prestodb/presto · error · IllegalArgumentException

Expected column to be a time type but is

Error message

Expected column to be a time type but is 

What it means

An IllegalArgumentException (not SQLException) thrown by PrestoResultSet.getTime when the requested column is neither 'time' nor 'time with time zone' per the result-set metadata. It means getTime() was called on a column of a different SQL type; no implicit coercion is performed.

Source

Thrown at presto-jdbc/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/jdbc/PrestoResultSet.java:309

        if (columnInfo.getColumnTypeName().equalsIgnoreCase("time")) {
            try {
                return new Time(TIME_FORMATTER.withZone(localTimeZone).parseMillis(String.valueOf(value)));
            }
            catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
                throw new SQLException("Invalid time from server: " + value, e);
            }
        }

        if (columnInfo.getColumnTypeName().equalsIgnoreCase("time with time zone")) {
            try {
                return new Time(TIME_WITH_TIME_ZONE_FORMATTER.parseMillis(String.valueOf(value)));
            }
            catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
                throw new SQLException("Invalid time from server: " + value, e);
            }
        }

        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Expected column to be a time type but is " + columnInfo.getColumnTypeName());
    }

    @Override
    public Timestamp getTimestamp(int columnIndex)
            throws SQLException
    {
        return getTimestamp(columnIndex, sessionTimeZone);
    }

    private Timestamp getTimestamp(int columnIndex, DateTimeZone localTimeZone)
            throws SQLException
    {
        Object value = column(columnIndex);
        if (value == null) {
            return null;
        }

        ColumnInfo columnInfo = columnInfo(columnIndex);

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

1. Check ResultSetMetaData.getColumnType(columnIndex) / getColumnTypeName before calling getTime.
2. Switch to the correct column index or use getTimestamp/getDate/getString appropriate to the actual type.
3. Cast in SQL to TIME if the source column is varchar/timestamp: CAST(col AS time).
4. Reference columns by name and keep a fixed, tested projection list to avoid index drift.

Example fix

// before
Time t = rs.getTime(idx); // idx is actually a TIMESTAMP column
// after
String typeName = rs.getMetaData().getColumnTypeName(idx);
if (typeName.equalsIgnoreCase("time") || typeName.equalsIgnoreCase("time with time zone")) {
    Time t = rs.getTime(idx);
} else {
    Timestamp ts = rs.getTimestamp(idx);
    Time t = ts == null ? null : new Time(ts.getTime());
}

String typeName = rs.getMetaData().getColumnTypeName(idx);
boolean usable = "time".equalsIgnoreCase(typeName) || "time with time zone".equalsIgnoreCase(typeName);
if (!usable) { /* use getDate/getTimestamp/getString instead */ }

boolean isTimeLike(ResultSet rs, int idx) throws SQLException {
    String t = rs.getMetaData().getColumnTypeName(idx);
    return "time".equalsIgnoreCase(t) || "time with time zone".equalsIgnoreCase(t);
}

try {
    Time t = rs.getTime(idx);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
    if (e.getMessage() != null && e.getMessage().startsWith("Expected column to be a time type")) {
        Object v = rs.getObject(idx);
        // convert based on actual type (Timestamp -> new Time(ts.getTime()), String -> parse)
    } else { throw e; }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ResultSet.getTime(columnIndex) on DATE, TIMESTAMP, VARCHAR, BIGINT or any non-time column; commonly caused by a wrong column index or an unnoticed schema change in the query.

Common situations: SELECT * column ordering changed after schema changes; using positional indexes across modified queries; expecting implicit coercion from varchar/timestamp to Time which Presto JDBC does not perform.

Related errors

• No wrapper for
• Invalid time from server:
• Invalid timestamp from server:
• Expected column to be a timestamp type but is
• INVALID_TABLE_PROPERTY

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0adae6b90b18e85e. Report an issue: GitHub.