syntax error at or near "..."
The Postgres SQL parser encountered a token it did not expect at the indicated position. The query is rejected before any planning or execution occurs; no data is read or written.
- 1Typo or missing keyword in the SQL statement (e.g., SELCT instead of SELECT)
- 2Missing comma between column definitions or SELECT list items
- 3Unmatched parentheses or quotation marks
- 4Using a reserved keyword as an unquoted identifier (e.g., a column named "order")
- 5Dialect mismatch: MySQL or SQLite syntax used against Postgres (e.g., backtick quoting, LIMIT x,y)
A SELECT statement contains a typo that confuses the parser.
SELCT id, name FROM users;
expected output
ERROR: syntax error at or near "SELCT" LINE 1: SELCT id, name FROM users;
Fix
Read the error position and correct the syntax
WHEN Always — the error message points to the exact token where parsing failed.
-- Corrected statement: SELECT id, name FROM users; -- For reserved word conflicts, double-quote the identifier: SELECT "order", total FROM invoices;
Why this works
Postgres uses a LALR(1) parser generated by Bison. The parser consumes tokens from the lexer and matches them against grammar rules. When an unexpected token is encountered the parser reports its position in the source string. The fix is always to correct the SQL to conform to Postgres grammar.
✕ Wrap the entire statement in a TRY/CATCH and ignore syntax errors
Syntax errors indicate a bug in query construction; silencing them hides broken code paths from developers.
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