What is the advantage of Using SQLite rather than File?

Question

In Android, entering data in SQLite uses more time and more lines of codes than in .txt file.

Saving data in .txt and use FileReader is convenient to get the data.

Answer 1

Advantages of SQLite Databases over File Storage

• If you have related pieces of data, regular files don't let you indicate their relationship; SQLite databases do.
• SQLite lets you store data in structured manner.
• SQLite has higher performance.
• SQLite databases can also be queried and the data retrieval is much more robust.
• The android.database and android.database.sqlite packages offer a higher-performance alternative where source compatibility is not an issue.
• Android-databases created in Android are visible only to the application that created them
• There is no file parsing and generating code to write and debug.
• Content can be accessed and updated using powerful SQL queries, greatly reducing the complexity of the application code.
• Extending the file format for new capabilities in later releases is a simple as adding new tables or new columns to existing tables.
• Diverse content which might otherwise be stored as a "pile-of-files" can be encapsulated into a single disk file.
• The content can be viewed using third-party tools.
• The application file is portable across all operating systems, 32-bit and 64-bit and big- and little-endian architectures.
• The application only has to load as much data as it needs, rather than reading the entire application file and holding a complete parse in memory. Startup time and memory consumption are reduced.
• Small edits only overwrite the parts of the file that change, not the entire file, thus improving performance and reducing wear on SSD drives.
• Content is updated continuously and atomically so that there is no work lost in the event of a power failure or crash.
• Applications can leverage the full-text search and RTREE capabilities that are built into SQLite.
• Performance problems can often be resolved using CREATE INDEX rather than redesigning, rewriting, and retesting application code.
• A federation of programs, perhaps written in different programming languages, can all access the same application file with no compatibility concerns.
• Multiple processes can attach to the same application file and can read and write without interfering with each another.
• Cross-session undo/redo can be implemented using triggers.
• In many common cases, loading content from an SQLite database is faster than loading content out of individual files. See Internal Versus External BLOBs for additional information.
• Content stored in an SQLite database is more likely to be recoverable decades in the future, long after all traces of the original application have been lost. Data lives longer than code.

Answer 2

The main reasons which immediately spring to mind, which SQLite gives you and a simple file does not:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACID
• A standard API: SQL
• Theoretically better performance (say, O(log n) rather than O(n))
• No wheel reinventing
• and plenty of others

Note that trying to solve any of these problems with using a flat file yourself is going to start moving into database territory – but of course you really don't want to write that sort of thing yourself.