SQLite: near "x": syntax error

Result code

SQLITE_ERROR (1)

Product

SQLite library

Versions

SQLite 3.x (examples run on 3.39.2; shell output from 3.50.6)

Category

Syntax & Query Structure

Last reviewed

24 October 2026

What it means

SQLite's parser reached a word or symbol that cannot appear at that point of the statement. The quoted token is where parsing stopped, which is often just after the real mistake.

The parser reads the statement from left to right and stops at the first token that does not fit the grammar. The message quotes that token, so look at it and at the words just before it. Sometimes the real mistake is earlier: in SELECT TOP 5 name FROM products SQLite reads TOP as a column name, so the error is at "5", and in SELECT * FROM products WHER id = 1 the misspelt WHER is taken as a table alias and the error is at "id". Recent sqlite3 shells (3.50.6 here) also print the statement with a caret line under the error position.

Most cases are SQL from another database. SQLite has no TOP (use LIMIT), no ALTER COLUMN or MODIFY (only RENAME TABLE, ADD COLUMN, RENAME COLUMN and DROP COLUMN), no SHOW TABLES, DESCRIBE, TRUNCATE, GRANT, DECLARE or ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE, and ISNULL is an SQLite operator (price ISNULL), so the SQL Server function ISNULL(price, 0) is a syntax error; use ifnull() or coalesce(). Some foreign syntax is accepted without doing what you expect: id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY and id INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY both parse on 3.39.2 because the extra words become part of the type name, but neither assigns numbers (the IDENTITY column stayed NULL); use INTEGER PRIMARY KEY.

Features also depend on the SQLite version your program really uses, which is often older than the shell on your machine: UPSERT needs 3.24.0, window functions 3.25.0, UPDATE ... FROM 3.33.0, RETURNING and DROP COLUMN 3.35.0, RIGHT and FULL OUTER JOIN 3.39.0, and underscores in numbers (1_000) 3.46.0. A text that is cut off gives different messages: incomplete input when the statement ends without a semicolon (as PDO reported for SELECT * FROM products WHERE), and unrecognized token: "'Pen;" for a string that is never closed.

Common causes

• SQL Server or MySQL syntax that SQLite does not have: TOP, AUTO_INCREMENT after PRIMARY KEY, ALTER COLUMN or MODIFY, ISNULL(a, b), SHOW, DESCRIBE, TRUNCATE, ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE.
• A reserved word used as a table or column name without quotes: order, group, values, to, index and others.
• A missing or extra comma: a trailing comma before ")" in CREATE TABLE or before FROM, or a missing comma between two columns.
• A string containing an apostrophe that is not doubled, or a statement built by joining strings in code.
• A feature newer than the SQLite library your program uses (check sqlite_version() from the program), or one that needs a compile option, such as LIMIT on UPDATE and DELETE.

Diagnose it

Read-only These statements only read the schema (sqlite_schema and read-only PRAGMA queries) or your own data. They do not change data, settings or the database file, so they are safe to run first.

SELECT sqlite_version();

SELECT sqlite_compileoption_used('ENABLE_UPDATE_DELETE_LIMIT') AS update_delete_limit;

SELECT name
FROM pragma_function_list
WHERE name IN ('ifnull', 'coalesce', 'isnull', 'concat')
ORDER BY name;

SELECT name, sql
FROM sqlite_schema
WHERE type = 'table'
ORDER BY name;

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 name
FROM products
ORDER BY price DESC
LIMIT 5;  -- LIMIT 5 OFFSET 10 for the next page

CREATE TABLE "order" (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, total REAL);
SELECT id, total FROM "order";

CREATE TABLE products (
    id    INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,  -- not INT AUTO_INCREMENT or IDENTITY(1,1)
    name  TEXT NOT NULL,
    price REAL
);

BEGIN;
CREATE TABLE products_new (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT NOT NULL, price NUMERIC);
INSERT INTO products_new (id, name, price) SELECT id, name, price FROM products;
DROP TABLE products;
ALTER TABLE products_new RENAME TO products;
COMMIT;

$stmt = $db->prepare('INSERT INTO customers (name) VALUES (?)');
$stmt->execute(["O'Brien"]);

Examples

A reserved word as a table name

CREATE TABLE order (
    id    INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
    total REAL
);

near "order": syntax error

SQL Server TOP instead of LIMIT

CREATE TABLE products (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT, price REAL);

SELECT TOP 5 name FROM products ORDER BY price DESC;

near "5": syntax error

MySQL AUTO_INCREMENT after PRIMARY KEY

CREATE TABLE products (
    id   INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
    name TEXT
);

near "AUTO_INCREMENT": syntax error

ALTER COLUMN, which SQLite does not support

CREATE TABLE products (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT, price REAL);

ALTER TABLE products ALTER COLUMN price TYPE NUMERIC;

near "ALTER": syntax error

How to prevent it

Write and test SQL against the SQLite version your application ships with (run SELECT sqlite_version() from the application), not only in a newer shell. When porting from SQL Server or MySQL, look for TOP, AUTO_INCREMENT, IDENTITY, ALTER COLUMN, ISNULL(), CONCAT() and ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE first.

Avoid reserved words as table and column names (orders rather than order), always use parameters for values, and use a SQL formatter or a recent sqlite3 shell (which shows a caret under the error position) to find where a long statement goes wrong.

Common questions

Learn more on CodeWithSQL

• SQL syntax guide
• SQLite vs MySQL
• SQL formatter

Official documentation

• SQLite keywords (and how to quote them)
• SQL features that SQLite does not implement
• ALTER TABLE (including the table rebuild procedure)
• Release history (when each feature was added)

Last technically reviewed 24 October 2026; examples and diagnostics run on SQLite 3.39.2 (PHP PDO_SQLITE) and the sqlite3 shell 3.50.6. Messages are the text the SQLite library itself returns (sqlite3_errmsg) for the versions shown.