Weird Oracle SQL "Invalid Identifier" error

sql oracle ora-00904

18,113

Solution 1

The problem here is that when your query has a USING clause, you can't add qualifiers to the column(s) used within this clause. Because your query has USING (crime_id), you can't write cms.CRIME_ID nor cc.crime_id. Instead, you must remove the qualifier, i.e., just use crime_id.

Oddly enough, when I try this on Oracle 11g XE beta, I get a different error:

SQL> select * from test1;

         A          B
---------- ----------
         1          2

SQL> select * from test2;

         A          C
---------- ----------
         1          3

SQL> select t1.a, t1.b, t2.c from test1 t1 inner join test2 t2 using (a);
select t1.a, t1.b, t2.c from test1 t1 inner join test2 t2 using (a)
       *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-25154: column part of USING clause cannot have qualifier


SQL> select a, t1.b, t2.c from test1 t1 inner join test2 t2 using (a);

         A          B          C
---------- ---------- ----------
         1          2          3

Solution 2

you cannot use qualifier with column referenced by "using" clause.you could use inner join instead of that try using this query:

select c.criminal_id, c.first, c.last, cms.CRIME_ID, cc.crime_code, cc.fine_amount
from criminals c join crimes cms on c.criminal_id = cms.criminal_id
join crime_charges cc on cc.crime_id=cms.crime_id
order by c.first, c.last;

18,113

JohnQPublic

Updated on June 04, 2022

Comments

JohnQPublic almost 2 years

Can anyone help me figure out why I get an error on cms.CRIME_ID:

invalid identifier

select c.criminal_id, c.first, c.last, cms.CRIME_ID, cc.crime_code, cc.fine_amount
from criminals c join crimes cms on c.criminal_id = cms.criminal_id
join crime_charges cc using (crime_id)
order by c.first, c.last;

I know for an absolute fact that column exists and I can reference every other column in that table except for that.

The only thing different about that column is that it is the primary key for that table.

EDIT: Here is the error in full and the table creation script.

Error starting at line 1 in command:
select c.criminal_id, c.first, c.last, cms.CRIME_ID, cc.crime_code, cc.fine_amount
from criminals c join crimes cms on c.criminal_id = cms.criminal_id
join crime_charges cc using (crime_id)
order by c.first, c.last
Error at Command Line:1 Column:39
Error report:
SQL Error: ORA-00904: "CMS"."CRIME_ID": invalid identifier
00904. 00000 -  "%s: invalid identifier"
*Cause:    
*Action:

 CREATE TABLE crimes
      (crime_id NUMBER(9),
       criminal_id NUMBER(6),
       classification CHAR(1),
       date_charged DATE,
       status CHAR(2),
       hearing_date DATE,
       appeal_cut_date DATE);

ALTER TABLE crimes
  MODIFY (classification DEFAULT 'U');
ALTER TABLE crimes
  ADD (date_recorded DATE DEFAULT SYSDATE);
ALTER TABLE crimes
  MODIFY (criminal_id NOT NULL);
ALTER TABLE crimes
  ADD CONSTRAINT crimes_id_pk PRIMARY KEY (crime_id);
ALTER TABLE crimes
  ADD CONSTRAINT crimes_class_ck CHECK (classification IN('F','M','O','U'));
ALTER TABLE crimes
  ADD CONSTRAINT crimes_status_ck CHECK (status IN('CL','CA','IA'));
ALTER TABLE crimes
  ADD CONSTRAINT crimes_criminalid_fk FOREIGN KEY (criminal_id)
             REFERENCES criminals(criminal_id);
ALTER TABLE crimes
  MODIFY (criminal_id NOT NULL);

EDIT2: Also, I should probably mention that when not using joins and just regular select statements I can access the column just fine, as in the following code example:

select c.criminal_id, c.first, c.last, cms.crime_id, cc.crime_code, cc.fine_amount
from criminals c, crime_charges cc, crimes cms
where c.criminal_id = cms.criminal_id
and cms.crime_id = cc.crime_id
order by c.first, c.last;