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

No such namespace: %s

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.

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));

View on GitHub (pinned to 86d9c8fc54)

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 not found: ${namespace}
• Namespace does not exist:
• Namespace does not exist: %s
• Cannot list views for namespace. Namespace does not exist: %
• Namespace does not exist: %s

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