MySQL raises ER_CHECK_NO_SUCH_TABLE (1177) when it cannot locate or open a table referenced in a CHECK or FOREIGN KEY clause during DDL execution.
MySQL Error 1177 ER_CHECK_NO_SUCH_TABLE occurs when the referenced table in a FOREIGN KEY or CHECK clause cannot be found or opened; verify the table name, case, storage engine, and permissions, then rerun the statement to resolve the issue.
ER_CHECK_NO_SUCH_TABLE
Error 1177 fires when MySQL fails to find or open a table that a CHECK or FOREIGN KEY constraint references during CREATE or ALTER TABLE operations.
The server aborts the statement to protect referential or constraint integrity, returning SQLSTATE 42000 and the message "Can't open table".
Missing or misspelled table names trigger the error because the parser cannot map the reference to an existing object.
Cross-database references fail when the current database is not qualified or the user lacks privileges on the target schema.
Case sensitivity on Unix-like file systems causes mismatches between table names in metadata and the actual .ibd or .frm files.
Unsupported storage engines or corrupted data dictionary entries prevent MySQL from opening the referenced table at execution time.
Confirm the referenced table exists in the same database or fully qualify it with db_name.table_name.
Match the letter case of the table in the DDL to the physical file names or set lower_case_table_names to a consistent value.
Repair or rebuild corrupted tables with CHECK TABLE and ALTER TABLE ...
ENGINE=InnoDB.
Grant SELECT and REFERENCES privileges on the target table before running the DDL.
Creating a FOREIGN KEY to a table in another schema fails - qualify the table name or USE the correct database.
Adding a constraint after renaming the target table fails - update the DDL with the new table name.
Restoring a dump to a case-sensitive server fails - align the dump’s CREATE statements with the file system’s case.
Adopt naming conventions and enforce them with code reviews to prevent typos.
Store DDL alongside application code and run migrations through Galaxy’s version-controlled collections to keep schema changes synchronized.
Enable automated tests that validate foreign keys before deploying DDL to production.
Error 1005 (HY000) – occurs when referenced indexes or engines mismatch; create matching indexes before adding the constraint.
Error 150 (HY000) – signals foreign key creation problems; check column types and collations.
Error 1146 (42S02) – table does not exist at query time; verify table creation or recovery steps.
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No. It can also occur with CHECK constraints that reference another table.
Dropping the child table avoids the immediate error but loses data. Fix the reference instead.
Galaxy’s schema-aware autocomplete and AI copilot flag nonexistent tables during query authoring, reducing typo-related errors.
SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0 bypasses validation but risks data integrity. Only use temporarily during controlled migrations.
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