Oninit
Talk to an expert →

Informix Error -1268: Invalid datetime or interval qualifier.

Cause and resolution

Invalid datetime or interval qualifier.

This statement contains a DATETIME or INTERVAL qualifier that is not acceptable. These qualifiers can contain only the words YEAR, MONTH, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, FRACTION, and TO. A number from 1 to 5 in parentheses can follow FRACTION. Inspect the statement for missing punctuation and misspelled words. A common error is adding an s, as in MINUTES.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-1268 fires when a DATETIME/INTERVAL qualifier isn't one of the accepted words — per the official guidance, qualifiers can only contain YEAR, MONTH, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, FRACTION, and TO, with an optional parenthesized number from 1 to 5 following FRACTION. The official guidance notes common mistakes include pluralizing a keyword (e.g. MINUTES instead of MINUTE), missing punctuation, and misspellings.

  1. A pluralized keyword (e.g. MINUTES instead of MINUTE), per the official guidance's specifically named common mistake.
  2. A misspelled qualifier keyword, per the official guidance's other named cause.
  3. Missing punctuation in the qualifier clause, per the official guidance's other named cause.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Use only the accepted qualifier words (YEAR, MONTH, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, FRACTION, TO), per the official guidance, in their singular form.
  2. Check the FRACTION precision number (1 to 5) if used, per the official guidance.
Examples
A pluralized keyword
SELECT INTERVAL(30) MINUTES TO MINUTES FROM orders WHERE order_id = 1;
-- -1268: the correct keyword is MINUTE, not MINUTES
Corrected
SELECT INTERVAL(30) MINUTE TO MINUTE FROM orders WHERE order_id = 1;
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check every qualifier keyword for correct spelling and singular form, and confirm any FRACTION precision number is between 1 and 5.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -1261 — "Too many digits in the first field of datetime or interval." A related literal- formatting error, about digit count rather than the qualifier keywords.
  • -1262 — "Non-numeric character in datetime or interval." A related literal-formatting error, about the literal's own characters rather than its qualifier.
  • -1263 — "A field in a datetime or interval is out of range, incorrect, or missing." A related literal-validity error, about a field's value.
  • -1264 — "Extra characters at the end of a datetime or interval." A related literal- formatting error, about trailing characters.

A qualifier keyword is misspelled, pluralized, or otherwise invalid — use only YEAR/MONTH/ DAY/HOUR/MINUTE/SECOND/FRACTION/TO, singular and correctly spelled.