With an SQLite database in Go I got:

no such table: table_name

I know where it is coming from but how can I use this error message in Go to create that table, like:

_, err := getState(dbconn) // This the function that retrieves the table that does not exists
if err != nil {
    if err == err.New("no such table: table_name") {
        // do the work
    }
}

With an SQLite database in Go I got:

no such table: table_name

I know where it is coming from but how can I use this error message in Go to create that table, like:

_, err := getState(dbconn) // This the function that retrieves the table that does not exists
if err != nil {
    if err == err.New("no such table: table_name") {
        // do the work
    }
}

• sqlite
• go
• go-sqlite3

• 2 "Well I know where the error is coming from". In that cas please show the code that causes the error, as it will be more useful. – OldBoy Commented Dec 12, 2024 at 17:04
• From the docs: "Each call to New returns a distinct error value even if the text is identical". Either the package you are using provides a specific error type which can be inspected, or you have to compare against the error string. – Mr_Pink Commented Dec 12, 2024 at 17:12

2 Answers 2

You cannot compare the value returned by errors.New() to err using the == operator as it compares for equality in reference and not the actual error type. Try the following approaches:

// compare the err's string value for exact match
if err != nil {
  if strings.EqualFold(err.Error(), "no such table: table_name") {
     // handle not found error
  }
}

type NotFound struct{}

func (nf *NotFound) Error() string {
  return errors.New("no such table")
}

func (nf *NotFound) Is(err error) bool {
  return err != nil && strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "no such table")
}

var ErrNotFound = &NotFound{}

// ...somewhere in your code
_, err := getState(dbConn)
if err != nil {
  // compare using errors.Is()
  if errors.Is(err, ErrNotFound) {
    // handle not found error
  }
}

Errors returned by SQLite cannot be compared to a string using err.New("no such table: table_name") because it is an sqlite3.Error object, not a string.

Check the error message using the Error() method:

_, err = getState(dbconn)
if err != nil {
    if err.Error() == "no such table: table_name" {
        fmt.Println("Creating the table")
        // do the work
    }
}