Informix Error -782

Reasons / Common Causes

-782 fires when ALTER FRAGMENT ... ATTACH names a table that's itself fragmented — per the official guidance, an attached (consumed) table must be unfragmented; the table being attached becomes a single fragment of the target table, so it can't already be internally fragmented itself.

1. ATTACH naming a table that has its own fragmentation scheme, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.
2. A table generated by a process that fragments every table uniformly, later attempted as an ATTACH source without realizing its fragmentation disqualifies it.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Un-fragment the table before attaching it, if it currently has its own fragmentation scheme — this typically means re-creating it without fragmentation, then reloading its data:

   SELECT * FROM fragmented_source INTO TEMP unfragmented_copy;
   DROP TABLE fragmented_source;
   CREATE TABLE fragmented_source AS SELECT * FROM unfragmented_copy;
   -- (or an equivalent unload/reload without a FRAGMENT BY clause)
   ALTER FRAGMENT ON TABLE orders ATTACH fragmented_source;
   

2. Confirm the table's fragmentation status before attempting to attach it:

   SELECT partn FROM sysfragments WHERE tabid =
     (SELECT tabid FROM systables WHERE tabname = 'source_table') AND fragtype = 'T';
   -- any rows returned mean the table is fragmented and can't be attached as-is
   

Examples

The disallowed attempt

-- orders_2025 has its own fragmentation scheme
ALTER FRAGMENT ON TABLE orders ATTACH orders_2025;
-- -782: orders_2025 is itself fragmented

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check the table's fragmentation status before attempting to attach it as a new fragment of another table.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -779 — "Duplicate table name in the alter fragment specification." A related ATTACH restriction, about the attach list containing a duplicate rather than the attached table's own structure.

The table being attached must not have its own fragmentation scheme — un-fragment it (via unload/reload) before attaching.