Informix Error -1204: Invalid year in date.

Reasons / Common Causes

-1204 fires when a DATE value or literal's year component is invalid — per the official guidance, 0000 is a specific example of an unacceptable year.

1. A DATE literal with year 0000, per the official guidance's specific example — the direct, named cause.
2. A DATE value computed or parsed with a year outside the supported range, more generally, from a malformed source string or an off-by-one date computation.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Correct the year to a valid value, per the official guidance — 0000 specifically isn't acceptable.
2. Check the source of the date value (a literal, a parsed string, or a computed expression) for where the invalid year originated.

Examples

An invalid year

INSERT INTO orders (order_id, order_date) VALUES (1, '01/01/0000');
-- -1204: year 0000 is not a valid DATE year

Corrected

INSERT INTO orders (order_id, order_date) VALUES (1, '01/01/2000');

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check the year component of the date value/literal for validity, and trace back to wherever it was computed or parsed if it's not a literal typo.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -1205 — "Invalid month in date." A related date-validity error, about the month component rather than the year.
• -1206 — "Invalid day in date." A related date-validity error, about the day component rather than the year.

The date's year component is invalid (e.g. 0000) — correct it, or trace back to where it was computed/parsed.