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## SQLite Release 3.38.4 On 2022-05-04

Prior changes from version 3.38.0 (2022-02-22):

1. Added the -> and ->> operators for easier processing of JSON. The new operators are compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL.
2. The JSON functions are now built-ins. It is no longer necessary to use the -DSQLITE_ENABLE_JSON1 compile-time option to enable JSON support. JSON is on by default. Disable the JSON interface using the new -DSQLITE_OMIT_JSON compile-time option.
3. Enhancements to date and time functions:
   1. Added the unixepoch() function.
   2. Added the auto modifier and the julianday modifier.
4. Rename the printf() SQL function to format() for better compatibility. The original printf() name is retained as an alias for backwards compatibility.
5. Added the sqlite3_error_offset() interface, which can sometimes help to localize an SQL error to a specific character in the input SQL text, so that applications can provide better error messages.
6. Enhanced the interface to virtual tables as follows:
   1. Added the sqlite3_vtab_distinct() interface.
   2. Added the sqlite3_vtab_rhs_value() interface.
   3. Added new operator types SQLITE_INDEX_CONSTRAINT_LIMIT and SQLITE_INDEX_CONSTRAINT_OFFSET.
   4. Added the sqlite3_vtab_in() interface (and related) to enable a virtual table to process IN operator constraints all at once, rather than processing each value of the right-hand side of the IN operator separately.
7. CLI enhancements:
   1. Columnar output modes are enhanced to correctly handle tabs and newlines embedded in text.
   2. Added options like "--wrap N", "--wordwrap on", and "--quote" to the columnar output modes.
   3. Added the .mode qbox alias.
   4. The .import command automatically disambiguates column names.
   5. Use the new sqlite3_error_offset() interface to provide better error messages.
8. Query planner enhancements:
   1. Use a Bloom filter to speed up large analytic queries.
   2. Use a balanced merge tree to evaluate UNION or UNION ALL compound SELECT statements that have an ORDER BY clause.
9. The ALTER TABLE statement is changed to silently ignores entries in the sqlite_schema table that do not parse when PRAGMA writable_schema=ON.

Prior changes from version 3.38.1 (2022-03-12):

1. Fix problems with the new Bloom filter optimization that might cause some obscure queries to get an incorrect answer.
2. Fix the localtime modifier of the date and time functions so that it preserves fractional seconds.
3. Fix the sqlite_offset SQL function so that it works correctly even in corner cases such as when the argument is a virtual column or the column of a view.
4. Fix row value IN operator constraints on virtual tables so that they work correctly even if the virtual table implementation relies on bytecode to filter rows that do not satisfy the constraint.
5. Other minor fixes to assert() statements, test cases, and documentation. See the source code timeline for details.

Prior changes from version 3.38.2 (2022-03-26):

1. Fix a user-discovered problem with the new Bloom filter optimization that might cause an incorrect answer when doing a LEFT JOIN with a WHERE clause constraint that says that one of the columns on the right table of the LEFT JOIN is NULL. See forum thread 031e262a89b6a9d2.
2. Other minor patches. See the timeline for details.

Prior changes from version 3.38.3 (2022-04-27):

1. Fix a case of the query planner be overly aggressive with optimizing automatic-index and Bloom-filter construction, using inappropriate ON clause terms to restrict the size of the automatic-index or Bloom filter, and resulting in missing rows in the output. Forum thread 0d3200f4f3bcd3a3.
2. Other minor patches. See the timeline for details.

Changes in this specific patch release, version 3.38.4 (2022-05-04):

1. Fix a byte-code problem in the Bloom filter pull-down optimization added by release 3.38.0 in which an error in the byte code causes the byte code engine to enter an infinite loop when the pull-down optimization encounters a NULL key. Forum thread 2482b32700384a0f.
2. Other minor patches. See the timeline for details.

   Hashes:

3. SQLITE_SOURCE_ID: 2022-05-04 15:45:55 d402f49871152670a62f4f28cacb15d814f2c1644e9347ad7d258e562978e45e
4. SHA3-256 for sqlite3.c: e6a50effb021858c200e885664611ed3c5e949413ff2dca452ac7ee336b9de1d

A complete list of SQLite releases in a single page and a chronology are both also available. A detailed history of every check-in is available at SQLite version control site.