prestodb/presto · error · IllegalArgumentException

Expected 0, 1 or 2 parameters for DECIMAL type constructor.

Error message

Expected 0, 1 or 2 parameters for DECIMAL type constructor.

What it means

DecimalParametricType.createType only accepts 0, 1, or 2 parameters for DECIMAL; declaring the type with 3+ parameters (or otherwise reaching the default branch) throws IllegalArgumentException('Expected 0, 1 or 2 parameters for DECIMAL type constructor.'). Note this IAE is NOT converted to a PrestoException — only InvalidFunctionArgumentException is.

Source

Thrown at presto-main-base/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/type/DecimalParametricType.java:51

    @Override
    public String getName()
    {
        return StandardTypes.DECIMAL;
    }

    @Override
    public Type createType(List<TypeParameter> parameters)
    {
        try {
            switch (parameters.size()) {
                case 0:
                    return DecimalType.createDecimalType();
                case 1:
                    return DecimalType.createDecimalType(parameters.get(0).getLongLiteral().intValue());
                case 2:
                    return DecimalType.createDecimalType(parameters.get(0).getLongLiteral().intValue(), parameters.get(1).getLongLiteral().intValue());
                default:
                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Expected 0, 1 or 2 parameters for DECIMAL type constructor.");
            }
        }
        catch (InvalidFunctionArgumentException e) {
            throw new PrestoException(INVALID_FUNCTION_ARGUMENT, e.getMessage(), e);
        }
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

1. Remove extra parameters: use DECIMAL, DECIMAL(p), or DECIMAL(p,s) forms only
2. Fix the code that generates the type string to cap at 2 parameters
3. Catch/pre-validate the parameter count before invoking the type constructor

Example fix

// before
CREATE TABLE t (x DECIMAL(10,2,0));
// after
CREATE TABLE t (x DECIMAL(10,2));

if (parameters != null && parameters.size() > 2) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("DECIMAL accepts at most 2 parameters"); }

boolean isValidDecimalSignature(int paramCount) { return paramCount >= 0 && paramCount <= 2; }

try { type = DecimalParametricType.createType(symbols); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { type = DecimalType.createDecimalType(); /* or surface to user */ }

When it happens

Trigger: DDL/statements like `CREATE TABLE t (x DECIMAL(10,2,3))`, `CAST(v AS DECIMAL(1,2,3))`, or a connector supplying more than two type parameters to DECIMAL.

Common situations: Hand-written DDL typos; programmatically built type signatures passing extra args; connectors/templates that concatenate parameter lists incorrectly.

Related errors

• DECIMAL precision must be in range [1, 38]
• DECIMAL scale must be in range [0, precision]
• Invalid decimal value '{stringValue}'
• decimal precision larger than column precision
• MISSING_COLUMN

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/eeae54dfb3b0b0b4. Report an issue: GitHub.