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Informix Error -881

-881 The resulting string length from CONCAT, LPAD, REPLACE or RPAD is longer than the maximum.

The LPAD, RPAD, REPLACE or CONCAT function returned a string whose length is outside the range from 1 to 255 bytes for NVARCHAR or VARCHAR, or from 1 to 32739 bytes for CHAR, NCHAR, or LVARCHAR. These functions return a string whose data type depends on the data type of the input string that the function is formatting. Make sure that the function returns a string whose length is within the size range for the returned data type.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-881 fires when CONCAT, LPAD, REPLACE, or RPAD produces a result string outside the valid length range for the return type — per the official guidance, 1 to 255 bytes for NVARCHAR/VARCHAR, or 1 to 32739 bytes for CHAR/NCHAR/LVARCHAR; the return type itself is determined by the input string's own type.

  1. CONCAT/LPAD/RPAD combining or padding strings to a result longer than the return type's maximum, per the official guidance — most likely when the return type resolves to VARCHAR/NVARCHAR (255-byte ceiling), the same ceiling behind -650.
  2. REPLACE substituting a much longer replacement text repeatedly, growing the result past the type's ceiling.
  3. Padding to an unexpectedly large target length with LPAD/RPAD, if the padding length argument was miscalculated.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Confirm which data type the function's inputs resolve to, per the official guidance, since that determines the applicable length ceiling (255 bytes for VARCHAR/NVARCHAR, 32739 for CHAR/NCHAR/LVARCHAR).
  2. Make sure the function's result stays within that type's size range, per the official guidance — shorten the inputs, or cast to a wider type (LVARCHAR) if the content genuinely needs to exceed 255 bytes.
Examples
Exceeding the VARCHAR ceiling
SELECT CONCAT(long_varchar_col1, long_varchar_col2) FROM documents;
-- -881: combined length exceeds 255 bytes for a VARCHAR result
Corrected — cast to a wider type first
SELECT CONCAT(long_varchar_col1::LVARCHAR(2000), long_varchar_col2::LVARCHAR(2000)) FROM documents;
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Identify the function's resolved return type (based on its input types), and check the actual result length against that type's specific ceiling.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -650 — "Maximum varchar size has been exceeded." The same 255-byte VARCHAR ceiling, hit via a column definition rather than a function result.

Identify the function's resolved return type first, since the length ceiling differs sharply between VARCHAR/NVARCHAR (255 bytes) and CHAR/NCHAR/LVARCHAR (32739 bytes).