Oracle Error ORA-00942

Error code

ORA-00942

Product

Oracle Database

Versions

Oracle Database 19c, 21c, 23ai and 26ai (wording differs: see below)

Category

Objects, Names & Identifiers

Last reviewed

24 October 2026

What it means

ORA-00942 means Oracle could not find a table or view with the name used in the statement, in the schema it looked in, or the user is not allowed to see it. Oracle reports a missing object and a missing privilege the same way.

Oracle resolves an unqualified name such as orders in the current schema (normally the user you logged in as), then through private and public synonyms. If nothing matches, or a synonym points to an object that no longer exists, the statement fails with ORA-00942. In current releases the message adds the name as SCHEMA.OBJECT_NAME when one is available; 19c and 21c print only "table or view does not exist".

The error does not tell you whether the table is missing or merely hidden. Oracle's reference lists both: the table may not exist, or the user may lack the privileges needed to access it. A table in another schema that you have no privilege on is invisible to you, so it looks exactly like a table that was never created. Names are also case sensitive when they were created in double quotes: a table created as "orders" is not found by orders, which Oracle reads as ORDERS.

Inside definer's rights PL/SQL (the default for procedures, functions, packages and triggers), Oracle's PL/SQL reference states that only the role PUBLIC is enabled while the unit runs. A table you can query in SQL*Plus through a role can therefore raise ORA-00942 when the same query is compiled in a procedure; it needs a direct grant.

Common causes

• The table or view name is misspelled, or the object has not been created yet in this database or environment.
• The object is in another schema and the statement does not name the schema (and no synonym exists).
• The user has no SELECT, READ or other privilege on the object, so Oracle reports it as missing.
• The privilege comes through a role, and the statement runs inside a definer's rights procedure, function, package, trigger or view, where roles are not used.
• The table was created with a quoted lower-case or mixed-case name, such as "orders", and is referenced without quotes.
• A synonym points to a table or view that was dropped, renamed or is in a schema you cannot access.

Diagnose it

Read-only These queries only read the data dictionary (USER_, ALL_ and DBA_ views) and dynamic performance views (V$). They do not change data, privileges or settings, so they are safe to run first. DBA_ and V$ views need the matching privileges.

SELECT USER AS login_user,
       SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV', 'CURRENT_SCHEMA') AS current_schema
FROM dual;

SELECT owner, object_name, object_type, status
FROM all_objects
WHERE UPPER(object_name) = 'ORDERS'
ORDER BY owner, object_type;

SELECT owner, object_name, object_type, status
FROM dba_objects
WHERE UPPER(object_name) = 'ORDERS';

SELECT owner, synonym_name, table_owner, table_name, db_link
FROM all_synonyms
WHERE synonym_name = 'ORDERS';

SELECT grantee, table_schema, table_name, privilege
FROM all_tab_privs
WHERE table_name = 'ORDERS';

SELECT role FROM session_roles;

How to fix it

Each fix is labelled with what it changes. Try read-only checks and the least invasive fix first, and test changes outside production.

SELECT order_id, order_date
FROM shop.orders
WHERE customer_id = 42;

-- run as SHOP, the owner of the table
GRANT SELECT ON shop.orders TO report_app;

SELECT * FROM "orders";

ALTER SESSION SET CURRENT_SCHEMA = shop;

-- or, once, as the application user:
CREATE SYNONYM orders FOR shop.orders;

Examples

A table created with a quoted lower-case name

Not reproduced here: no Oracle Database is installed for this site. The result follows the current message format in Oracle's error reference, which adds the name as SCHEMA.OBJECT_NAME; the schema SHOP is illustrative and the exact quoting of the name may differ by client. Oracle Database 19c prints "ORA-00942: table or view does not exist".

CREATE TABLE "orders" (
    id          NUMBER PRIMARY KEY,
    customer_id NUMBER
);

-- unquoted names are read as upper case: ORDERS
SELECT * FROM orders;

ORA-00942: table or view SHOP.ORDERS does not exist

Querying another schema's table without a privilege

Not reproduced here: no Oracle Database is installed for this site. The result is shown in the 19c form from Oracle's error reference; current releases may add the object name. Oracle's reference lists missing privileges as one of the causes, so the same message appears whether SHOP.ORDERS is missing or simply not granted to REPORT_APP.

-- connected as REPORT_APP; the table belongs to SHOP
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM shop.orders;

ORA-00942: table or view does not exist

A procedure that relies on a role

Not reproduced here: no Oracle Database is installed for this site. The behaviour follows Oracle's PL/SQL Language Reference (a definer's rights unit runs with only the role PUBLIC enabled); the line and column numbers and the layout of SHOW ERRORS output are illustrative. A direct GRANT SELECT ON shop.orders TO report_app fixes it.

-- REPORT_APP can query SHOP.ORDERS through the role REPORTING,
-- but definer's rights PL/SQL runs with roles disabled
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE count_orders AS
    n NUMBER;
BEGIN
    SELECT COUNT(*) INTO n FROM shop.orders;
END;
/
SHOW ERRORS

LINE/COL ERROR
-------- -------------------------------------------
5/5      PL/SQL: SQL Statement ignored
5/33     PL/SQL: ORA-00942: table or view does not exist

How to prevent it

Qualify cross-schema references with the owner, or create synonyms as part of the deployment, and grant application users the exact privileges their code needs directly rather than through roles. Create tables without double quotes so case never matters.

Run deployment scripts in a fixed order (tables, then views, synonyms and grants, then PL/SQL) and check after each release that every synonym still points to an existing object. In application logs, record the connected user with the error: most ORA-00942 reports turn out to be "right SQL, wrong user".

Common questions

Learn more on CodeWithSQL

• SQL security
• SQL views explained

Official documentation

• ORA-00942 (Oracle Database Error Messages)
• Database object names and qualifiers (Oracle SQL Language Reference 19c)
• Invoker's rights and definer's rights (Oracle PL/SQL Language Reference 19c)
• ALL_OBJECTS (Oracle Database Reference 19c)

Last technically reviewed 24 October 2026; examples and diagnostics run on Oracle Database Error Messages reference (26ai, 21c and 19c); not run locally. Messages and explanations follow Oracle's Database Error Messages reference; no Oracle Database was available, so the examples were not run locally.