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Informix Error -1209: Without any delimiters, this date must contain exactly 6 or 8 digits.

Cause and resolution

Without any delimiters, this date must contain exactly 6 or 8 digits.

When a literal date value is entered in numeric form, not enclosed in quotes to make it a character string, it must be entered as a number of precisely 6 digits (representing mmddyy) or 8 digits (representing mmddyyyy). Because no punctuation is present, a date with any other number of digits is ambiguous; it cannot be divided into month, day, and year with certainty.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-1209 fires when a numeric date value (entered without delimiters) has a digit count other than 6 or 8 — per the official guidance, an undelimited date must be exactly 6 digits (mmddyy) or 8 digits (mmddyyyy); any other length is ambiguous to parse into month, day, and year.

  1. A numeric date string with a digit count other than 6 or 8, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause, often a truncated or malformed year (e.g. a 3-digit year).
  2. A date value built by string concatenation that didn't pad or produce the expected 6- or 8-digit total.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Ensure the undelimited numeric date has exactly 6 digits (mmddyy) or 8 digits (mmddyyyy), per the official guidance.
  2. If the exact format is ambiguous, use delimiters (e.g. mm/dd/yyyy) instead of relying on the undelimited numeric form.
Examples
A malformed 7-digit date
INSERT INTO orders (order_id, order_date) VALUES (1, 1012024);
-- -1209: 7 digits is neither the 6-digit (mmddyy) nor 8-digit (mmddyyyy) form
Corrected
INSERT INTO orders (order_id, order_date) VALUES (1, '01/01/2024');
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Count the digits in the undelimited numeric date value, and confirm it's exactly 6 or 8.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -1204 — "Invalid year in date." A related date-validity error, once the digit count is correct but the resulting year itself is invalid.
  • -1205 — "Invalid month in date." A related date-validity error, for the month component.
  • -1206 — "Invalid day in date." A related date-validity error, for the day component.

An undelimited numeric date must be exactly 6 or 8 digits — use delimiters instead if the format is ambiguous.