Postgresql: syntax error at or near “user”

Question

This is probably a simple question, but I\'ve spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to figure out what\'s wrong.

I\'m trying to run a query on a table \"user\"

Answer 1

In Postgres user is a reserved SQL keyword. You should avoid naming your tables using reserved keywords. As a workaround here, you can place your table name in double quotes when referring to it:

INSERT INTO "user"
   (username, id) 
VALUES
   ('user', 2)

I also switched to using single quotes for string literals. This helps to distinguish the use of double quotes from single ones.