Informix Error -667: Variable variable-name not declared.

Reasons / Common Causes

-667 fires when a routine references a variable that was never declared with DEFINE — per the official guidance, the most common reason is a simple spelling mismatch between the reference and the declaration.

1. A misspelled variable name, per the official guidance — the most common, direct cause.
2. A variable referenced outside the scope it was declared in — per the official guidance's pointer to procedural-variable scope rules, a variable local to one block or routine isn't visible in another.
3. A DEFINE statement accidentally removed or commented out during editing, while references to the variable elsewhere in the routine were left in place.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Check the spelling of the undeclared variable, per the official guidance, against its DEFINE statement.
2. Confirm the variable's DEFINE is in scope at the point it's referenced, since procedural-variable scope is block/routine-based — a variable declared in one routine or block isn't automatically visible in another.
3. Confirm the DEFINE statement itself is actually present, in case it was removed during editing.

Examples

A misspelled reference

CREATE PROCEDURE check_order(p_order_id INT)
  DEFINE v_status CHAR(10);
  SELECT status INTO v_staus FROM orders WHERE order_id = p_order_id;
  -- -667: v_staus was never declared; the actual variable is v_status
END PROCEDURE;

Corrected

CREATE PROCEDURE check_order(p_order_id INT)
  DEFINE v_status CHAR(10);
  SELECT status INTO v_status FROM orders WHERE order_id = p_order_id;
END PROCEDURE;

Diagnostic Checks

1. Compare the reference's exact spelling against its DEFINE statement, character by character.
2. Confirm the DEFINE is within the same scope as the reference, if spelling checks out.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -669 — "Variable variable-name redeclared." The mirror-image situation: a variable declared more than once, rather than not declared at all.

Almost always a spelling mismatch or a scope issue — check both against the variable's DEFINE statement.