22016ERRORTier 2 — Caution✅ HIGH confidenceinvalid argument for nth_value function
Category: Data ExceptionVersions: All Postgres versions
What this means
SQLSTATE 22016 is raised when the NTH_VALUE window function receives a row offset argument that is not a positive integer.
Why it happens
- 1Calling NTH_VALUE with a zero, negative, or NULL row offset argument
How to reproduce
NTH_VALUE with a zero offset.
trigger — this will ERROR
SELECT NTH_VALUE(salary, 0) OVER (ORDER BY salary) FROM employees;ERROR: argument 2 of nth_value must be greater than zero
Fix 1: Use a positive integer offset for NTH_VALUE
When the row position is computed dynamically.
fix
SELECT NTH_VALUE(salary, GREATEST(row_pos, 1)) OVER (ORDER BY salary)
FROM employees;Why this works
GREATEST(row_pos, 1) clamps the offset to at least 1, preventing the 22016 error.
Sources
📚 Official docs: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/errcodes-appendix.html
🔧 Source ref: Class 22 — Data Exception
Confidence assessment
✅ HIGH confidence
Standard SQLSTATE for window function argument validation. Stable across versions.
See also
🔗 Related errors
📄 Reference pages
Window FunctionsNTH_VALUE
⚙️ This error reference was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy. Examples are provided to illustrate common scenarios and may not cover every case. Always test fixes in a development environment before applying to production. Spotted an error? Suggest a correction →