apache/cassandra · error · InvalidRequestException

Undefined column name

Error message

Undefined column name %s in table %s

What it means

Thrown as an InvalidRequestException by TableMetadata.getExistingColumn when no non-hidden column with the given identifier exists in the table. It surfaces invalid column references (in SELECT, INSERT, index definitions, etc.) as clear user errors.

Solutions

1. Check the column name against DESCRIBE TABLE / system_schema.columns for the table
2. Correct the spelling or casing of the column identifier
3. Refresh schema agreement if the client's schema metadata is stale after an ALTER
4. Re-prepare statements after schema changes

Example fix

// before
SELECT usr_name FROM my_ks.users WHERE id = ?;
// after
SELECT user_name FROM my_ks.users WHERE id = ?;

ColumnMetadata col = tableMetadata.getColumn(ColumnIdentifier.getInternedIdentifier(name)); if (col == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown column " + name + " in " + tableMetadata);

null

try { ColumnMetadata c = table.getExistingColumn(identifier); ... } catch (InvalidRequestException e) { throw new QueryValidationError(e.getMessage(), e); }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getExistingColumn/getColumnMetadata/getColumnsMetadata with a ColumnIdentifier that does not match any column in the table — typically from query validation of a CQL statement referencing a misspelled or nonexistent column.

Common situations: Typo in a column name in a CQL query; querying a column that exists only in another table/schema version; referencing a column after a schema change that dropped it; stale prepared statements after DROP of a column.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

• ACCESS TO DATACENTERS operations not supported by…
• aggregate functions cannot be used as arguments of…
• allowFilteringMessage(state)
• Altering column types is no longer supported
• Altering field types is no longer supported

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b89945aa940d6af4. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/schema/TableMetadata.java:540

    }

    /**
     * Returns the column of the provided name if it exists, but throws a user-visible exception if that column doesn't
     * exist.
     *
     * <p>This method is for finding columns from a name provided by the user, and as such it does _not_ returne hidden
     * columns (throwing that the column is unknown instead).
     *
     * @param name the name of an existing non-hidden column of this table.
     * @return the column metadata corresponding to {@code name}.
     *
     * @throws InvalidRequestException if there is no non-hidden column named {@code name} in this table.
     */
    public ColumnMetadata getExistingColumn(ColumnIdentifier name)
    {
        ColumnMetadata def = getColumn(name);
        if (def == null)
            throw new InvalidRequestException(format(UNDEFINED_COLUMN_NAME_MESSAGE, name.toCQLString(), this));
        return def;
    }
    /*
     * In general it is preferable to work with ColumnIdentifier to make it
     * clear that we are talking about a CQL column, not a cell name, but there
     * is a few cases where all we have is a ByteBuffer (when dealing with IndexExpression
     * for instance) so...
     */
    public ColumnMetadata getColumn(ByteBuffer name)
    {
        return columns.get(name);
    }

    public ColumnMetadata getColumnById(int uniqueId)
    {
        return columnsById[uniqueId];
    }

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