.Dd January 24, 2024
.Dt SQLITE3_CREATE_COLLATION 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm sqlite3_create_collation ,
.Nm sqlite3_create_collation_v2 ,
.Nm sqlite3_create_collation16
.Nd define new collating sequences
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In sqlite3.h
.Ft int
.Fo sqlite3_create_collation
.Fa "sqlite3*"
.Fa "const char *zName"
.Fa "int eTextRep"
.Fa "void *pArg"
.Fa "int(*xCompare)(void*,int,const void*,int,const void*)"
.Fc
.Ft int
.Fo sqlite3_create_collation_v2
.Fa "sqlite3*"
.Fa "const char *zName"
.Fa "int eTextRep"
.Fa "void *pArg"
.Fa "int(*xCompare)(void*,int,const void*,int,const void*)"
.Fa "void(*xDestroy)(void*)"
.Fc
.Ft int
.Fo sqlite3_create_collation16
.Fa "sqlite3*"
.Fa "const void *zName"
.Fa "int eTextRep"
.Fa "void *pArg"
.Fa "int(*xCompare)(void*,int,const void*,int,const void*)"
.Fc
.Sh DESCRIPTION
These functions add, remove, or modify a collation associated
with the database connection specified as the first
argument.
.Pp
The name of the collation is a UTF-8 string for sqlite3_create_collation()
and sqlite3_create_collation_v2() and a UTF-16 string in native byte
order for sqlite3_create_collation16().
Collation names that compare equal according to
.Fn sqlite3_strnicmp
are considered to be the same name.
.Pp
The third argument (eTextRep) must be one of the constants:
.Bl -bullet
.It
SQLITE_UTF8,
.It
SQLITE_UTF16LE,
.It
SQLITE_UTF16BE,
.It
SQLITE_UTF16, or
.It
SQLITE_UTF16_ALIGNED.
.El
.Pp
The eTextRep argument determines the encoding of strings passed to
the collating function callback, xCompare.
The SQLITE_UTF16 and SQLITE_UTF16_ALIGNED
values for eTextRep force strings to be UTF16 with native byte order.
The SQLITE_UTF16_ALIGNED value for eTextRep forces
strings to begin on an even byte address.
.Pp
The fourth argument, pArg, is an application data pointer that is passed
through as the first argument to the collating function callback.
.Pp
The fifth argument, xCompare, is a pointer to the collating function.
Multiple collating functions can be registered using the same name
but with different eTextRep parameters and SQLite will use whichever
function requires the least amount of data transformation.
If the xCompare argument is NULL then the collating function is deleted.
When all collating functions having the same name are deleted, that
collation is no longer usable.
.Pp
The collating function callback is invoked with a copy of the pArg
application data pointer and with two strings in the encoding specified
by the eTextRep argument.
The two integer parameters to the collating function callback are the
length of the two strings, in bytes.
The collating function must return an integer that is negative, zero,
or positive if the first string is less than, equal to, or greater
than the second, respectively.
A collating function must always return the same answer given the same
inputs.
If two or more collating functions are registered to the same collation
name (using different eTextRep values) then all must give an equivalent
answer when invoked with equivalent strings.
The collating function must obey the following properties for all strings
A, B, and C:
.Bl -enum
.It
If A==B then B==A.
.It
If A==B and B==C then A==C.
.It
If A<B THEN B>A.
.It
If A<B and B<C then A<C.
.El
.Pp
If a collating function fails any of the above constraints and that
collating function is registered and used, then the behavior of SQLite
is undefined.
.Pp
The sqlite3_create_collation_v2() works like sqlite3_create_collation()
with the addition that the xDestroy callback is invoked on pArg when
the collating function is deleted.
Collating functions are deleted when they are overridden by later calls
to the collation creation functions or when the database connection
is closed using
.Fn sqlite3_close .
The xDestroy callback is \fInot\fP called if the sqlite3_create_collation_v2()
function fails.
Applications that invoke sqlite3_create_collation_v2() with a non-NULL
xDestroy argument should check the return code and dispose of the application
data pointer themselves rather than expecting SQLite to deal with it
for them.
This is different from every other SQLite interface.
The inconsistency is unfortunate but cannot be changed without breaking
backwards compatibility.
.Pp
.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
These declarations were extracted from the
interface documentation at line 6246.
.Bd -literal
SQLITE_API int sqlite3_create_collation(
  sqlite3*,
  const char *zName,
  int eTextRep,
  void *pArg,
  int(*xCompare)(void*,int,const void*,int,const void*)
);
SQLITE_API int sqlite3_create_collation_v2(
  sqlite3*,
  const char *zName,
  int eTextRep,
  void *pArg,
  int(*xCompare)(void*,int,const void*,int,const void*),
  void(*xDestroy)(void*)
);
SQLITE_API int sqlite3_create_collation16(
  sqlite3*,
  const void *zName,
  int eTextRep,
  void *pArg,
  int(*xCompare)(void*,int,const void*,int,const void*)
);
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr sqlite3 3 ,
.Xr sqlite3_close 3 ,
.Xr sqlite3_collation_needed 3 ,
.Xr sqlite3_stricmp 3 ,
.Xr SQLITE_UTF8 3