# query-malformed

An **[EventQL query](/docs/eventsourcingdb/eventql)** does **not parse**.

- **Routes:** `run-eventql-query`, `write-events`, and `format-eventql-query`
- **Description:** `query is malformed at line <line>, column <column>: <message>`, with the position where the parser stops, counting from 1, and the message of the parser, which says what it expected and what it got instead. For the query of a precondition, the text starts with `/preconditions/<index>: `, with the place of the precondition in its list, counting from 0. Where the parser names no position, the text leaves out the line and the column.
- **Details:** When running or formatting a query, **`start`** and **`end`**, each with a `line` and a `column`, counting from 1: the first character of the part that does not parse and the position after its last character. Where the parser names no position, `details` is an empty object. For a precondition, **`precondition`**, the place of the precondition in its list, counting from 0.

## Why It Happens

EventSourcingDB parses a query before it runs it, and refuses one that does not follow the **[syntax of EventQL](/docs/eventsourcingdb/eventql#syntax-overview)**, such as one with a misspelled keyword, as in `PROJEKT INTO`, one that does not end with `PROJECT INTO`, or one with a string that lacks its closing quote. A query of nothing but whitespace is refused this way as well, while an empty one is **[`query-missing`](/docs/eventsourcingdb/errors/query-missing)**.

A query that **nests more than 256 levels** or holds a **chain of more than 10,000 operands** is refused **before it is parsed**, with **[`query-too-deep`](/docs/eventsourcingdb/errors/query-too-deep)** instead, also where it would not parse either, such as one with more than 256 parentheses that are never closed.

The parser also refuses a **number that does not fit its type**, with the message `integer <number> is out of range` or `float <number> is out of range`: an integer with **more than 1,000 digits**, leading zeros aside, and a decimal **beyond the range of a 64-bit floating-point number**.

It refuses a **value of `SKIP` or `TOP` that the clause does not take** as well, where the query writes it as a literal: one that is not an integer, such as `TOP 1.5`, with `TOP must be an integer` or `SKIP must be an integer`, and one below the least the clause takes, such as `TOP 0` or `SKIP -1`, with `TOP must be at least 1` or `SKIP must be at least 0`. A value that the query computes, as in `TOP 1 - 1`, is checked only when the query runs, and fails it with **[`query-unevaluable`](/docs/eventsourcingdb/errors/query-unevaluable)**.

For a precondition, the query is parsed only **when the write evaluates it**, after the preconditions on subjects. So if one of those does not hold, the write reports **[`precondition-violated`](/docs/eventsourcingdb/errors/precondition-violated)** first.

The route `format-eventql-query` belongs to the **[management UI](/docs/eventsourcingdb/management-ui)**, which formats the queries of its EventQL editor through it. It exists **only while the management UI is enabled**, with `--with-ui`, is not part of the stable API, and answers with a single envelope, the error itself, rather than a stream.

## How to Fix It

Correct the query at the position that the description and the details name; the EventQL editor of the **[management UI](/docs/eventsourcingdb/management-ui)** marks it for you. Sending the same query again fails the same way, since the error depends on the query alone.

## Example

To run the query `FROM e IN events PROJEKT INTO e`, EventSourcingDB answers with this error, as a line of the stream, and then ends the stream with its `end` item:

```json
{
  "type": "error",
  "data": {
    "code": "https://docs.eventsourcingdb.io/errors/query-malformed",
    "description": "query is malformed at line 1, column 18: expected next token to be one of ['FROM' 'GROUP' 'ORDER' 'PROJECT' 'SKIP' 'TOP' 'WHERE'], got PROJEKT instead",
    "details": {
      "end": {
        "column": 25,
        "line": 1
      },
      "start": {
        "column": 18,
        "line": 1
      }
    }
  }
}
```