COPY delimiter character must not appear in the … specification

Symptoms

A statement failed with SQLSTATE 22023 (invalid_parameter_value), reported at severity ERROR. This is a Data Exception condition: PostgreSQL emits the message COPY delimiter character must not appear in the … specification.

• The client receives SQLSTATE 22023 (invalid parameter value).
• The operation is rejected at ERROR level; the statement does not complete.

What the server log shows

ERROR:  COPY delimiter character must not appear in the … specification

Why PostgreSQL raises this

Class 22 (Data Exception) is raised at run time when a value cannot be represented, converted, or processed by the requested type or function — bad input syntax, out-of-range values, or invalid arguments.

As described in PostgreSQL’s Chapter 8 Data Types and Appendix A (PostgreSQL Error Codes), SQLSTATE 22023 carries the condition name invalid_parameter_value in class Data Exception. (Paraphrased — see the linked reference for the exact wording.)

Common causes

• A literal or parameter does not match the target type’s input format.
• A value exceeds the range or length the type allows.
• A function received an argument outside its valid domain.
• An encoding, cast, or format conversion failed.

How to fix it

1. Validate and sanitize the input value before sending it.
2. Cast explicitly to the intended type and confirm the format.
3. Widen the column/type or clamp the value to the supported range.
4. Reproduce with the exact literal to see which value is rejected.

Version applicability

This message text is present in PostgreSQL 17, 18, 19. It was introduced around PostgreSQL 17; earlier releases do not emit this exact text.

Related & next steps

• SQLSTATE 22023 — Invalid Parameter Value (full reference)
• PostgreSQL error code index

Reference: PostgreSQL Chapter 8 Data Types.