prestodb/presto · error · SQLFeatureNotSupportedException

first

Error message

first

What it means

PrestoResultSet throws SQLFeatureNotSupportedException("first") because the driver only supports forward-only, read-once iteration over Presto query results. There is no row buffer, so jumping to the first row after iteration has started is impossible.

Source

Thrown at presto-jdbc/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/jdbc/PrestoResultSet.java:657

    @Override
    public void beforeFirst()
            throws SQLException
    {
        throw new SQLFeatureNotSupportedException("beforeFirst");
    }

    @Override
    public void afterLast()
            throws SQLException
    {
        throw new SQLFeatureNotSupportedException("afterLast");
    }

    @Override
    public boolean first()
            throws SQLException
    {
        throw new SQLFeatureNotSupportedException("first");
    }

    @Override
    public boolean last()
            throws SQLException
    {
        throw new SQLFeatureNotSupportedException("last");
    }

    @Override
    public int getRow()
            throws SQLException
    {
        throw new SQLFeatureNotSupportedException("getRow");
    }

    @Override
    public boolean absolute(int row)

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

  1. Use rs.next() instead of rs.first() to test whether any rows exist
  2. Re-execute the query when you need to return to the first row
  3. Limit the query (LIMIT 1) and execute it again if only the first row is needed
  4. Buffer rows in a local collection to allow random access

Example fix

// before
if (rs.first()) { handle(rs); }
// after
if (rs.next()) { handle(rs); }
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

DatabaseMetaData md = conn.getMetaData();
boolean scrollable = md.supportsResultSetType(ResultSet.TYPE_SCROLL_INSENSITIVE); // false for Presto

Try / catch

try { rs.first(); } catch (SQLFeatureNotSupportedException e) { /* use rs.next() to check for rows */ }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ResultSet.first() on a PrestoResultSet, e.g. after using next() or when the caller expects a scrollable result set.

Common situations: Code that checks rs.first() to test for an empty result set, or legacy JDBC code written for MySQL/Oracle scrollable result sets being reused against Presto.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0e2695b07367c990. Report an issue: GitHub.