBIResult. The result set can be used with `dbGetRowsAffected()` to determine the number of rows affected by the query. Once you have finished using a result, make sure to clear it with `dbClearResult()`.

### The command execution flow

This section gives a complete overview over the flow for the execution of SQL statements that have side effects such as stored procedures, inserting or deleting data, Most of this flow, except calling `dbBind()`, is implemented by `dbExecute()`, which should be sufficient for non-parameterized queries. This flow requires an active connection established by `dbConnect()`. See also `vignette("dbi-advanced")` for a walkthrough.

1. Use `dbSendStatement()` to create a result set object of class DBIResult. For some queries you need to pass `immediate = TRUE`.

2. Optionally, bind query parameters with `dbBind()`. This is required only if the query contains placeholders such as `?` or `\$1`, depending on the database backend.

3. Optionally, use `dbGetRowsAffected()` to retrieve the number of rows affected by the query.

4. Use `dbClearResult()` to clean up the result set object. This step is mandatory even if no rows have been fetched or if an error has occured during the processing. It is good practice to use `on.exit()` or `withr::defer()` to ensure that this step is always executed.

### Failure modes

An error is raised when issuing a statement over a closed or invalid connection, or if the statement is not a non-`NA` string. An error is also raised if the syntax of the query is invalid and all query parameters are given (by passing the `params` argument) or the `immediate` argument is set to `TRUE`.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "cars", head(cars, 3))

    rs <- dbSendStatement(
      con,
      "INSERT INTO cars (speed, dist) VALUES (1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3)"
    )
    dbHasCompleted(rs)
    dbGetRowsAffected(rs)
    dbClearResult(rs)
    dbReadTable(con, "cars")   # there are now 6 rows

    # Pass one set of values directly using the param argument:
    rs <- dbSendStatement(
      con,
      "INSERT INTO cars (speed, dist) VALUES (?, ?)",
      params = list(4L, 5L)
    )
    dbClearResult(rs)

    # Pass multiple sets of values using dbBind():
    rs <- dbSendStatement(
      con,
      "INSERT INTO cars (speed, dist) VALUES (?, ?)"
    )
    dbBind(rs, list(5:6, 6:7))
    dbBind(rs, list(7L, 8L))
    dbClearResult(rs)
    dbReadTable(con, "cars")   # there are now 10 rows

    dbDisconnect(con)

## Execute an update statement, query number of rows affected, and then close result set

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbExecute(conn, statement, ...)

### Description

Executes a statement and returns the number of rows affected. `dbExecute()` comes with a default implementation (which should work with most backends) that calls `dbSendStatement()`, then `dbGetRowsAffected()`, ensuring that the result is always free-d by `dbClearResult()`. For passing query parameters, see `dbBind()`, in particular the “The command execution flow” section.

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.
`statement` | a character string containing SQL.
`...` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Additional arguments

The following arguments are not part of the `dbExecute()` generic (to improve compatibility across backends) but are part of the DBI specification:

- `params` (default: `NULL`)

- `immediate` (default: `NULL`)

They must be provided as named arguments. See the “Specification” sections for details on their usage.

### Specification

The `param` argument allows passing query parameters, see `dbBind()` for details.

### Specification for the `immediate` argument

The `immediate` argument supports distinguishing between “direct” and “prepared” APIs offered by many database drivers. Passing `immediate = TRUE` leads to immediate execution of the query or statement, via the “direct” API (if supported by the driver). The default `NULL` means that the backend should choose whatever API makes the most sense for the database, and (if relevant) tries the other API if the first attempt fails. A successful second attempt should result in a message that suggests passing the correct `immediate` argument. Examples for possible behaviors:

1. DBI backend defaults to `immediate = TRUE` internally

   1. A query without parameters is passed: query is executed

   2. A query with parameters is passed:

      1. `params` not given: rejected immediately by the database because of a syntax error in the query, the backend tries `immediate = FALSE` (and gives a message)

      2. `params` given: query is executed using `immediate = FALSE`

2. DBI backend defaults to `immediate = FALSE` internally

   1. A query without parameters is passed:

      1. simple query: query is executed

      2. “special” query (such as setting a config options): fails, the backend tries `immediate = TRUE` (and gives a message)

   2. A query with parameters is passed:

      1. `params` not given: waiting for parameters via `dbBind()`

      2. `params` given: query is executed

### Details

You can also use `dbExecute()` to call a stored procedure that performs data manipulation or other actions that do not return a result set. To execute a stored procedure that returns a result set, or a data manipulation query that also returns a result set such as `INSERT INTO ... RETURNING ...`, use `dbGetQuery()` instead.

### Value

`dbExecute()` always returns a scalar numeric that specifies the number of rows affected by the statement.

### Implementation notes

Subclasses should override this method only if they provide some sort of performance optimization.

### Failure modes

An error is raised when issuing a statement over a closed or invalid connection, if the syntax of the statement is invalid, or if the statement is not a non-`NA` string.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "cars", head(cars, 3))
    dbReadTable(con, "cars")   # there are 3 rows
    dbExecute(
      con,
      "INSERT INTO cars (speed, dist) VALUES (1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3)"
    )
    dbReadTable(con, "cars")   # there are now 6 rows

    # Pass values using the param argument:
    dbExecute(
      con,
      "INSERT INTO cars (speed, dist) VALUES (?, ?)",
      params = list(4:7, 5:8)
    )
    dbReadTable(con, "cars")   # there are now 10 rows

    dbDisconnect(con)

## Quote literal strings

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbQuoteString(conn, x, ...)

### Description

Call this method to generate a string that is suitable for use in a query as a string literal, to make sure that you generate valid SQL and protect against SQL injection attacks.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbQuoteString("MariaDBConnection", "SQL")`

- `RMariaDB::dbQuoteString("MariaDBConnection", "character")`

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.
`x` | A character vector to quote as string.
`...` | Other arguments passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbQuoteString()` returns an object that can be coerced to character, of the same length as the input. For an empty character vector this function returns a length-0 object.

When passing the returned object again to `dbQuoteString()` as `x` argument, it is returned unchanged. Passing objects of class SQL should also return them unchanged. (For backends it may be most convenient to return SQL objects to achieve this behavior, but this is not required.)

### Failure modes

Passing a numeric, integer, logical, or raw vector, or a list for the `x` argument raises an error.

### Specification

The returned expression can be used in a `SELECT ...` query, and for any scalar character `x` the value of `dbGetQuery(paste0("SELECT ", dbQuoteString(x)))[[1]]` must be identical to `x`, even if `x` contains spaces, tabs, quotes (single or double), backticks, or newlines (in any combination) or is itself the result of a `dbQuoteString()` call coerced back to character (even repeatedly). If `x` is `NA`, the result must merely satisfy `is.na()`. The strings `"NA"` or `"NULL"` are not treated specially.

`NA` should be translated to an unquoted SQL `NULL`, so that the query `SELECT * FROM (SELECT 1) a WHERE ... IS NULL` returns one row.

### Examples

    # Quoting ensures that arbitrary input is safe for use in a query
    name <- "Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--"
    dbQuoteString(ANSI(), name)

    # NAs become NULL
    dbQuoteString(ANSI(), c("x", NA))

    # SQL vectors are always passed through as is
    var_name <- SQL("select")
    var_name
    dbQuoteString(ANSI(), var_name)

    # This mechanism is used to prevent double escaping
    dbQuoteString(ANSI(), dbQuoteString(ANSI(), name))

## Quote identifiers

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbQuoteIdentifier(conn, x, ...)

### Description

Call this method to generate a string that is suitable for use in a query as a column or table name, to make sure that you generate valid SQL and protect against SQL injection attacks. The inverse operation is `dbUnquoteIdentifier()`.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbQuoteIdentifier("MariaDBConnection", "Id")`

- `RMariaDB::dbQuoteIdentifier("MariaDBConnection", "SQL")`

- `RMariaDB::dbQuoteIdentifier("MariaDBConnection", "character")`

- `RSQLite::dbQuoteIdentifier("SQLiteConnection", "SQL")`

- `RSQLite::dbQuoteIdentifier("SQLiteConnection", "character")`

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.
`x` | A character vector, SQL or Id object to quote as identifier.
`...` | Other arguments passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbQuoteIdentifier()` returns an object that can be coerced to character, of the same length as the input. For an empty character vector this function returns a length-0 object. The names of the input argument are preserved in the output. When passing the returned object again to `dbQuoteIdentifier()` as `x` argument, it is returned unchanged. Passing objects of class SQL should also return them unchanged. (For backends it may be most convenient to return SQL objects to achieve this behavior, but this is not required.)

### Failure modes

An error is raised if the input contains `NA`, but not for an empty string.

### Specification

Calling `dbGetQuery()` for a query of the format `SELECT 1 AS ...` returns a data frame with the identifier, unquoted, as column name. Quoted identifiers can be used as table and column names in SQL queries, in particular in queries like `SELECT 1 AS ...` and `SELECT * FROM (SELECT 1) ...`. The method must use a quoting mechanism that is unambiguously different from the quoting mechanism used for strings, so that a query like `SELECT ... FROM (SELECT 1 AS ...)` throws an error if the column names do not match.

The method can quote column names that contain special characters such as a space, a dot, a comma, or quotes used to mark strings or identifiers, if the database supports this. In any case, checking the validity of the identifier should be performed only when executing a query, and not by `dbQuoteIdentifier()`.

### Examples

    # Quoting ensures that arbitrary input is safe for use in a query
    name <- "Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--"
    dbQuoteIdentifier(ANSI(), name)

    # Use Id() to specify other components such as the schema
    id_name <- Id(schema = "schema_name", table = "table_name")
    id_name
    dbQuoteIdentifier(ANSI(), id_name)

    # SQL vectors are always passed through as is
    var_name <- SQL("select")
    var_name
    dbQuoteIdentifier(ANSI(), var_name)

    # This mechanism is used to prevent double escaping
    dbQuoteIdentifier(ANSI(), dbQuoteIdentifier(ANSI(), name))

## Copy data frames from database tables

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbReadTable(conn, name, ...)

### Description

Reads a database table to a data frame, optionally converting a column to row names and converting the column names to valid R identifiers.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbReadTable("MariaDBConnection", "character")`

- `RSQLite::dbReadTable("SQLiteConnection", "character")`

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.

`name`

The table name, passed on to `dbQuoteIdentifier()`. Options are:

- a character string with the unquoted DBMS table name, e.g. `“table_name”`,

- a call to `Id()` with components to the fully qualified table name, e.g. `Id(schema = “my_schema”, table = “table_name”)`

- a call to `SQL()` with the quoted and fully qualified table name given verbatim, e.g. `SQL(‘“my_schema”.”table_name”’)`

`…` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Additional arguments

The following arguments are not part of the `dbReadTable()` generic (to improve compatibility across backends) but are part of the DBI specification:

- `row.names` (default: `FALSE`)

- `check.names`

They must be provided as named arguments. See the “Value” section for details on their usage.

### Specification

The `name` argument is processed as follows, to support databases that allow non-syntactic names for their objects:

- If an unquoted table name as string: `dbReadTable()` will do the quoting, perhaps by calling `dbQuoteIdentifier(conn, x = name)`

- If the result of a call to `dbQuoteIdentifier()`: no more quoting is done

### Value

`dbReadTable()` returns a data frame that contains the complete data from the remote table, effectively the result of calling `dbGetQuery()` with `SELECT * FROM <name>`.

An empty table is returned as a data frame with zero rows.

The presence of rownames depends on the `row.names` argument, see `sqlColumnToRownames()` for details:

- If `FALSE` or `NULL`, the returned data frame doesn’t have row names.

- If `TRUE`, a column named “row_names” is converted to row names.

- If `NA`, a column named “row_names” is converted to row names if it exists, otherwise no translation occurs.

- If a string, this specifies the name of the column in the remote table that contains the row names.

The default is `row.names = FALSE`.

If the database supports identifiers with special characters, the columns in the returned data frame are converted to valid R identifiers if the `check.names` argument is `TRUE`, If `check.names = FALSE`, the returned table has non-syntactic column names without quotes.

### Failure modes

An error is raised if the table does not exist.

An error is raised if `row.names` is `TRUE` and no “row_names” column exists,

An error is raised if `row.names` is set to a string and and no corresponding column exists.

An error is raised when calling this method for a closed or invalid connection. An error is raised if `name` cannot be processed with `dbQuoteIdentifier()` or if this results in a non-scalar. Unsupported values for `row.names` and `check.names` (non-scalars, unsupported data types, `NA` for `check.names`) also raise an error.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars[1:10, ])
    dbReadTable(con, "mtcars")

    dbDisconnect(con)

## Copy data frames to database tables

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbWriteTable(conn, name, value, ...)

### Description

Writes, overwrites or appends a data frame to a database table, optionally converting row names to a column and specifying SQL data types for fields.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbWriteTable("MariaDBConnection", "character", "character")`

- `RMariaDB::dbWriteTable("MariaDBConnection", "character", "data.frame")`

- `RSQLite::dbWriteTable("SQLiteConnection", "character", "character")`

- `RSQLite::dbWriteTable("SQLiteConnection", "character", "data.frame")`

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.

`name`

The table name, passed on to `dbQuoteIdentifier()`. Options are:

- a character string with the unquoted DBMS table name, e.g. `“table_name”`,

- a call to `Id()` with components to the fully qualified table name, e.g. `Id(schema = “my_schema”, table = “table_name”)`

- a call to `SQL()` with the quoted and fully qualified table name given verbatim, e.g. `SQL(‘“my_schema”.”table_name”’)`

`value` | a data.frame (or coercible to data.frame).
`…` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Additional arguments

The following arguments are not part of the `dbWriteTable()` generic (to improve compatibility across backends) but are part of the DBI specification:

- `row.names` (default: `FALSE`)

- `overwrite` (default: `FALSE`)

- `append` (default: `FALSE`)

- `field.types` (default: `NULL`)

- `temporary` (default: `FALSE`)

They must be provided as named arguments. See the “Specification” and “Value” sections for details on their usage.

### Specification

The `name` argument is processed as follows, to support databases that allow non-syntactic names for their objects:

- If an unquoted table name as string: `dbWriteTable()` will do the quoting, perhaps by calling `dbQuoteIdentifier(conn, x = name)`

- If the result of a call to `dbQuoteIdentifier()`: no more quoting is done

The `value` argument must be a data frame with a subset of the columns of the existing table if `append = TRUE`. The order of the columns does not matter with `append = TRUE`.

If the `overwrite` argument is `TRUE`, an existing table of the same name will be overwritten. This argument doesn’t change behavior if the table does not exist yet.

If the `append` argument is `TRUE`, the rows in an existing table are preserved, and the new data are appended. If the table doesn’t exist yet, it is created.

If the `temporary` argument is `TRUE`, the table is not available in a second connection and is gone after reconnecting. Not all backends support this argument. A regular, non-temporary table is visible in a second connection, in a pre-existing connection, and after reconnecting to the database.

SQL keywords can be used freely in table names, column names, and data. Quotes, commas, spaces, and other special characters such as newlines and tabs, can also be used in the data, and, if the database supports non-syntactic identifiers, also for table names and column names.

The following data types must be supported at least, and be read identically with `dbReadTable()`:

- integer

- numeric (the behavior for `Inf` and `NaN` is not specified)

- logical

- `NA` as NULL

- 64-bit values (using `"bigint"` as field type); the result can be

  - converted to a numeric, which may lose precision,

  - converted a character vector, which gives the full decimal representation

  - written to another table and read again unchanged

- character (in both UTF-8 and native encodings), supporting empty strings before and after a non-empty string

- factor (returned as character)

- list of raw (if supported by the database)

- objects of type blob::blob (if supported by the database)

- date (if supported by the database; returned as `Date`), also for dates prior to 1970 or 1900 or after 2038

- time (if supported by the database; returned as objects that inherit from `difftime`)

- timestamp (if supported by the database; returned as `POSIXct` respecting the time zone but not necessarily preserving the input time zone), also for timestamps prior to 1970 or 1900 or after 2038 respecting the time zone but not necessarily preserving the input time zone)

Mixing column types in the same table is supported.

The `field.types` argument must be a named character vector with at most one entry for each column. It indicates the SQL data type to be used for a new column. If a column is missed from `field.types`, the type is inferred from the input data with `dbDataType()`.

The interpretation of rownames depends on the `row.names` argument, see `sqlRownamesToColumn()` for details:

- If `FALSE` or `NULL`, row names are ignored.

- If `TRUE`, row names are converted to a column named “row_names”, even if the input data frame only has natural row names from 1 to `nrow(...)`.

- If `NA`, a column named “row_names” is created if the data has custom row names, no extra column is created in the case of natural row names.

- If a string, this specifies the name of the column in the remote table that contains the row names, even if the input data frame only has natural row names.

The default is `row.names = FALSE`.

### Details

This function is useful if you want to create and load a table at the same time. Use `dbAppendTable()` for appending data to a table, and `dbCreateTable()`, `dbExistsTable()` and `dbRemoveTable()` for more control over the individual operations.

DBI only standardizes writing data frames. Some backends might implement methods that can consume CSV files or other data formats. For details, see the documentation for the individual methods.

### Value

`dbWriteTable()` returns `TRUE`, invisibly.

### Failure modes

If the table exists, and both `append` and `overwrite` arguments are unset, or `append = TRUE` and the data frame with the new data has different column names, an error is raised; the remote table remains unchanged.

An error is raised when calling this method for a closed or invalid connection. An error is also raised if `name` cannot be processed with `dbQuoteIdentifier()` or if this results in a non-scalar. Invalid values for the additional arguments `row.names`, `overwrite`, `append`, `field.types`, and `temporary` (non-scalars, unsupported data types, `NA`, incompatible values, duplicate or missing names, incompatible columns) also raise an error.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars[1:5, ])
    dbReadTable(con, "mtcars")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars[6:10, ], append = TRUE)
    dbReadTable(con, "mtcars")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars[1:10, ], overwrite = TRUE)
    dbReadTable(con, "mtcars")

    # No row names
    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars[1:10, ], overwrite = TRUE, row.names = FALSE)
    dbReadTable(con, "mtcars")

## List remote tables

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbListTables(conn, ...)

### Description

Returns the unquoted names of remote tables accessible through this connection. This should include views and temporary objects, but not all database backends (in particular RMariaDB and RMySQL) support this.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbListTables("MariaDBConnection")`

- `RSQLite::dbListTables("SQLiteConnection")`

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.
`...` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbListTables()` returns a character vector that enumerates all tables and views in the database. Tables added with `dbWriteTable()` are part of the list. As soon a table is removed from the database, it is also removed from the list of database tables.

The same applies to temporary tables if supported by the database.

The returned names are suitable for quoting with `dbQuoteIdentifier()`.

### Failure modes

An error is raised when calling this method for a closed or invalid connection.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbListTables(con)
    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars)
    dbListTables(con)

    dbDisconnect(con)

## Does a table exist?

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbExistsTable(conn, name, ...)

### Description

Returns if a table given by name exists in the database.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbExistsTable("MariaDBConnection", "character")`

- `RSQLite::dbExistsTable("SQLiteConnection", "character")`

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.

`name`

The table name, passed on to `dbQuoteIdentifier()`. Options are:

- a character string with the unquoted DBMS table name, e.g. `“table_name”`,

- a call to `Id()` with components to the fully qualified table name, e.g. `Id(schema = “my_schema”, table = “table_name”)`

- a call to `SQL()` with the quoted and fully qualified table name given verbatim, e.g. `SQL(‘“my_schema”.”table_name”’)`

`…` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbExistsTable()` returns a logical scalar, `TRUE` if the table or view specified by the `name` argument exists, `FALSE` otherwise.

This includes temporary tables if supported by the database.

### Failure modes

An error is raised when calling this method for a closed or invalid connection. An error is also raised if `name` cannot be processed with `dbQuoteIdentifier()` or if this results in a non-scalar.

### Specification

The `name` argument is processed as follows, to support databases that allow non-syntactic names for their objects:

- If an unquoted table name as string: `dbExistsTable()` will do the quoting, perhaps by calling `dbQuoteIdentifier(conn, x = name)`

- If the result of a call to `dbQuoteIdentifier()`: no more quoting is done

For all tables listed by `dbListTables()`, `dbExistsTable()` returns `TRUE`.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbExistsTable(con, "iris")
    dbWriteTable(con, "iris", iris)
    dbExistsTable(con, "iris")

    dbDisconnect(con)

## Remove a table from the database

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbRemoveTable(conn, name, ...)

### Description

Remove a remote table (e.g., created by `dbWriteTable()`) from the database.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbRemoveTable("MariaDBConnection", "character")`

- `RSQLite::dbRemoveTable("SQLiteConnection", "character")`

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.

`name`

The table name, passed on to `dbQuoteIdentifier()`. Options are:

- a character string with the unquoted DBMS table name, e.g. `“table_name”`,

- a call to `Id()` with components to the fully qualified table name, e.g. `Id(schema = “my_schema”, table = “table_name”)`

- a call to `SQL()` with the quoted and fully qualified table name given verbatim, e.g. `SQL(‘“my_schema”.”table_name”’)`

`…` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Additional arguments

The following arguments are not part of the `dbRemoveTable()` generic (to improve compatibility across backends) but are part of the DBI specification:

- `temporary` (default: `FALSE`)

- `fail_if_missing` (default: `TRUE`)

These arguments must be provided as named arguments.

If `temporary` is `TRUE`, the call to `dbRemoveTable()` will consider only temporary tables. Not all backends support this argument. In particular, permanent tables of the same name are left untouched.

If `fail_if_missing` is `FALSE`, the call to `dbRemoveTable()` succeeds if the table does not exist.

### Specification

A table removed by `dbRemoveTable()` doesn’t appear in the list of tables returned by `dbListTables()`, and `dbExistsTable()` returns `FALSE`. The removal propagates immediately to other connections to the same database. This function can also be used to remove a temporary table.

The `name` argument is processed as follows, to support databases that allow non-syntactic names for their objects:

- If an unquoted table name as string: `dbRemoveTable()` will do the quoting, perhaps by calling `dbQuoteIdentifier(conn, x = name)`

- If the result of a call to `dbQuoteIdentifier()`: no more quoting is done

### Value

`dbRemoveTable()` returns `TRUE`, invisibly.

### Failure modes

If the table does not exist, an error is raised. An attempt to remove a view with this function may result in an error.

An error is raised when calling this method for a closed or invalid connection. An error is also raised if `name` cannot be processed with `dbQuoteIdentifier()` or if this results in a non-scalar.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbExistsTable(con, "iris")
    dbWriteTable(con, "iris", iris)
    dbExistsTable(con, "iris")
    dbRemoveTable(con, "iris")
    dbExistsTable(con, "iris")

    dbDisconnect(con)

## List field names of a remote table

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbListFields(conn, name, ...)

### Description

Returns the field names of a remote table as a character vector.

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.

`name`

The table name, passed on to `dbQuoteIdentifier()`. Options are:

- a character string with the unquoted DBMS table name, e.g. `“table_name”`,

- a call to `Id()` with components to the fully qualified table name, e.g. `Id(schema = “my_schema”, table = “table_name”)`

- a call to `SQL()` with the quoted and fully qualified table name given verbatim, e.g. `SQL(‘“my_schema”.”table_name”’)`

`…` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbListFields()` returns a character vector that enumerates all fields in the table in the correct order. This also works for temporary tables if supported by the database. The returned names are suitable for quoting with `dbQuoteIdentifier()`.

### Failure modes

If the table does not exist, an error is raised. Invalid types for the `name` argument (e.g., `character` of length not equal to one, or numeric) lead to an error. An error is also raised when calling this method for a closed or invalid connection.

### Specification

The `name` argument can be

- a string

- the return value of `dbQuoteIdentifier()`

- a value from the `table` column from the return value of `dbListObjects()` where `is_prefix` is `FALSE`

A column named `row_names` is treated like any other column.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars)
    dbListFields(con, "mtcars")

    dbDisconnect(con)

## Is this DBMS object still valid?

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbIsValid(dbObj, ...)

### Description

This generic tests whether a database object is still valid (i.e. it hasn’t been disconnected or cleared).

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbIsValid("MariaDBConnection")`

- `RMariaDB::dbIsValid("MariaDBDriver")`

- `RMariaDB::dbIsValid("MariaDBResult")`

- `RSQLite::dbIsValid("SQLiteConnection")`

- `RSQLite::dbIsValid("SQLiteDriver")`

- `RSQLite::dbIsValid("SQLiteResult")`

### Arguments

`dbObj` | An object inheriting from DBIObject, i.e. DBIDriver, DBIConnection, or a DBIResult
`...` | Other arguments to methods.

### Value

`dbIsValid()` returns a logical scalar, `TRUE` if the object specified by `dbObj` is valid, `FALSE` otherwise. A DBIConnection object is initially valid, and becomes invalid after disconnecting with `dbDisconnect()`. For an invalid connection object (e.g., for some drivers if the object is saved to a file and then restored), the method also returns `FALSE`. A DBIResult object is valid after a call to `dbSendQuery()`, and stays valid even after all rows have been fetched; only clearing it with `dbClearResult()` invalidates it. A DBIResult object is also valid after a call to `dbSendStatement()`, and stays valid after querying the number of rows affected; only clearing it with `dbClearResult()` invalidates it. If the connection to the database system is dropped (e.g., due to connectivity problems, server failure, etc.), `dbIsValid()` should return `FALSE`. This is not tested automatically.

### Examples

    dbIsValid(RSQLite::SQLite())

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")
    dbIsValid(con)

    rs <- dbSendQuery(con, "SELECT 1")
    dbIsValid(rs)

    dbClearResult(rs)
    dbIsValid(rs)

    dbDisconnect(con)
    dbIsValid(con)

## Completion status

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbHasCompleted(res, ...)

### Description

This method returns if the operation has completed. A `SELECT` query is completed if all rows have been fetched. A data manipulation statement is always completed.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbHasCompleted("MariaDBResult")`

- `RSQLite::dbHasCompleted("SQLiteResult")`

### Arguments

`res` | An object inheriting from DBIResult.
`...` | Other arguments passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbHasCompleted()` returns a logical scalar. For a query initiated by `dbSendQuery()` with non-empty result set, `dbHasCompleted()` returns `FALSE` initially and `TRUE` after calling `dbFetch()` without limit. For a query initiated by `dbSendStatement()`, `dbHasCompleted()` always returns `TRUE`.

### The data retrieval flow

This section gives a complete overview over the flow for the execution of queries that return tabular data.

Most of this flow, except calling `dbBind()`, is implemented by `dbGetQuery()`, which should be sufficient unless you want to access the results in a paged way or you have a parameterized query. This flow requires an active connection established by `dbConnect()`. See also `vignette("dbi-advanced")` for a walkthrough.

1. Use `dbSendQuery()` to create a result set object of class DBIResult.

2. Optionally, bind query parameters with `dbBind()`. This is required only if the query contains placeholders such as `?` or `\$1`, depending on the database backend.

3. Optionally, use `dbColumnInfo()` to retrieve the structure of the result set without retrieving actual data.

4. Use `dbFetch()` to get the entire result set, a page of results, or the remaining rows. Fetching zero rows is also possible to retrieeve the structure of the result set as a data frame. This step can be called multiple times. Only forward paging is supported, you need to cache previous pages if you need to navigate backwards.

5. Use `dbHasCompleted()` to tell when you’re done. This method returns `TRUE` if no more rows are available for fetching.

6. Use `dbClearResult()` to clean up the result set object. This step is mandatory even if no rows have been fetched or if an error has occured during the processing. It is good practice to use `on.exit()` or `withr::defer()` to ensure that this step is always executed.

### Failure modes

Attempting to query completion status for a result set cleared with `dbClearResult()` gives an error.

### Specification

The completion status for a query is only guaranteed to be set to `FALSE` after attempting to fetch past the end of the entire result. Therefore, for a query with an empty result set, the initial return value is unspecified, but the result value is `TRUE` after trying to fetch only one row.

Similarly, for a query with a result set of length n, the return value is unspecified after fetching n rows, but the result value is `TRUE` after trying to fetch only one more row.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars)
    rs <- dbSendQuery(con, "SELECT * FROM mtcars")

    dbHasCompleted(rs)
    ret1 <- dbFetch(rs, 10)
    dbHasCompleted(rs)
    ret2 <- dbFetch(rs)
    dbHasCompleted(rs)

    dbClearResult(rs)
    dbDisconnect(con)

## Get the statement associated with a result set

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbGetStatement(res, ...)

### Description

Returns the statement that was passed to `dbSendQuery()` or `dbSendStatement()`.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbGetStatement("MariaDBResult")`

- `RSQLite::dbGetStatement("SQLiteResult")`

### Arguments

`res` | An object inheriting from DBIResult.
`...` | Other arguments passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbGetStatement()` returns a string, the query used in either `dbSendQuery()` or `dbSendStatement()`.

### Failure modes

Attempting to query the statement for a result set cleared with `dbClearResult()` gives an error.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars)
    rs <- dbSendQuery(con, "SELECT * FROM mtcars")
    dbGetStatement(rs)

    dbClearResult(rs)
    dbDisconnect(con)

## The number of rows fetched so far

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbGetRowCount(res, ...)

### Description

Returns the total number of rows actually fetched with calls to `dbFetch()` for this result set.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbGetRowCount("MariaDBResult")`

- `RSQLite::dbGetRowCount("SQLiteResult")`

### Arguments

`res` | An object inheriting from DBIResult.
`...` | Other arguments passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbGetRowCount()` returns a scalar number (integer or numeric), the number of rows fetched so far. After calling `dbSendQuery()`, the row count is initially zero. After a call to `dbFetch()` without limit, the row count matches the total number of rows returned. Fetching a limited number of rows increases the number of rows by the number of rows returned, even if fetching past the end of the result set. For queries with an empty result set, zero is returned even after fetching. For data manipulation statements issued with `dbSendStatement()`, zero is returned before and after calling `dbFetch()`.

### Failure modes

Attempting to get the row count for a result set cleared with `dbClearResult()` gives an error.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars)
    rs <- dbSendQuery(con, "SELECT * FROM mtcars")

    dbGetRowCount(rs)
    ret1 <- dbFetch(rs, 10)
    dbGetRowCount(rs)
    ret2 <- dbFetch(rs)
    dbGetRowCount(rs)
    nrow(ret1) + nrow(ret2)

    dbClearResult(rs)
    dbDisconnect(con)

## The number of rows affected

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbGetRowsAffected(res, ...)

### Description

This method returns the number of rows that were added, deleted, or updated by a data manipulation statement.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbGetRowsAffected("MariaDBResult")`

- `RSQLite::dbGetRowsAffected("SQLiteResult")`

### Arguments

`res` | An object inheriting from DBIResult.
`...` | Other arguments passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbGetRowsAffected()` returns a scalar number (integer or numeric), the number of rows affected by a data manipulation statement issued with `dbSendStatement()`. The value is available directly after the call and does not change after calling `dbFetch()`. For queries issued with `dbSendQuery()`, zero is returned before and after the call to `dbFetch()`.

### The command execution flow

This section gives a complete overview over the flow for the execution of SQL statements that have side effects such as stored procedures, inserting or deleting data, Most of this flow, except calling `dbBind()`, is implemented by `dbExecute()`, which should be sufficient for non-parameterized queries. This flow requires an active connection established by `dbConnect()`. See also `vignette("dbi-advanced")` for a walkthrough.

1. Use `dbSendStatement()` to create a result set object of class DBIResult. For some queries you need to pass `immediate = TRUE`.

2. Optionally, bind query parameters with `dbBind()`. This is required only if the query contains placeholders such as `?` or `\$1`, depending on the database backend.

3. Optionally, use `dbGetRowsAffected()` to retrieve the number of rows affected by the query.

4. Use `dbClearResult()` to clean up the result set object. This step is mandatory even if no rows have been fetched or if an error has occured during the processing. It is good practice to use `on.exit()` or `withr::defer()` to ensure that this step is always executed.

### Failure modes

Attempting to get the rows affected for a result set cleared with `dbClearResult()` gives an error.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "mtcars", mtcars)
    rs <- dbSendStatement(con, "DELETE FROM mtcars")
    dbGetRowsAffected(rs)
    nrow(mtcars)

    dbClearResult(rs)
    dbDisconnect(con)

## Information about result types

This section describes the behavior of the following method:

    dbColumnInfo(res, ...)

### Description

Produces a data.frame that describes the output of a query. The data.frame should have as many rows as there are output fields in the result set, and each column in the data.frame describes an aspect of the result set field (field name, type, etc.)

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbColumnInfo("MariaDBResult")`

- `RSQLite::dbColumnInfo("SQLiteResult")`

### Arguments

`res` | An object inheriting from DBIResult.
`...` | Other arguments passed on to methods.

### Value

`dbColumnInfo()` returns a data frame with at least two columns `"name"` and `"type"` (in that order) (and optional columns that start with a dot). The `"name"` and `"type"` columns contain the names and types of the R columns of the data frame that is returned from `dbFetch()`. The `"type"` column is of type `character` and only for information. Do not compute on the `"type"` column, instead use `dbFetch(res, n = 0)` to create a zero-row data frame initialized with the correct data types.

### The data retrieval flow

This section gives a complete overview over the flow for the execution of queries that return tabular data.

Most of this flow, except calling `dbBind()`, is implemented by `dbGetQuery()`, which should be sufficient unless you want to access the results in a paged way or you have a parameterized query. This flow requires an active connection established by `dbConnect()`. See also `vignette("dbi-advanced")` for a walkthrough.

1. Use `dbSendQuery()` to create a result set object of class DBIResult.

2. Optionally, bind query parameters with `dbBind()`. This is required only if the query contains placeholders such as `?` or `\$1`, depending on the database backend.

3. Optionally, use `dbColumnInfo()` to retrieve the structure of the result set without retrieving actual data.

4. Use `dbFetch()` to get the entire result set, a page of results, or the remaining rows. Fetching zero rows is also possible to retrieeve the structure of the result set as a data frame. This step can be called multiple times. Only forward paging is supported, you need to cache previous pages if you need to navigate backwards.

5. Use `dbHasCompleted()` to tell when you’re done. This method returns `TRUE` if no more rows are available for fetching.

6. Use `dbClearResult()` to clean up the result set object. This step is mandatory even if no rows have been fetched or if an error has occured during the processing. It is good practice to use `on.exit()` or `withr::defer()` to ensure that this step is always executed.

### Failure modes

An attempt to query columns for a closed result set raises an error.

### Specification

A column named `row_names` is treated like any other column.

The column names are always consistent with the data returned by `dbFetch()`.

If the query returns unnamed columns, non-empty and non-`NA` names are assigned.

Column names that correspond to SQL or R keywords are left unchanged.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    rs <- dbSendQuery(con, "SELECT 1 AS a, 2 AS b")
    dbColumnInfo(rs)
    dbFetch(rs)

    dbClearResult(rs)
    dbDisconnect(con)

## Begin/commit/rollback SQL transactions

This section describes the behavior of the following methods:

    dbBegin(conn, ...)

    dbCommit(conn, ...)

    dbRollback(conn, ...)

### Description

A transaction encapsulates several SQL statements in an atomic unit. It is initiated with `dbBegin()` and either made persistent with `dbCommit()` or undone with `dbRollback()`. In any case, the DBMS guarantees that either all or none of the statements have a permanent effect. This helps ensuring consistency of write operations to multiple tables.

#### Methods in other packages

This documentation page describes the generics. Refer to the documentation pages linked below for the documentation for the methods that are implemented in various backend packages.

- `RMariaDB::dbBegin("MariaDBConnection")`

- `RMariaDB::dbCommit("MariaDBConnection")`

- `RMariaDB::dbRollback("MariaDBConnection")`

- `RSQLite::dbBegin("SQLiteConnection")`

- `RSQLite::dbCommit("SQLiteConnection")`

- `RSQLite::dbRollback("SQLiteConnection")`

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.
`...` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Details

Not all database engines implement transaction management, in which case these methods should not be implemented for the specific DBIConnection subclass.

### Value

`dbBegin()`, `dbCommit()` and `dbRollback()` return `TRUE`, invisibly.

### Failure modes

The implementations are expected to raise an error in case of failure, but this is not tested. In any way, all generics throw an error with a closed or invalid connection. In addition, a call to `dbCommit()` or `dbRollback()` without a prior call to `dbBegin()` raises an error. Nested transactions are not supported by DBI, an attempt to call `dbBegin()` twice yields an error.

### Specification

Actual support for transactions may vary between backends. A transaction is initiated by a call to `dbBegin()` and committed by a call to `dbCommit()`. Data written in a transaction must persist after the transaction is committed. For example, a record that is missing when the transaction is started but is created during the transaction must exist both during and after the transaction, and also in a new connection.

A transaction can also be aborted with `dbRollback()`. All data written in such a transaction must be removed after the transaction is rolled back. For example, a record that is missing when the transaction is started but is created during the transaction must not exist anymore after the rollback.

Disconnection from a connection with an open transaction effectively rolls back the transaction. All data written in such a transaction must be removed after the transaction is rolled back.

The behavior is not specified if other arguments are passed to these functions. In particular, RSQLite issues named transactions with support for nesting if the `name` argument is set.

The transaction isolation level is not specified by DBI.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "cash", data.frame(amount = 100))
    dbWriteTable(con, "account", data.frame(amount = 2000))

    # All operations are carried out as logical unit:
    dbBegin(con)
    withdrawal <- 300
    dbExecute(con, "UPDATE cash SET amount = amount + ?", list(withdrawal))
    dbExecute(con, "UPDATE account SET amount = amount - ?", list(withdrawal))
    dbCommit(con)

    dbReadTable(con, "cash")
    dbReadTable(con, "account")

    # Rolling back after detecting negative value on account:
    dbBegin(con)
    withdrawal <- 5000
    dbExecute(con, "UPDATE cash SET amount = amount + ?", list(withdrawal))
    dbExecute(con, "UPDATE account SET amount = amount - ?", list(withdrawal))
    if (dbReadTable(con, "account")$amount >= 0) {
      dbCommit(con)
    } else {
      dbRollback(con)
    }

    dbReadTable(con, "cash")
    dbReadTable(con, "account")

    dbDisconnect(con)

## Self-contained SQL transactions

This section describes the behavior of the following methods:

    dbWithTransaction(conn, code, ...)

    dbBreak()

### Description

Given that transactions are implemented, this function allows you to pass in code that is run in a transaction. The default method of `dbWithTransaction()` calls `dbBegin()` before executing the code, and `dbCommit()` after successful completion, or `dbRollback()` in case of an error. The advantage is that you don’t have to remember to do `dbBegin()` and `dbCommit()` or `dbRollback()` – that is all taken care of. The special function `dbBreak()` allows an early exit with rollback, it can be called only inside `dbWithTransaction()`.

### Arguments

`conn` | A DBIConnection object, as returned by `dbConnect()`.
`code` | An arbitrary block of R code.
`...` | Other parameters passed on to methods.

### Details

DBI implements `dbWithTransaction()`, backends should need to override this generic only if they implement specialized handling.

### Value

`dbWithTransaction()` returns the value of the executed code.

### Failure modes

Failure to initiate the transaction (e.g., if the connection is closed or invalid of if `dbBegin()` has been called already) gives an error.

### Specification

`dbWithTransaction()` initiates a transaction with `dbBegin()`, executes the code given in the `code` argument, and commits the transaction with `dbCommit()`. If the code raises an error, the transaction is instead aborted with `dbRollback()`, and the error is propagated. If the code calls `dbBreak()`, execution of the code stops and the transaction is silently aborted. All side effects caused by the code (such as the creation of new variables) propagate to the calling environment.

### Examples

    con <- dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")

    dbWriteTable(con, "cash", data.frame(amount = 100))
    dbWriteTable(con, "account", data.frame(amount = 2000))

    # All operations are carried out as logical unit:
    dbWithTransaction(
      con,
      {
        withdrawal <- 300
        dbExecute(con, "UPDATE cash SET amount = amount + ?", list(withdrawal))
        dbExecute(con, "UPDATE account SET amount = amount - ?", list(withdrawal))
      }
    )

    # The code is executed as if in the curent environment:
    withdrawal

    # The changes are committed to the database after successful execution:
    dbReadTable(con, "cash")
    dbReadTable(con, "account")

    # Rolling back with dbBreak():
    dbWithTransaction(
      con,
      {
        withdrawal <- 5000
        dbExecute(con, "UPDATE cash SET amount = amount + ?", list(withdrawal))
        dbExecute(con, "UPDATE account SET amount = amount - ?", list(withdrawal))
        if (dbReadTable(con, "account")$amount < 0) {
          dbBreak()
        }
      }
    )

    # These changes were not committed to the database:
    dbReadTable(con, "cash")
    dbReadTable(con, "account")

    dbDisconnect(con)