How to rectify "missing right parenthesis" problem? - sql

Question

Following is a sample of query I am working on right now:
CREATE TABLE book (
book_id NUMBER(6) NOT NULL CHECK(book_id > 0),
isbn VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
title VARCHAR2(100) NOT NULL,
shelf_letter VARCHAR2(2) NOT NULL CHECK(shelf_letter IN('A-Z')),
call_number NUMBER(3) NOT NULL CHECK(call_number IN (1-999)),
no_of_pages NUMBER(4),
no_of_copies NUMBER(3) NOT NULL CHECK(no_of_copies >= 1),
date_arrived DATE NOT NULL DEFAULT SYSDATE,
publisher_id NUMBER(4) NOT NULL,
cat_id NUMBER(2) NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT shelf_call UNIQUE(shelf_letter,call_number)
);
On compiling, it is throwing a "missing right parenthesis" error. I checked, but all the parentheses are accounted for. Can somebody help me?

Answer 1

The actual error you are seeing is caused by the date_arrived column with NOT NULL being placed before the default value of SYSDATE, when it should be after:
date_arrived DATE DEFAULT SYSDATE NOT NULL,
In addition, the second and third check constraints, while technically valid syntax, look dubious:
shelf_letter VARCHAR2(2) NOT NULL CHECK(shelf_letter IN('A-Z')),
call_number NUMBER(3) NOT NULL CHECK(call_number IN (1-999)),
For the check on shelf_letter, presumably you want to enforce that it can only be the capital letters from A to Z. If so, then use REGEXP_LIKE:
shelf_letter VARCHAR2(2) NOT NULL CHECK(REGEXP_LIKE(shelf_letter, '^[A-Z]$')),
For the check on call_number, use a range comparison:
call_number NUMBER(3) NOT NULL CHECK(call_number BETWEEN 1 AND 999),
Putting all this together, use the following create table statement:
CREATE TABLE book (
book_id NUMBER(6) NOT NULL CHECK(book_id > 0),
isbn VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL,
title VARCHAR2(100) NOT NULL,
shelf_letter VARCHAR2(2) NOT NULL CHECK(REGEXP_LIKE(shelf_letter, '^[A-Z]$')),
call_number NUMBER(6) NOT NULL CHECK(call_number BETWEEN 1 AND 999),
no_of_pages NUMBER(4),
no_of_copies NUMBER(3) NOT NULL CHECK(no_of_copies >= 1),
date_arrived DATE DEFAULT SYSDATE NOT NULL,
publisher_id NUMBER(4) NOT NULL,
cat_id NUMBER(2) NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT shelf_call UNIQUE(shelf_letter, call_number)
);
Demo