ORA-00988: missing or invalid password(s)

Question

I'm trying to change an oracle password:

alter user FOO identified by 'BAR';

and I'm getting the following back:

Error starting at line 120 in command:
alter user FOO identified by 'BAR'
Error report:
SQL Error: ORA-00988: missing or invalid password(s)
00988. 00000 -  "missing or invalid password(s)"

What's going on?

Remove the **single-quotation marks** around the password followed by the `identified by` clause. — Lalit Kumar B, Jun 03 '15 at 16:28

inanutshellus · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-04T14:14:15.850

58

Turns out one doesn't put the password in single quotes. Double quotes are required if the password contains some special characters.

alter user FOO identified by 'BAR'; -- Broken
alter user FOO identified by BAR;   -- Works
alter user FOO identified by "BAR"; -- Works

edited Jun 04 '15 at 14:14

answered Jun 03 '15 at 16:16

inanutshellus

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Reviewing version 12c, Oracle documents this requirement under [CREATE USER](http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/SQLRF/statements_8003.htm#SQLRF01503) but unfortunately not under [ALTER USER](https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/SQLRF/statements_4003.htm#SQLRF01103). – mysteryegg Sep 14 '17 at 21:25
2

At least the error could be "unexpected token ' at..." or something... – masterxilo Feb 12 '19 at 14:07
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Your comment about double quotes saved me, who uses password without special characters? – MMMagic Nov 18 '19 at 10:44
2

Double quotes worked in my case, and the password didn't contain special characters, it was a simple 1234 password – Adrián Jaramillo Nov 28 '22 at 00:15
@AdriánJaramillo - Right, in that scenario quotes were acceptable but optional. If you'd had special chars, the double quotes would've been required. – inanutshellus May 15 '23 at 18:29

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 01 '19 at 18:32

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alter user davidl identified by "newpassword" replace "oldpassword";

answered Jun 01 '19 at 18:32

David Lipschitz

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 08 '18 at 13:46

0

For me I was altering two users in the same script file, which did not work. I had to alter them in a different script files.

Sql tool: Golden

answered Feb 08 '18 at 13:46

Zeus

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ORA-00988: missing or invalid password(s)

3 Answers3