# Use julia array in SQLite Query

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/use-julia-array-in-sqlite-query/32049>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** data, sqlite\
**Created:** [December 9, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/use-julia-array-in-sqlite-query/32049 "2019-12-09T14:54:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kevbonham](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kevbonham/32/216165_2.png) [@kevbonham](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kevbonham)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/use-julia-array-in-sqlite-query/32049/1 "2019-12-09T14:54:13Z")

</div>

I asked this before in Slack, but failed to write down the answer. As penance, I vow to write this up as a PR to the SQLite docs 😆

I’d like to use an existing vector as part of a `SQLite.Query`. Eg:

```julia
julia> using SQLite, DataFrames

julia> df = DataFrame(label=string.(rand("abcdefg", 10)), value=rand(10));

julia> db = SQLite.DB(mktemp()[1]);

julia> tbl |> SQLite.load!(db, "temp");

julia> SQLite.Query(db,"SELECT * FROM temp WHERE label IN ('a','b','c')") |> DataFrame
4×2 DataFrame
│ Row │ label │ value │
│ │ String⍰ │ Float64⍰ │
├─────┼─────────┼──────────┤
│ 1 │ c │ 0.603739 │
│ 2 │ c │ 0.429831 │
│ 3 │ b │ 0.799696 │
│ 4 │ a │ 0.603586 │

julia> q = ['a','b','c'];

julia> SQLite.Query(db,"SELECT * FROM temp WHERE label IN ($q)") |> DataFrame
ERROR: SQLite.SQLiteException("no such column: 'a', 'b', 'c'")
Stacktrace:
 [1] sqliteerror(::SQLite.DB) at /home/kevin/.julia/packages/SQLite/msdQN/src/SQLite.jl:15
 [2] macro expansion at /home/kevin/.julia/packages/SQLite/msdQN/src/consts.jl:21 [inlined]
 [3] sqliteprepare at /home/kevin/.julia/packages/SQLite/msdQN/src/SQLite.jl:77 [inlined]
 [4] SQLite.Stmt(::SQLite.DB, ::String) at /home/kevin/.julia/packages/SQLite/msdQN/src/SQLite.jl:64
 [5] #Query#19(::Array{Any,1}, ::Bool, ::Bool, ::Type{SQLite.Query}, ::SQLite.DB, ::String) at /home/kevin/.julia/packages/SQLite/msdQN/src/tables.jl:82
 [6] SQLite.Query(::SQLite.DB, ::String) at /home/kevin/.julia/packages/SQLite/msdQN/src/tables.jl:82
 [7] top-level scope at REPL[43]:1

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kevbonham](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kevbonham/32/216165_2.png) [@kevbonham](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kevbonham)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/use-julia-array-in-sqlite-query/32049/2 "2019-12-09T17:10:23Z")

</div>

@quinnj responded on slack, recording here for posterity. The solution is `esc_id`:

```julia
julia> SQLite.Query(db,"SELECT * FROM temp WHERE label IN ($(SQLite.esc_id(q)))") 
4×2 DataFrame
│ Row │ label │ value │
│ │ String⍰ │ Float64⍰ │
├─────┼─────────┼──────────┤
│ 1 │ c │ 0.603739 │
│ 2 │ c │ 0.429831 │
│ 3 │ b │ 0.799696 │
│ 4 │ a │ 0.603586 │

```