Misleading references

Reports ambiguous references in SQL code.

For example, when a name refer to both a table column and a routine parameter. The execution of such code might lead to errors or unexpected results due to counter-intuitive resolution logic. Usually, names with a more local scope have higher priority.

Example (PostgreSQL):

CREATE TABLE foo
(
    id   INT,
    name VARCHAR(5)
);
CREATE FUNCTION func(name VARCHAR(5)) RETURNS INT AS
$$
DECLARE
    b INT;
BEGIN
      -- `name` is ambiguous as it is used as a column name and a parameter
    SELECT COUNT(*) INTO b FROM foo t WHERE t.name = name;
    RETURN b;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

In PostgreSQL, you can use the #variable_conflict directives to explicitly specify a correct reference. For example, use #variable_conflict use_column to refer to a column name, or #variable_conflict use_variable to refer to a parameter.

CREATE TABLE foo
(
    id   INT,
    name VARCHAR(5)
);
CREATE FUNCTION func(name VARCHAR(5)) RETURNS INT AS
$$
    #variable_conflict use_column
DECLARE
    b INT;
BEGIN
    SELECT COUNT(*) INTO b FROM foo t WHERE t.name = name;
    RETURN b;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

Locating this inspection

By ID

Can be used to locate inspection in e.g. Qodana configuration files, where you can quickly enable or disable it, or adjust its settings.

SqlMisleadingReference

Via Settings dialog

Path to the inspection settings via IntelliJ Platform IDE Settings dialog, when you need to adjust inspection settings directly from your IDE.

Settings or Preferences | Editor | Inspections | SQL

Inspection ID: SqlMisleadingReferenceInspection

Suppressing Inspection

You can suppress this inspection by placing the following comment marker before the code fragment where you no longer want messages from this inspection to appear:

//noinspection SqlMisleadingReference

More detailed instructions as well as other ways and options that you have can be found in the product documentation:

Inspection Details
By default bundled with:	CLion 2025.2, DataGrip 2025.2, DataSpell 2025.2, GoLand 2025.2, IntelliJ IDEA 2025.2, JetBrains Rider 2025.2, PhpStorm 2025.2, PyCharm 2025.2, Qodana for .NET 2025.2, Qodana for Go 2025.2, Qodana for JS 2025.2, Qodana for JVM 2025.2, Qodana for PHP 2025.2, Qodana for Ruby 2025.2, RubyMine 2025.2, WebStorm 2025.2

Last modified: 18 September 2025