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Panther Knowledge Base

Error "Column name or alias contains characters not allowed" when trying to write a scheduled query in Panther

Issue

When trying to write and save a scheduled query, the following error message occurs:

Column name or alias contains characters not allowed in a scheduled query. Please choose a column alias without spaces or : . , - " ( ) :

Resolution

You can use aliases for the column attributes that contain characters that are not allowed.

For example, if the columns are column1['content1'] and column2['content2'], then you can create aliases for them in the select statement, as shown below:
 

SELECT
column1['content1'] as column_1,
column2['content2'] as column_2

Then, you can include the rest of your statements. Please note that using aliases is a requirement at the top-most level so only for the columns that are actually returned by the select statement.

Additional details for writing scheduled queries can be found in Panther's How to create a Scheduled Query documentation.

Cause

This issue occurs when the select statement of a scheduled query includes special characters that are not allowed.