SQLSTATE 20000 ERROR Class 20: Case Not Found

case_not_found Case Not Found — SQLSTATE 20000

SQLSTATE 20000 (case_not_found): A CASE expression matched no branch and had no ELSE.

PG 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 Official docs
Last reviewed May 2025 Grounded in source

Symptoms

The server reports SQLSTATE 20000 (case_not_found), a condition in the Case Not Found class.

  • The error is written to the server log and returned to the client carrying SQLSTATE 20000.
  • Any driver (libpq, JDBC, psycopg, npgsql, pgx) surfaces this code in its error object so you can branch on it programmatically.
  • PL/pgSQL can trap it by name: EXCEPTION WHEN case_not_found THEN.

Environment

Severity: ERROR  |  PostgreSQL versions: 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

Reproduce with the exact statement and read the full message in the server log (raise log_min_messages / set log_min_error_statement for more context).

Root Cause

20000 belongs to Class 20 — Case Not Found. In this class, a CASE expression matched no branch and had no ELSE.

The first two characters (20) identify the error class, so application code can match the whole class via 20000 when the specific code is not needed.

Diagnostic Queries

Recovery

Add an ELSE branch to the CASE expression, or ensure one WHEN always matches.

Reference: PostgreSQL error codes — Class 20 (Case Not Found).

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