hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · SemanticException

Operand of 'like' is of type '" + nodeType.getTypeName() + "

Error message

Operand of 'like' is of type '" + nodeType.getTypeName() + "' which is not a string (its JDBC type code is not string-like)

What it means

TypecheckUtil.assertString (invoked from SemanticQueryBuilder when parsing `like`) requires the left operand's SQM type to be a JdbcMapping whose JdbcType is string-like (CHAR/VARCHAR family). Applying `like` to a numeric, date, boolean, UUID, or enum column fails this SemanticException at query-translation time.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/sqm/internal/TypecheckUtil.java:620

	}

	public static boolean isNumberArray(@Nullable SqmExpressible<?> expressible) {
		if ( expressible != null ) {
			final var domainType = expressible.getSqmType();
			if ( domainType != null ) {
				return domainType instanceof BasicPluralType<?, ?> basicPluralType
					&& Number.class.isAssignableFrom( basicPluralType.getElementType().getJavaType() );
			}
		}
		return false;
	}

	public static void assertString(SqmExpression<?> expression) {
		final var nodeType = expression.getNodeType();
		if ( nodeType != null ) {
			if ( !( nodeType.getSqmType() instanceof JdbcMapping jdbcMapping )
					|| !jdbcMapping.getJdbcType().isStringLike() ) {
				throw new SemanticException(
						"Operand of 'like' is of type '" + nodeType.getTypeName() +
								"' which is not a string (its JDBC type code is not string-like)"
				);
			}
		}
	}

	public static void assertDuration(SqmExpression<?> expression) {
		final var nodeType = expression.getNodeType();
		if ( nodeType != null ) {
			if ( !( nodeType.getSqmType() instanceof JdbcMapping jdbcMapping )
					|| !jdbcMapping.getJdbcType().isDuration() ) {
				throw new SemanticException(
						"Operand of 'by' is of type '" + nodeType.getTypeName() +
								"' which is not a duration (its JDBC type code is not duration-like)"
				);
			}
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

Cast the operand to string: `cast(e.year as string) like '20%'`
Restrict like-filters to attributes whose Java type is String (check via JPA metamodel)
Store searchable codes (zip, phone) as String columns instead of numeric
For date prefix matching use range predicates (`>= and <`) instead of like

Example fix

// before (zipCode is Integer)
where e.zipCode like '94%'

// after
where cast(e.zipCode as string) like '94%'

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

// Only attach a like-filter when the attribute is a String
SingularAttribute<?, ?> attr = mm.entity(Account.class).getSingularAttribute(field);
if (!String.class.equals(attr.getJavaType())) {
    // fall back to equality or cast
    return cb.equal(root.get(field), value);
}
return cb.like(root.get(field), value + "%");

Type guard

static boolean isStringAttr(Attribute<?, ?> attr) {
    return String.class.equals(attr.getJavaType());
}

Try / catch

try {
    return em.createQuery(hql).getResultList();
} catch (org.hibernate.query.SemanticException e) {
    throw new QueryBuildException("'like' needs a string operand — cast(e.x as string): " + hql, e);
}

Prevention

In global-search UIs, restrict like filters to String-typed attributes
Store searchable codes (zip, phone, year) as String columns
For numeric prefix matching use cast(attr as string) like or range predicates

When it happens

Trigger: `where e.year like '20%'` with e.year an Integer; `e.id like :pattern`; `e.createdAt like '2024-01%'`; generic 'search all fields' UIs that attach `like` to any property the user types into.

Common situations: Global search filters applied blindly to numeric IDs and dates; ZIP codes, phone numbers, or years stored as numeric columns but searched with prefix matching; works on some databases via implicit casts in native SQL, then breaks when moved to strict HQL or a stricter Hibernate 6 version.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9d3b592edd3f33e7. Report an issue: GitHub.