apache/seatunnel · error · ParserException

Unsupported syntax: %s

Error message

Unsupported syntax: %s

What it means

Thrown by parseCreateAsSql when a CREATE TABLE statement does not contain a SELECT body (the AS SELECT part is missing or is not a plain SELECT). The SQL config builder only supports CREATE TABLE ... AS SELECT as the transform form of DDL.

Source

Thrown at seatunnel-config/seatunnel-config-sql/src/main/java/org/apache/seatunnel/config/sql/SqlConfigBuilder.java:354

                throw new ParserException(
                        String.format("The source table[%s] is not found", pluginInputIdentifier));
            }

            String pluginOutputIdentifier = createTable.getTable().getName();
            if (sqlTables.containsKey(pluginOutputIdentifier)) {
                throw new ParserException(
                        String.format("Table name duplicate: %s", pluginOutputIdentifier));
            }
            sqlTables.put(pluginOutputIdentifier, transformConfig);

            String query = select.toString();
            transformConfig.setPluginInputIdentifier(pluginInputIdentifier);
            transformConfig.setPluginOutputIdentifier(pluginOutputIdentifier);
            transformConfig.setQuery(query);

            return transformConfig;
        } else {
            throw new ParserException(String.format("Unsupported syntax: %s", createTable));
        }
    }

    private static void parseInsertSql(
            Insert insertSql,
            Map<String, BaseConfig> sqlTables,
            SeaTunnelConfig seaTunnelConfig,
            AtomicInteger tempTableIndex) {
        if (insertSql.getColumns() != null && !insertSql.getColumns().isEmpty()) {
            throw new ParserException("Insert sql must not have columns");
        }
        TransformConfig transformConfig = new TransformConfig();
        Select select = insertSql.getSelect();
        if (select == null
                || select.getSelectBody() == null
                || !(select.getSelectBody() instanceof PlainSelect)) {
            throw new ParserException("Insert sql must have select statement");
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to cf67b549a7)

Solutions

  1. Append 'AS SELECT ...' to the CREATE TABLE statement
  2. Define schema-only tables via a SELECT from an existing source instead of column lists
  3. Rewrite CTE/UNION queries into a plain single SELECT

Example fix

// before
CREATE TABLE t2 (id INT)
// after
CREATE TABLE t2 AS SELECT id FROM t1
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// verify every CREATE TABLE has an AS SELECT plain query
if (!sql.matches("(?s).*CREATE\\s+TABLE\\s+\\w+\\s+AS\\s+SELECT\\s+.*")) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("CREATE TABLE statements must be of form CREATE TABLE t AS SELECT ... (single plain SELECT)");
}

Try / catch

try {
    SeaTunnelConfig c = SqlConfigBuilder.of(sql);
} catch (ParserException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().startsWith("Unsupported syntax:")) {
        // rewrite DDL as CTAS with a plain SELECT
    }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Writing plain CREATE TABLE without 'AS SELECT ...' but expecting SQL-style config; using a non-PlainSelect body (e.g. UNION, WITH/CTE) that the parser cannot handle here.

Common situations: Users translating Flink/Spark DDL directly; defining a sink schema with CREATE TABLE (columns) without AS SELECT; using CTE syntax in the CTAS.

Understand the failure class

Background: UnsupportedOperationException and "is not supported" errors: when a library deliberately refuses a call — this error's family across 30 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/seatunnel@cf67b549a7 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/78daac8899cc4770. Report an issue: GitHub.