sqlite3.DatabaseError: file is not a database

Question

I get the above error for executing the below INSERT-statement. The database file ce.db is in the same directory as my code and I have successfully created the tables therein.

My sqlite version is 2.8.17 and I am confident that my db file exists as I can see it in my directory and have succeeded in creating tables therein.

import sqlite3

@app.route("/sign_up", methods=["GET", "POST"])
def sign_up():
  # [..other code..]

    conn = sqlite3.connect("ce.db")
    c = conn.cursor()
    result = c.execute("INSERT INTO users (name, hash) VALUES (:name, :hash)", {"name":request.form.get("username"), "hash":hashp})
    conn.commit()

Debugger shows "sqlite3.DatabaseError: file is not a database" error for the line starting with "result=...".

Answer 1

I also had this problem with creating a db in Python using sqlite3, what solved it for me was to remove .db from database name:

conn = sqlite3.connect("ce.db") --> conn = sqlite3.connect("ce")

(+ also have 2.6.0 DB-API version and my sqlite version is 3.31.1)

Answer 2

Did some more digging and it turns out that 2.6.0 is the DB-API version (obtained via print(sqlite3.version) - not entirely sure what that is or what it's for) and my sqlite version (print(sqlite3.sqlite_version)) is 3.22.0. Also realised (running file ce.db in bash) that my ce.db was created on (or with?) 2.x... managed to remove and recreate it with sqlite3 ce.db statement.. seems to work now. All beginner problems, I know but figured it might helpt to share this for any future lost souls like me :)