hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · SemanticException

First operand for contains predicate must be a basic plural

Error message

First operand for contains predicate must be a basic plural type expression, but found: {}

What it means

Error "First operand for contains predicate must be a basic plural type expression, but found: {}" thrown in hibernate/hibernate-orm.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/hql/internal/SemanticQueryBuilder.java:2562

		if ( firstSymbol.getType() == HqlParser.NOT ) {
			negated = true;
			operationSymbol = ((TerminalNode) ctx.getChild( 2 )).getSymbol();
		}
		else {
			negated = firstSymbol.getType() == HqlParser.IS
					&& ((TerminalNode) ctx.getChild( 2 )).getSymbol().getType() == HqlParser.NOT;
			operationSymbol = firstSymbol;
		}
		final var expressions = ctx.expression();
		final var lhsCtx = expressions.get( 0 );
		final var rhsCtx = expressions.get( 1 );
		return switch ( operationSymbol.getType() ) {
			case HqlParser.CONTAINS -> {
				final var lhs = (SqmExpression<?>) lhsCtx.accept( this );
				final var rhs = (SqmExpression<?>) rhsCtx.accept( this );
				final var lhsExpressible = lhs.getExpressible();
				if ( lhsExpressible != null && !(lhsExpressible.getSqmType() instanceof BasicPluralType<?, ?>) ) {
					throw new SemanticException(
							"First operand for contains predicate must be a basic plural type expression, but found: " + lhsExpressible.getSqmType(),
							query
					);
				}
				final SelfRenderingSqmFunction<Boolean> contains = getFunctionDescriptor(
						"array_contains" ).generateSqmExpression(
						asList( lhs, rhs ),
						null,
						queryEngine()
				);
				yield new SqmBooleanExpressionPredicate( contains, negated, nodeBuilder() );
			}
			case HqlParser.INCLUDES -> {
				final var lhs = (SqmExpression<?>) lhsCtx.accept( this );
				final var rhs = (SqmExpression<?>) rhsCtx.accept( this );
				final var lhsExpressible = lhs.getExpressible();
				final var rhsExpressible = rhs.getExpressible();
				if ( lhsExpressible != null && !( lhsExpressible.getSqmType() instanceof BasicPluralType<?, ?>) ) {

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

1. Use a basic plural (array/collection of basic values) expression as the first operand of 'contains'.
2. Verify the operand type is an array or basic collection.

When it happens

Trigger: A path expression of the wrong type is used in a collection predicate.

Common situations: Applying member of / is empty / includes / intersects / in-array to non-plural expressions.

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/19c79b0b35c07e06. Report an issue: GitHub.