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Informix Error -26168: Conversion error: errno, filename.

Cause and resolution

Conversion error: errno, filename.

When the database server tried to load from the file, it encountered an error. Unless a reject file is specified in the external table, the database server returns the error message, and the load job ends without saving loaded data.

Check for conversion errors, rows that violate constraints defined on the external table, or null columns that were defined as NOT NULL.

A reason code of UNSUPPORTED_ROW_SIZE indicates that the external table row size (other than BYTE and TEXT columns) is greater than 32K.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-26168 fires when the server encounters an error loading from an external table's data file — per the official guidance; unless a reject file is configured, the load job ends without saving loaded data.

  1. A conversion error in the data, per the official guidance — the first named case.
  2. A row violating a constraint defined on the external table, per the official guidance — the second named case.
  3. A null value in a column defined NOT NULL, per the official guidance — the third named case.
  4. UNSUPPORTED_ROW_SIZE: the external table's row size (excluding BYTE/TEXT columns) exceeds 32K, per the official guidance — a specific named reason code.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Configure a reject file on the external table, per the official guidance's implication, so the load can continue past bad rows and report them.
  2. Check for conversion errors, constraint violations, and unexpected nulls in the source data, per the official guidance.
  3. If the reason code is UNSUPPORTED_ROW_SIZE, reduce the row size below 32K (excluding BYTE/TEXT columns), per the official guidance.
Examples
N/A

No specific triggering statement is documented beyond a conversion/constraint/null-value error during load.

Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check the reported reason code, and address conversion errors, constraint violations, unexpected nulls, or an oversized row accordingly.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -26164 — "External table data conversion failure (unload)." The mirror-image error, on unload rather than load.

Loading from an external table's data file hit a conversion/constraint/null-value error, or an oversized row — configure a reject file and check the source data.