Informix Error -743

Reasons / Common Causes

-743 is a general-purpose object-already-exists error — per the official guidance, it fires whenever a CREATE statement (of a kind not covered by one of the more specific already-exists errors, like -673 for routines or -708 for optical clusters) names an object that already exists.

1. A CREATE statement re-run without checking whether the object was already created — the direct, common cause, for whichever object type this specific error's object_name names.
2. Two independent schema-setup scripts creating the same object under the same name, unaware of each other.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Identify the specific object type and name reported, since -743 is a catch-all covering several kinds of database objects.
2. Drop the existing object first, if the new definition is meant to replace it, using the DROP statement appropriate to that object type.
3. Or choose a different name, if the existing object should remain as-is.
4. Make schema-setup scripts idempotent, checking for existence before creating, if they may run more than once against the same database.

Examples

Checking before creating (general pattern)

-- Adapt the specific system-catalog check to the object type named in the
-- error -- e.g. systables for a table/view, sysconstraints for a
-- constraint, sysprocedures for a routine (though routines specifically
-- surface as -673 rather than -743).

Diagnostic Checks

1. Identify the object type from the statement that failed, and check the matching system-catalog table for an existing object of that name before retrying.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -673 — "Routine routine-name already exists in database." A more specific already-exists error, for routines specifically, rather than this general-purpose catch-all.
• -708 — "Optical cluster cluster-name already exists." A more specific already-exists error, for optical clusters.
• -625 — "Constraint name constraint-name already exists." A more specific already-exists error, for named constraints.

A general-purpose already-exists error — identify the specific object type and name, then drop the existing object or choose a different name.