prestodb/presto · error · PrestoException

${message} (user-supplied message thrown with user-supplied

Error message

${message} (user-supplied message thrown with user-supplied error code via fail() function)

What it means

This overload fail(integer errorCode, varchar message) throws a PrestoException with the caller-chosen StandardErrorCode and message. The thrown error's message is exactly the user-supplied string; the code is whatever numeric StandardErrorCode matched.

Source

Thrown at presto-main-base/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/operator/scalar/FailureFunction.java:80

    @Description("Throws an exception with a given message")
    @ScalarFunction(value = "fail", visibility = HIDDEN)
    @SqlType("unknown")
    public static boolean fail(@SqlType(StandardTypes.VARCHAR) Slice message)
    {
        throw new PrestoException(StandardErrorCode.GENERIC_USER_ERROR, message.toStringUtf8());
    }

    @Description("Throws an exception with a given error code and message")
    @ScalarFunction(value = "fail", visibility = HIDDEN)
    @SqlType("unknown")
    public static boolean fail(
            @SqlType(StandardTypes.INTEGER) long errorCode,
            @SqlType(StandardTypes.VARCHAR) Slice message)
    {
        for (StandardErrorCode standardErrorCode : StandardErrorCode.values()) {
            if (standardErrorCode.toErrorCode().getCode() == errorCode) {
                throw new PrestoException(standardErrorCode, message.toStringUtf8());
            }
        }
        throw new PrestoException(StandardErrorCode.GENERIC_INTERNAL_ERROR, "Unable to find error for code: " + errorCode);
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

1. Fix the condition that caused the fail() call to evaluate.
2. Choose a more appropriate StandardErrorCode if the classification is wrong (e.g. INVALID_FUNCTION_ARGUMENT).
3. If no specific code is needed, use the simpler fail(varchar) which always yields GENERIC_USER_ERROR.

Example fix

// before
SELECT fail(65536, 'bad row: ' || id)
// after
-- fix upstream data so fail() is not reached

-- ensure the code argument is a valid StandardErrorCode before use
SELECT CASE WHEN code = 65536 THEN fail(code, msg) ELSE fail(65536, msg) END

When it happens

Trigger: Calling fail(65536, 'my message') (or any valid numeric code) in SQL; the message is thrown under the matched code.

Common situations: Pipelines that want errors classified with specific Presto error codes for downstream alerting/retry logic; test harnesses verifying error-code behavior; manual query guards with typed errors.

Related errors

• ${standardErrorCode}: failureInfo.toException() (decoded fai
• GENERIC_INTERNAL_ERROR
• INVALID_TABLE_PROPERTY
• Invalid time from server:
• Expected column to be a time type but is

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9b59772a20fabdee. Report an issue: GitHub.