Improve error reporting for missing qualified columns #17397

Mytherin · 2025-05-07T19:36:27Z

When binding qualified columns (e.g. catalog.schema.table.column) we have several different methods of binding, e.g.:

catalog.schema.table.column.[fields]
catalog.table.column.[fields]
schema.table.column.[fields]
table.column.[fields]
column.[fields]

When binding, we are clever about figuring out which configuration is used to find the "right" one, allowing users to flexibly qualify columns.

When columns are not present, however, this gets more difficult. Currently, we always fall back to assuming the first field is the table (i.e. the qualification is [table].[column].[fields]). In this PR, we expand this so that we improve the error message by figuring out which qualifications are possible. For example, if there is a typo in a table name, but [catalog].[schema] exists in the query - we report an error as if we are binding catalog.schema.table.column. This provides better error messages, e.g.:

attach ':memory:' as cat;
create schema cat.schema;
create table cat.schema.tbl(col struct(field int));


select cxt.schema.tbl.col.field from cat.schema.tbl;
-- Referenced table "cxt.schema.tbl" not found!
-- Candidate tables: "cat.schema.tbl"

select cat.schxma.tbl.col.field from cat.schema.tbl;
-- Referenced table "cat.schxma.tbl" not found!
-- Candidate tables: "cat.schema.tbl"

select cat.schema.txl.col.field from cat.schema.tbl;
-- Referenced table "cat.schema.txl" not found!
-- Candidate tables: "cat.schema.tbl"

select cat.schema.tbl.cxl.field from cat.schema.tbl;
-- Table "tbl" does not have a column named "cxl"
-- Candidate bindings: : "col"

select cat.schema.tbl.col.feild from cat.schema.tbl;
-- Could not find key "feild" in struct
-- Candidate Entries: "field"

Improve error reporting for missing qualified columns (duckdb/duckdb#17397) Fix Python CI: pin virtualenv to previous version (duckdb/duckdb#17386)

Mytherin added 2 commits May 7, 2025 19:25

Improve error reporting for missing qualified columns

8f3e7ec

Test fix

076115d

Mytherin merged commit ff3a129 into duckdb:main May 8, 2025
46 of 47 checks passed

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

Uh oh!

Improve error reporting for missing qualified columns #17397

Improve error reporting for missing qualified columns #17397

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Improve error reporting for missing qualified columns #17397

Improve error reporting for missing qualified columns #17397

Uh oh!

Conversation

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!