As with any database system the first thing you must do is open a database. Since SQLite is based on files opening a database differs very little from opening a regular file. ]]> If a database does not a exist a new one will be created. Database path will be checked against %safe_mode% & %open_basedir%. If database path is %:memory:% will create a memory only database. In the future the 2nd argument will allow opening the database in read-only mode.