Knowledge Base

ODBC Driver Errors If Database Path Contains Special

Article ID: 127099

Article Last Modified on 8/15/2005

APPLIES TO

This article was previously published under Q127099

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Query, when you add fields from a table to the data pane, you may receive one of the following error messages:
Syntax Error in FROM Clause

-or-

<file path> isn't a valid path.

-or-

<filename.table name> isn't a valid name.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when the path to the table that you add to the query contains a special character, such as a dollar sign ($).

RESOLUTION

To prevent these error messages, save the database file to a new directory so that the path and/or filename do not contain any of the special characters listed below.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Query for Windows 95, version 2.0.

MORE INFORMATION

You may receive the error message "Syntax Error in FROM Clause" if the path contains any one of the following special characters: 
$      Dollar Sign
~      Tilde
!      Exclamation Point
%      Percent Sign
&      Ampersand
-      Hyphen
}      Right Brace
(      Left Parenthesis
)      Right Parenthesis
`      Grave Accent (or Left Apostrophe)
@      At Sign
.      Period
If the path contains a left brace ({), you may receive the error message
<file path> isn't a valid path.
If the path contains an apostrophe ('), you may receive the error message
<filename.table name> isn't a valid name.
In Windows 95, a directory having a long name such as "C:\My Documents" will be seen as "c:\MyDocu~1" by Microsoft Query 1.0.

Additional query words: MSQuery Btrieve dBASE FoxPro Paradox Text Excel workbook

Keywords: KB127099


Send feedback to Microsoft

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.