Oracle / PLSQL: ORA-00903 Error Message

Learn the cause and how to resolve the ORA-00903 error message in Oracle.

Description

When you encounter an ORA-00903 error, the following error message will appear:

• ORA-00903: invalid table name

Cause

You tried to execute a SQL statement that included an invalid table name or the table name does not exist.

Resolution

The option(s) to resolve this Oracle error are:

Option #1

Rewrite your SQL to include a valid table name. To be a valid table name the following criteria must be met:

• The table name must begin with a letter.
• The table name can not be longer than 30 characters.
• The table name must be made up of alphanumeric characters or the following special characters: $, _, and #.
• The table name can not be a reserved word.

You could use the ALTER TABLE statement to rename the table in Oracle using the following syntax:

ALTER TABLE table_name
  RENAME TO new_table_name;

For example:

ALTER TABLE customers
  RENAME TO contacts;

This ALTER TABLE statement will rename the customers table to contacts.