feature_not_supported WHERE CURRENT OF is not supported for this table type — 0A000

Symptoms

A WHERE CURRENT OF cursor clause was used against a table type that doesn’t support it (e.g. a view or foreign table). PostgreSQL raises SQLSTATE 0A000 (feature_not_supported).

• WHERE CURRENT OF used on an unsupported table type.
• Cursor-positioned updates require a simple updatable scan.
• Common with views, foreign tables, or join cursors.

What the server log shows

ERROR:  WHERE CURRENT OF is not supported for this table type

Why PostgreSQL raises this — what the manual says

As the UPDATE reference (Parameters) explains:

WHERE CURRENT OF updates the row at a cursor’s current position, but it is only supported for cursors over ordinary tables — not for views, foreign tables, or similar relation types; rewrite the statement with an explicit WHERE condition on a key column.

WHERE CURRENT OF updates the row the cursor currently points at, which requires the cursor to scan the physical target table directly. View/foreign/join cursors don’t expose a single positionable physical row, so PostgreSQL reports 0A000.

Common causes

• The cursor is over a view, foreign table, or a join.
• The cursor query isn’t a simple scan of the update target.
• The table type doesn’t support cursor positioning.

How to fix it

1. Open the cursor as a simple SELECT directly on the target table.
2. Use a primary-key predicate instead of WHERE CURRENT OF.
3. For foreign tables/views, update by key rather than by cursor position.

Related & next steps

• SQLSTATE 0A000 — Feature Not Supported (full reference)
• Message: cursor does not exist
• Glossary: Cursor

Reference: PostgreSQL 18 — UPDATE.