apache/iceberg · error · org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.NoSuchNamespaceException

No such namespace

Error message

No such namespace: %s

What it means

listNamespaces(namespace) lists child namespaces of the given namespace; if the parent namespace itself does not exist in an Iceberg namespace-capable catalog, NoSuchNamespaceException is converted to Spark's NoSuchNamespaceException at line 477. The same error is thrown when the catalog does not support namespaces at all.

Solutions

1. Verify the namespace exists (SHOW NAMESPACES IN catalog; list the warehouse location).
2. Create the namespace first: CREATE NAMESPACE catalog.db (or CREATE DATABASE).
3. Check spark.sql.catalog.<name>.warehouse / catalog config for the correct root path.
4. Catch NoSuchNamespaceException and return an empty list in exploratory tooling.

Example fix

// before
spark.sql("SHOW NAMESPACES IN iceberg_cat.db")
// after
spark.sql("CREATE NAMESPACE IF NOT EXISTS iceberg_cat.db");
spark.sql("SHOW NAMESPACES IN iceberg_cat.db")

boolean exists = Arrays.stream(spark.sessionState().catalogManager().catalog(name).asNamespaceCatalog().orElseThrow().listNamespaces()).anyMatch(ns -> Arrays.equals(ns.levels(), levels));

null

try { catalog.listNamespaces(ns); } catch (NoSuchNamespaceException e) { /* create namespace or return empty */ }

When it happens

Trigger: SHOW NAMESPACES IN nonexistentNamespace; spark.catalog().listNamespaces("missing") on a namespace that does not exist; calling listNamespaces on a catalog that is not a SupportsNamespaces instance (unconditional throw after the null check).

Common situations: Typo'd namespace in SHOW NAMESPACES / USE statements; querying a namespace in a named catalog configured against the wrong warehouse; catalogs (e.g., simple Hadoop file catalogs) whose backing directory was removed; using a catalog that lacks namespace support.

Related errors

• Namespace does not exist:
• Namespace not found
• Cannot apply unknown namespace change
• Cannot apply unknown namespace change
• Cannot create table as the namespace does not exist

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9d0919b25d2e88ee. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at spark/v3.5/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/SparkCatalog.java:477

  public String[][] listNamespaces() {
    if (asNamespaceCatalog != null) {
      return asNamespaceCatalog.listNamespaces().stream()
          .map(Namespace::levels)
          .toArray(String[][]::new);
    }

    return new String[0][];
  }

  @Override
  public String[][] listNamespaces(String[] namespace) throws NoSuchNamespaceException {
    if (asNamespaceCatalog != null) {
      try {
        return asNamespaceCatalog.listNamespaces(Namespace.of(namespace)).stream()
            .map(Namespace::levels)
            .toArray(String[][]::new);
      } catch (org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.NoSuchNamespaceException e) {
        throw new NoSuchNamespaceException(namespace);
      }
    }

    throw new NoSuchNamespaceException(namespace);
  }

  @Override
  public boolean namespaceExists(String[] namespace) {
    return asNamespaceCatalog != null
        && asNamespaceCatalog.namespaceExists(Namespace.of(namespace));
  }

  @Override
  public Map<String, String> loadNamespaceMetadata(String[] namespace)
      throws NoSuchNamespaceException {
    if (asNamespaceCatalog != null) {
      try {
        return asNamespaceCatalog.loadNamespaceMetadata(Namespace.of(namespace));

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