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Informix Error -857

-857 Rowids do not exist on table.

You cannot drop a nonexistent rowid. You specified a rowid that does not exist in the specified table. Avoid using rowids in your SQL statement. Instead, use a primary key to delete data.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-857 is the mirror image of -856: it fires when an attempt to drop a table's ROWID column targets one that doesn't currently have one — per the official guidance, you can't drop a nonexistent ROWID, and more broadly, the guidance recommends avoiding reliance on ROWID altogether in favor of a primary key.

  1. ALTER TABLE ... DROP ROWIDS attempted on a table whose ROWID was already dropped, per the official guidance.
  2. A broader design relying on ROWID for row identification/deletion, per the official guidance's own recommendation against this — ROWID values aren't guaranteed stable across reorganizations the way a primary key is.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Confirm whether the table already lacks a ROWID column before attempting to drop one:
    SELECT ROWID FROM orders WHERE 1 = 0;
-- fails if orders currently has no ROWID column
  2. Avoid using ROWID in application SQL at all, per the official guidance's specific recommendation — use a primary key to identify and delete rows instead, since it's a stable, application-controlled identifier rather than an internal storage detail.
Examples
Redesigning around a primary key instead of ROWID
-- Instead of relying on ROWID to delete a specific row:
DELETE FROM orders WHERE order_id = 42;
-- using the table's actual primary key, rather than ROWID
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Confirm the table's current ROWID status before attempting to drop one.
  2. Review application SQL for reliance on ROWID, per the official guidance's recommendation, and consider migrating to primary-key-based identification instead.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -855 — "Cannot drop rowids on a non-fragmented table." A related ROWID-management restriction, about non-fragmented tables specifically.
  • -856 — "Rowids already exist on table." The mirror-image situation: attempting to add a ROWID that already exists.

Per the official guidance's own recommendation — avoid relying on ROWID at all; use a primary key for identifying and deleting rows instead.