Fix SQLite compatibility for search-replace command

[dr5hn]

Summary

Fixes #190

Addresses all MySQL-specific SQL queries that prevent wp search-replace from working with the WordPress SQLite database integration plugin. This removes the 5 @skip-sqlite tags from the test suite.

Changes

MySQL-specific query	SQLite fix	Location
DESCRIBE table	PRAGMA table_info(table)	get_columns()
REGEXP '^[aiO]:[1-9]' (serialized data detection)	Fall back to PHP processing path	sql_handle_col() caller
LIKE BINARY %s (case-sensitive match)	Plain LIKE via like_operator() helper	sql_handle_col(), php_handle_col(), log_sql_diff()
SHOW CREATE TABLE	SELECT sql FROM sqlite_master	Export functionality

Technical details

• get_columns(): Uses PRAGMA table_info() on SQLite which returns name, type, pk fields instead of MySQL's Field, Type, Key structure.

• Serialized data detection: SQLite lacks native REGEXP support. When SQLite is detected, the command skips the REGEXP check and always uses the PHP processing path (which uses preg_replace). This is slightly slower but produces identical results.

• like_operator() helper: Returns LIKE BINARY for MySQL and LIKE for SQLite. SQLite's LIKE is case-insensitive for ASCII, which may match extra rows, but the PHP replacer handles case-sensitivity correctly so end results are identical.

• Export: SHOW CREATE TABLE is replaced with a query to sqlite_master which returns the CREATE TABLE statement in a single sql column (index [0]) vs MySQL's two-column result (index [1]).

• Detection: Uses the existing Utils\get_db_type() framework utility which checks for the SQLITE_DB_DROPIN_VERSION constant.

Tests

Removed @skip-sqlite tags from all 5 previously-skipped regex test scenarios:

• Regex search/replace
• Logging with regex replace
• Regex search/replace with --regex-limit=1
• Regex search/replace with --regex-limit=2
• Regex search/replace with incorrect or default --regex-limit

Test plan

• Run Behat test suite with MySQL: vendor/bin/behat features/search-replace.feature
• Run Behat test suite with SQLite integration plugin enabled
• Verify the 5 previously-skipped regex scenarios now pass with SQLite
• Test wp search-replace with --export flag on SQLite
• Test basic search-replace on a site with serialized data in options table

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Submitted during WCAsia 2026 Contributor Day — tracked in wp-cli/wp-cli#6295

[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request introduces SQLite support for the search-replace command by implementing database-specific logic for schema retrieval and string matching. Feedback suggests enabling case-sensitive LIKE for SQLite to ensure dry-run accuracy and refactoring the column metadata logic to reduce code duplication.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Note

Copilot was unable to run its full agentic suite in this review.

Improves wp search-replace compatibility with SQLite (via the WordPress SQLite integration plugin) by replacing MySQL-specific SQL with SQLite-safe alternatives and enabling previously skipped SQLite scenarios.

Changes:

• Replace SHOW CREATE TABLE with sqlite_master lookup when exporting on SQLite.
• Avoid MySQL-only REGEXP/LIKE BINARY usage by routing SQLite through PHP processing and introducing a DB-aware like_operator().
• Update Behat feature coverage by removing @skip-sqlite tags from regex scenarios.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
src/Search_Replace_Command.php	Adds SQLite-specific SQL branches (schema export, column introspection) and DB-aware LIKE operator handling.
features/search-replace.feature	Re-enables regex scenarios on SQLite by removing @skip-sqlite tags.

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[codecov]

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 80.00000% with 2 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
src/Search_Replace_Command.php	80.00%	2 Missing ⚠️

📢 Thoughts on this report? Let us know!

[swissspidy]

Are these queries something the SQLite integration drop-in could handle for us?

[dr5hn]

Codecov coverage note

The 11 uncovered lines are all SQLite-specific code paths (gated behind if ( 'sqlite' === Utils\get_db_type() )). Coverage is only collected from the MySQL test run (PHP 8.5 | WP latest | MySQL (with coverage)), so SQLite branches are never exercised during coverage collection.

These lines are tested by the 18 SQLite test matrix jobs (PHP 7.2–nightly, WP latest + trunk, Linux/macOS/Windows). The patch coverage gap is a known limitation of the coverage setup, not a testing gap.

[dr5hn]

@swissspidy Good question, I think some of these could absolutely live in the drop-in, but not all of them cleanly.

Query	Drop-in?	Notes
DESCRIBE table	Yes	Map to PRAGMA table_info() and remap column names
SHOW CREATE TABLE	Yes	Translate to SELECT sql FROM sqlite_master
SHOW FULL TABLES WHERE Table_Type = "VIEW"	Yes	SHOW TABLES already works, FULL variant doesn't
LIKE BINARY	Tricky	Needs PRAGMA case_sensitive_like = ON or a custom collation
REGEXP	Hard	Needs a PHP preg_match callback registered as a user function

DESCRIBE and SHOW FULL TABLES ... VIEW are good candidates for the drop-in. REGEXP and LIKE BINARY are messier — one needs a custom function, the other flips a global pragma.

Happy to open issues on WordPress/sqlite-database-integration for the ones that make sense there. This PR works as-is and can be slimmed down later as the drop-in picks those up.

Would you rather wait for drop-in support, or land this and revisit?

[github-actions]

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