hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · IllegalStateException

Duplicate column: " + columnDefinition.name()

Error message

Duplicate column: " + columnDefinition.name()

What it means

The XML counterpart of the json_table guard: SqmXmlTableFunction.Columns.addColumn first calls table.checkTypeResolved() and then rejects any column name already present in columnNames with IllegalStateException('Duplicate column: name'). Every column()/nested()/ordinalityColumn() definition routes through it, so XMLTABLE column names must be unique.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/sqm/tree/spi/expression/SqmXmlTableFunction.java:521

			// Sanity check
			assert offset == componentTypes.length;

			return new AnonymousTupleType<>( componentTypes, componentNames );
		}

		@Override
		public Columns copy(SqmCopyContext context) {
			final ArrayList<ColumnDefinition> definitions = new ArrayList<>( columnDefinitions.size() );
			for ( ColumnDefinition columnDefinition : columnDefinitions ) {
				definitions.add( columnDefinition.copy( context ) );
			}
			return new Columns( castNonNull( context.getCopy( table ) ), definitions );
		}

		private void addColumn(ColumnDefinition columnDefinition) {
			table.checkTypeResolved();
			if ( !columnNames.add( columnDefinition.name() ) ) {
				throw new IllegalStateException( "Duplicate column: " + columnDefinition.name() );
			}
			columnDefinitions.add( columnDefinition );
		}

		@Override
		public void appendHqlString(StringBuilder hql, SqmRenderContext context) {
			String separator = " columns ";
			for ( ColumnDefinition columnDefinition : columnDefinitions ) {
				hql.append( separator );
				columnDefinition.appendHqlString( hql, context );
				separator = ", ";
			}
		}

		@Override
		public @Nullable SqmBindableType<Object> getNodeType() {
			return null;
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

1. De-duplicate column names before building the xml_table node.
2. Rename the colliding column - the output name and the XPath are independent, so alias one of them.
3. Fail fast in builder code with your own duplicate check for a clearer error location.

Example fix

// before
t.ordinalityColumn( "node" );  // "node" already defined by a path column -> Duplicate column: node

// after
t.ordinalityColumn( "node_ord" );

Set<String> usedColumnNames = new HashSet<>();

void addXmlTableColumn(String name, Runnable definer) {
    if ( !usedColumnNames.add( name ) ) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException( "xml_table column already defined: " + name );
    }
    definer.run();
}

When it happens

Trigger: Defining two columns with the same name on an xml_table criteria node - e.g. an ordinality column colliding with a path column, two path columns sharing one name, or nested column names colliding with top-level ones.

Common situations: Generated column lists from XPath maps with duplicate keys; merging XMLTABLE definitions from several sources; renames that produce a collision.

Related errors

• Duplicate column: {}
• Same column is added more than once with different values fo
• Same column is added more than once with different values fo
• Column '{}' is duplicated in mapping for {} (use '@Column(in
• Could not resolve entity class '{}'

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4ca4b9659af28eb0. Report an issue: GitHub.