How to Fix ORA-00907: Missing Right Parenthesis in Oracle

ORA-00907 means the parser reached a point where it expected a closing parenthesis and found something else, or the end of the statement. Despite its name, the cause is not always a missing parenthesis: anything Oracle does not expect inside a parenthesized list, such as an unsupported clause in a subquery or a wrong keyword in a column definition, can produce it. The column position in the error points to where parsing stopped.

Reproduce the Error

Example:

select count(*) from dual where 1 in (1, 2;
select * from (select 1 as n from dual order by n desc;

Output:

Error starting at line : 1
In command -
select count(*) from dual where 1 in (1, 2
Error at Command Line : 1 Column : 42
Error report -
SQL Error: ORA-00907: missing right parenthesis

Error starting at line : 2
In command -
select * from (select 1 as n from dual order by n desc
Error at Command Line : 2 Column : 54
Error report -
SQL Error: ORA-00907: missing right parenthesis

Both statements open a parenthesis that is never closed. The Column value in each report, 42 and 54, is the position where the parser expected the closing parenthesis.

Fix: Balance the Parentheses

Example:

select count(*) from dual where 1 in (1, 2);
select * from (select 1 as n from dual order by n desc);

Output:

   COUNT(*)
___________
          1

   N
____
   1

How to Find the Spot

• Use the column number in the error: count characters from the start of the reported line, or let your editor jump to it.
• Format the statement with one clause per line and indented subqueries; unbalanced parentheses then stand out.
• Check what comes right before the reported position: a misplaced keyword or a missing comma inside a list often triggers the same error.

Things to Know

• In a CREATE TABLE, a wrong data type or a missing comma between column definitions can be reported as ORA-00907 or as a different error, depending on what the parser expected.
• Many editors highlight matching parentheses; place the cursor on each one to find the one without a partner.
• In Oracle AI Database 26ai, many syntax mistakes are reported with ORA-03048 or ORA-03049 messages that name the unexpected word, which helps too.

Related Guides

• How to Fix ORA-00904: Invalid Identifier in Oracle
• How to Use Subqueries in Oracle SQL

Conclusion

ORA-00907 marks the position where Oracle expected a closing parenthesis. Use the column number to find the spot, balance the parentheses, and look for unexpected keywords inside lists and subqueries.