ORA-01476: divisor is equal to zero

An expression divided by zero. Protect the division with NULLIF so that a zero divisor gives NULL instead of an error.

What ORA-01476 means

Oracle raises ORA-01476 when the divisor of a NUMBER expression is zero, and the whole statement fails, even if one row out of millions caused it. That is why a report can work for months and fail the day the first zero appears in the data.

Common causes of ORA-01476

A column used as a divisor contains zero.
A calculated divisor such as a - b becomes zero.
A percentage or average over an empty group.
A MOD-style calculation written by hand.

How to fix ORA-01476

Use NULLIF(divisor, 0): dividing by NULL gives NULL.
If you need a fixed result instead, wrap it: NVL(a / NULLIF(b, 0), 0).
Use CASE WHEN b <> 0 THEN a / b END if you prefer it spelled out.
Find the rows with WHERE b = 0, and check whether zero is a valid value at all.

ORA-01476 example

NULLIF turns the zero into NULL:

-- ORA-01476: divisor is equal to zero
SELECT total / quantity FROM order_lines;

-- Works
SELECT total / NULLIF(quantity, 0) FROM order_lines;

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Oracle documentation for ORA-01476. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. SQLlightspeed is not affiliated with Oracle.