How to Enable PDO_SQLITE on Your Server

SQLite is a lightweight database that does not require a separate server, and is ideal for small applications, testing, and prototyping. PHP provides an interface for interacting with SQLite through the PDO_SQLITE extension. In this article, we will look at how to enable this extension on your server.

What is PDO?

PDO (PHP Data Objects) is a universal interface for working with databases in PHP. It provides the same API for working with different databases, making your code more portable.

Installing the required packages

PDO and PDO_SQLITE are usually enabled in standard PHP installations. However, depending on your server configuration, they may be disabled.

For Debian/Ubuntu:

Install the packages with the following command:

sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install php-pdo php-sqlite3

Modifying the php.ini file

For PDO_SQLITE to work, you need to make sure that the appropriate extensions are enabled in php.ini.

• Open your file php.ini:Find the location of your php.ini using the command:

php --ini

• Make sure the following lines exist and are not commented out (that is, there is nothing before them). ;)

extension=pdo.so extension=pdo_sqlite.so

Restarting the web server

After making changes, you need to restart your web server:

• Apache:

sudo service apache2 restart

• Nginx (Please note that PHP may be responsible for php-fpm)

sudo service nginx restart sudo service php-fpm restart

Checking the installation

Create a simple PHP file, for example info.php, with the following contents:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Then open this file in your web browser. In the PDO and/or SQLite section you should see information about PDO_SQLITE.

Using PDO_SQLITE

Once the extension has been successfully enabled, you can start using PDO to work with SQLite:

query('SELECT * FROM table_name'); foreach ($result as $row) { echo $row['column_name']; } ?>

Conclusion

You now have the PDO_SQLITE extension enabled and working on your server. This gives you the flexibility and power of an object-oriented interface for working with SQLite databases in PHP.