Informix Error -673

-673 Routine routine-name already exists in database.

You attempted to create a routine that already exists in the database. If you want to create a new version of the routine, use the DROP ROUTINE statement to drop the routine before you attempt to create the new version of the routine.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-673 fires when CREATE PROCEDURE/CREATE FUNCTION names a routine that already exists — per the official guidance, CREATE doesn't implicitly replace an existing routine of the same name.

A CREATE PROCEDURE/CREATE FUNCTION re-run without dropping the previous version first, per the official guidance — the direct, common cause during iterative development.
Two different developers/deployments creating a routine under the same name independently, without realizing it already existed.
A deployment script re-run against an environment where it had already succeeded once, attempting to create routines that are already present.

Solutions / Resolution

Use DROP ROUTINE to drop the existing routine first, per the official guidance, before creating the new version:
```
DROP ROUTINE orders_status_check;
CREATE PROCEDURE orders_status_check(p_order_id INT) ...;
```
Or use CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE/CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION if the deployment process should always overwrite an existing routine rather than fail when one exists (check this syntax's availability on the specific server version in use).
Make deployment scripts idempotent by dropping-if-exists (or using CREATE OR REPLACE) before every CREATE ROUTINE, if they may run more than once against the same database.

Examples

Hitting the restriction

CREATE PROCEDURE orders_status_check(p_order_id INT) ...;
-- run a second time:
CREATE PROCEDURE orders_status_check(p_order_id INT) ...;
-- -673: orders_status_check already exists

Corrected — drop first

DROP ROUTINE orders_status_check;
CREATE PROCEDURE orders_status_check(p_order_id INT) ...;

Diagnostic Checks

Query sysprocedures to confirm whether the routine already exists before attempting to create it:
```
SELECT procname, owner FROM sysprocedures WHERE procname = 'orders_status_check';
```

Related Errors / Related Topics

-657 — "Cannot create a procedure within a procedure." A related CREATE PROCEDURE restriction, about nesting rather than a name collision.
-674 — "Routine routine-name cannot be resolved." The mirror-image situation for calling a routine: one that can't be found or invoked, rather than one that already exists.

Drop the existing routine first, or make deployment scripts idempotent via CREATE OR REPLACE where available.