Sqlite File Location Core Data

Question

Typically, the sqlite store file for core data apps is located in

Library>Application Support>iPhone Simulator>7.1(or whichever version you are using)>Applications>(Whichever folder contains your app)>Documents

folder, but I can't find it in IOS 8. I would assume they would just add an 8.0 folder inside the iPhone Simulator folder, but it's not there. Has anybody been able to locate it?

Answer 1

After new updates of Xcode I found that the sql files are now stored in new folder /Library/Application Support this could be a unique situation but if you did not found the sql files in document folder search them here:

~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/[@device_id@]/data/Containers/Data/Application/[@application_id@]/Library/Application Support/

before it was stored in Documents folder:

~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/[@device_id@]/data/Containers/Data/Application/[@application_id@]/Documents/

Answer 2

For iOS 10.0+ you can use persistentContainer.persistentStoreCoordinator.persistentStores.first?.url

I have created the Utility function that copies the sqlite file to your desired location (works only for simulator).

You can use it like

import CoreData


let appDelegate = UIApplication.shared.delegate as! AppDelegate
UTility.getSqliteTo(destinationPath: "/Users/inderkumarrathore/Desktop", persistentContainer: appDelegate.persistentContainer)

---

If you've already access to sqlite, shm and wal files then run the commands in the terminal to merge the WAL file into the sqlite file.

$ sqlite3 persistentStore
sqlite> PRAGMA wal_checkpoint;
Press control + d

After running the above commands you can see the data in your sqlite file.

---

Here is definition of utility method for swift

/**
 Copies the sqlite, wal and shm file to the destination folder. Don't forget to merge the wal file using the commands printed int the console.
 @param destinationPath Path where sqlite files has to be copied
 @param persistentContainer NSPersistentContainer
*/
public static func getSqliteTo(destinationPath: String, persistentContainer: NSPersistentContainer) {
  let storeUrl = persistentContainer.persistentStoreCoordinator.persistentStores.first?.url

  let sqliteFileName = storeUrl!.lastPathComponent
  let walFileName = sqliteFileName + "-wal"
  let shmFileName = sqliteFileName + "-shm"
  //Add all file names in array
  let fileArray = [sqliteFileName, walFileName, shmFileName]

  let storeDir = storeUrl!.deletingLastPathComponent()

  // Destination dir url, make sure file don't exists in that folder
  let destDir = URL(fileURLWithPath: destinationPath, isDirectory: true)

  do {
    for fileName in fileArray {
      let sourceUrl = storeDir.appendingPathComponent(fileName, isDirectory: false)
      let destUrl = destDir.appendingPathComponent(fileName, isDirectory: false)
      try FileManager.default.copyItem(at: sourceUrl, to: destUrl)
      print("File: \(fileName) copied to path: \(destUrl.path)")
    }
  }
  catch {
    print("\(error)")
  }
  print("\n\n\n ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ NOTE ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~\n")
  print("In your terminal run the following commands to merge wal file. Otherwise you may see partial or no data in \(sqliteFileName) file")
  print("\n-------------------------------------------------")
  print("$ cd \(destDir.path)")
  print("$ sqlite3 \(sqliteFileName)")
  print("sqlite> PRAGMA wal_checkpoint;")
  print("-------------------------------------------------\n")
  print("Press control + d")      
}

---

For objective-c

/**
 Copies the sqlite, wal and shm file to the destination folder. Don't forget to merge the wal file using the commands printed int the console.
 @param destinationPath Path where sqlite files has to be copied
 @param persistentContainer NSPersistentContainer
 */
+ (void)copySqliteFileToDestination:(NSString *)destinationPath persistentContainer:(NSPersistentContainer *)persistentContainer {
  NSError *error = nil;
  NSURL *storeUrl = persistentContainer.persistentStoreCoordinator.persistentStores.firstObject.URL;
  NSString * sqliteFileName = [storeUrl lastPathComponent];
  NSString *walFileName = [sqliteFileName stringByAppendingString:@"-wal"];
  NSString *shmFileName = [sqliteFileName stringByAppendingString:@"-shm"];
  //Add all file names in array
  NSArray *fileArray = @[sqliteFileName, walFileName, shmFileName];

  // Store Directory
  NSURL *storeDir = storeUrl.URLByDeletingLastPathComponent;

  // Destination dir url, make sure file don't exists in that folder
  NSURL *destDir = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:destinationPath isDirectory:YES];

  for (NSString *fileName in fileArray) {
    NSURL *sourceUrl = [storeDir URLByAppendingPathComponent:fileName isDirectory:NO];
    NSURL *destUrl = [destDir URLByAppendingPathComponent:fileName isDirectory:NO];
    [[NSFileManager defaultManager] copyItemAtURL:sourceUrl toURL:destUrl error:&error];
    if (!error) {
      RLog(@"File: %@ copied to path: %@", fileName, [destUrl path]);
    }
  }


  NSLog(@"\n\n\n ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ NOTE ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~\n");
  NSLog(@"In your terminal run the following commands to merge wal file. Otherwise you may see partial or no data in %@ file", sqliteFileName);
  NSLog(@"\n-------------------------------------------------");
  NSLog(@"$ cd %@", destDir.path);
  NSLog(@"$ sqlite3 %@", sqliteFileName);
  NSLog(@"sqlite> PRAGMA wal_checkpoint;");
  NSLog(@"-------------------------------------------------\n");
  NSLog(@"Press control + d");
}

Answer 3

Try this Simple 3 Step

1. Copy the following code in didFinishLaunchingWithOptions your appdelegate.m and add a break point before the NSLog()

   (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application  
   
   didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {
   
   NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
   NSLog(@"%@",[paths objectAtIndex:0]);
    }
   

Or in Swift:

let paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSSearchPathDirectory.DocumentDirectory, NSSearchPathDomainMask.UserDomainMask, true)
print(paths[0])

2.Open Finder->Go -> Go to folder and paste the path copied from step 1

3. Yah!!! You are in your Destination.

Answer 4

I hacked this one-liner (Gist): find ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/ -name device.plist -exec sh -c "/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c \"print UDID\" '{}' | tr '\n' ' '" \; -exec sh -c "/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c \"print name\" '{}' | tr '\n' ' '" \; -exec sh -c "/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c \"print runtime\" '{}' | sed -n 's/com\.apple\.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime\.\(.*\)/\1/p'" \;

This prints:

14F313C8-3813-4E38-903E-2010C136B77B iPad Retina iOS-8-0
1F6B82A2-C467-479A-8CAF-074BE507AC8E iPad Air iOS-8-0
2DA83944-BE5D-4342-B330-08F67A932D8C iPad 2 iOS-7-1
48703432-A5C5-4606-9369-0D21B53EB1E8 iPhone 4s iOS-7-1
4AFB71CC-6752-4F9A-A239-4DC9CA53A8B8 iPhone 5s iOS-8-0
53A65771-DF50-4A5C-A8D2-4D1C3A5D0F60 iPhone 5 iOS-7-1
6B97C174-5914-4E89-8D17-943F0E2703BA iPhone 5 iOS-8-0
6C2DF3E9-FA26-4391-8B66-72E1467D6297 iPad 2 iOS-8-0
7F85E299-A3C2-4704-8B44-2984F6F995F5 iPad Retina iOS-7-1
8B9EDFFD-2240-476B-88AD-06ABE8F9FF51 iPhone 6 Plus iOS-8-0
97691E5D-5C38-4875-8AA7-C2B1E4ABCBB5 Resizable iPhone iOS-8-0
9BBF3408-6CA4-4CE0-BD4E-B02001F1262B iPhone 5s iOS-7-1
C9237847-F0AA-44BC-A74E-C08C2E0F7A6C Resizable iPad iOS-8-0
CC44C1BA-F39C-4410-AE34-4ABBD7806D45 iPad Air iOS-7-1
CDF4D811-5011-4464-8291-5CDA378375EA iPhone 6 iOS-8-0
E77DE00C-E244-4F25-A5E2-E6581614D5A2 iPhone 4s iOS-8-0

Update:

As someone pointed out here, it is also possible to run xcrun simctl list devices to get a similar result:

== Devices ==
-- iOS 7.0 --
-- iOS 7.1 --
    iPhone 4s (48703432-A5C5-4606-9369-0D21B53EB1E8) (Shutdown)
    iPhone 5 (53A65771-DF50-4A5C-A8D2-4D1C3A5D0F60) (Shutdown)
    iPhone 5s (9BBF3408-6CA4-4CE0-BD4E-B02001F1262B) (Shutdown)
    iPad 2 (2DA83944-BE5D-4342-B330-08F67A932D8C) (Shutdown)
    iPad Retina (7F85E299-A3C2-4704-8B44-2984F6F995F5) (Shutdown)
    iPad Air (CC44C1BA-F39C-4410-AE34-4ABBD7806D45) (Shutdown)
-- iOS 8.1 --
    iPhone 4s (0763EF65-DD0D-4FAD-84C7-2DE63D416526) (Shutdown)
    iPhone 5 (868ED444-8440-4115-AF37-F419CC682D2F) (Shutdown)
    iPhone 5s (E0455E5D-7315-4EC8-B05E-76284728244C) (Shutdown)
    iPhone 6 Plus (72554908-FF99-4B8F-9B87-65255ED08CFC) (Shutdown)
    iPhone 6 (32AA8133-53A4-4BE0-8CE5-0C7A87E81CAF) (Shutdown)
    iPad 2 (4AF84DE8-CBA2-47AE-A92A-0C0CEF9F41F8) (Booted)
    iPad Retina (69238B44-AAFD-4CD5-AAEA-C182D0BC300D) (Shutdown)
    iPad Air (E580AD99-0040-4EC1-B704-0C85567E6747) (Shutdown)
    Resizable iPhone (32E872FC-6513-41AB-A5B9-B23EB7D10DC8) (Shutdown)
    Resizable iPad (99997922-4A9F-4574-9E3E-EF45F893F4A2) (Shutdown)

Answer 5

If you're using Swift, this will return the document directory's absolute path:

func applicationDirectoryPath() -> String {
    return NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true).last! as String
}

Answer 6

Swift 3.x

Locate didFinishLaunchingWithOptions function in your AppDelegate file and past this code there.

let path = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.applicationSupportDirectory, .userDomainMask, true)
print("\(path)")