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Informix Error -47091: Cannot specify user as a default value with this column type.

Cause and resolution

Cannot specify user as a default value with this column type.

You cannot specify a default value that consists of the login name of the current user for a column that is not a CHAR, NCHAR, VARCHAR, or NVARCHAR data type. Change the column data type (if permitted), or specify a different default value.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-47091 fires in the interactive ALTER TABLE menu when USER is specified as a default value on a column that isn't CHAR, NCHAR, VARCHAR, or NVARCHAR — per the official guidance.

  1. USER specified as a default on an incompatible column type, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Change the column's data type to CHAR/NCHAR/VARCHAR/NVARCHAR, if permitted, per the official guidance.
  2. Or specify a different default value, per the official guidance.
Examples
N/A

No specific triggering statement is documented beyond this menu-driven default-value restriction.

Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check the column's data type, and either change it to a character type or choose a different default value.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -47088 — "Cannot specify server or site as a default value with this column type." A related default-value/type-mismatch error, for SERVER/SITE rather than USER.
  • -47092 — "Cannot specify user as a default value with this column length." A related USER default-value error, on the column being too short rather than the wrong type.

USER can only be a default value for CHAR/NCHAR/VARCHAR/NVARCHAR columns — change the type or choose a different default.