Oracle (ORA-02270) : no matching unique or primary key for this column-list error

The ORA-2270 error is a straightforward logical error: it happens when the columns we list in the foreign key do not match a primary key or unique constraint on the parent table. Common reasons for this are

• the parent lacks a PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE constraint altogether
• the foreign key clause references the wrong column in the parent table
• the parent table's constraint is a compound key and we haven't referenced all the columns in the foreign key statement.

Neither appears to be the case in your posted code. But that's a red herring, because your code does not run as you have posted it. Judging from the previous edits I presume you are not posting your actual code but some simplified example. Unfortunately in the process of simplification you have eradicated whatever is causing the ORA-2270 error.

SQL> CREATE TABLE JOB
 (
   ID       NUMBER NOT NULL ,
   USERID   NUMBER,
   CONSTRAINT B_PK PRIMARY KEY ( ID ) ENABLE
 );  2    3    4    5    6  

Table created.

SQL> CREATE TABLE USER
 (
   ID       NUMBER NOT NULL ,
   CONSTRAINT U_PK PRIMARY KEY ( ID ) ENABLE
 );  2    3    4    5  
CREATE TABLE USER
             *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00903: invalid table name


SQL> 

That statement failed because USER is a reserved keyword so we cannot name a table USER. Let's fix that:

SQL> 1
  1* CREATE TABLE USER
SQL> a s
  1* CREATE TABLE USERs
SQL> l
  1  CREATE TABLE USERs
  2   (
  3     ID       NUMBER NOT NULL ,
  4     CONSTRAINT U_PK PRIMARY KEY ( ID ) ENABLE
  5*  )
SQL> r
  1  CREATE TABLE USERs
  2   (
  3     ID       NUMBER NOT NULL ,
  4     CONSTRAINT U_PK PRIMARY KEY ( ID ) ENABLE
  5*  )

Table created.

SQL> Alter Table JOB ADD CONSTRAINT FK_USERID FOREIGN KEY(USERID) REFERENCES USERS(ID);   

Table altered.

SQL> 

And lo! No ORA-2270 error.

Alas, there's not much we can do here to help you further. You have a bug in your code. You can post your code here and one of us can spot your mistake. Or you can check your own code and discover it for yourself.

Note: an earlier version of the code defined HOB.USERID as VARCHAR2(20). Because USER.ID is defined as a NUMBER the attempt to create a foreign key would have hurl a different error:

ORA-02267: column type incompatible with referenced column type

An easy way to avoid mismatches is to use foreign key syntax to default the datatype of the column:

CREATE TABLE USERs
 (
   ID    number NOT NULL ,
   CONSTRAINT U_PK PRIMARY KEY ( ID ) ENABLE
 );

CREATE TABLE JOB
 (
   ID       NUMBER NOT NULL ,
   USERID   constraint FK_USERID references users,
   CONSTRAINT B_PK PRIMARY KEY ( ID ) ENABLE
 );

The data type in the Job table (Varchar2(20)) does not match the data type in the USER table (NUMBER NOT NULL).