apache/cassandra · error · IllegalArgumentException

There was a problem parsing the table cql: %s

Error message

There was a problem parsing the table cql: %s

What it means

StressProfile.init parses the table_definition CQL with CqlParser::createTableStatement; RecognitionException or RuntimeException during parsing is converted to IllegalArgumentException "There was a problem parsing the table cql: <message>". It signals that the CREATE TABLE statement in the stress profile is syntactically invalid, empty, or not a table-creation statement. A failed assert also indicates the table name in the definition does not match the tableName property.

Source

Thrown at tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/StressProfile.java:234

            {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException("There was a problem parsing the keyspace cql: " + e.getMessage());
            }
        }
        else
        {
            keyspaceCql = null;
        }

        if (tableCql != null && tableCql.length() > 0)
        {
            try
            {
                String name = CQLFragmentParser.parseAnyUnhandled(CqlParser::createTableStatement, tableCql).table();
                assert name.equalsIgnoreCase(tableName) : "Name in table_definition doesn't match table property: '" + name + "' != '" + tableName + "'";
            }
            catch (RecognitionException | RuntimeException e)
            {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException("There was a problem parsing the table cql: " + e.getMessage());
            }
        }
        else
        {
            tableCql = null;
        }

        columnConfigs = new HashMap<>();

        if (yaml.columnspec != null)
        {
            for (Map<String, Object> spec : yaml.columnspec)
            {
                lowerCase(spec);
                String name = (String) spec.remove("name");
                DistributionFactory population = !spec.containsKey("population") ? null : OptionDistribution.get((String) spec.remove("population"));
                DistributionFactory size = !spec.containsKey("size") ? null : OptionDistribution.get((String) spec.remove("size"));
                DistributionFactory clustering = !spec.containsKey("cluster") ? null : OptionDistribution.get((String) spec.remove("cluster"));

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Fix the CQL syntax reported in the exception message inside table_definition.
2. Ensure the definition is exactly one CREATE TABLE statement named identically to the profile's table property.
3. Validate the schema with cqlsh against the target Cassandra version before using it in the stress profile.
4. Check YAML block-scalar indentation/quoting so the full multi-line CQL reaches the parser intact.

Example fix

// before (profile YAML)
table_definition: |
  CREATE TABLE ks.tbl (id text PRIMARY KEY
// after
table_definition: |
  CREATE TABLE ks.tbl (id text PRIMARY KEY, value blob);

String cql = profile.tableDefinition; if (cql == null || cql.trim().isEmpty() || !cql.trim().toUpperCase().startsWith("CREATE TABLE")) throw new IllegalArgumentException("table_definition must be a single CREATE TABLE statement matching table: " + profile.table);

try { profile.init(stressSettings); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { if (e.getMessage().startsWith("There was a problem parsing the table cql")) System.err.println("Fix table_definition in your stress profile YAML: " + e.getMessage()); throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: A table_definition in the stress profile with CQL syntax errors, non-CREATE-TABLE content, parser-visible RuntimeExceptions (e.g. null/empty definition reaching the parser), or a declared table name differing from the profile's table property.

Common situations: Hand-written schemas with typos or missing closing parentheses; definitions containing multiple statements the single-statement parser rejects; empty table_definition string; version drift between profile CQL syntax and the bundled ANTLR parser; YAML quoting mistakes that truncate the statement.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

• There was a problem parsing the keyspace cql: %s
• Invalid or malformed
• (dynamic first syntax error message from parser/lexer)
• Could not decode JSON string as a map: %s. (String was: %s)
• Unable to convert '%s' to a duration

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/69f42ea2ee19ac85. Report an issue: GitHub.