Hello, The problem is that SQLite rejects the DELETE stat3ement in combination with the CTE. Here is the error: Error: near line 5082: near "DELETE": syntax error SQLite is very cryptic when it reports an error. To figure out what the problem I create commonly a known error to figure out what might be causing the problem. The script contains about 7,500 lines. If the error remains the same it is probably something elseā¦ I've tried it also without the WHERE statement and with a WHERE with balanced parenthesis. In all cases, the error remains. Here is the code that created the error: -- The following statement will cause an error WITH RECURSIVE NODES_TO_REMOVE (CHAIN_ID, NODE, SERIAL_NUMBER, NEXT_PTR) AS ( SELECT CHAIN_ID, NODE, SERIAL_NUMBER, NEXT_PTR FROM DCD_MODIFY_DAISY_CHAIN WHERE CHAIN_ID == (SELECT VALUE FROM _Variables WHERE NAME == 'CHAIN_ID') AND NODE > (SELECT VALUE FROM _Variables WHERE NAME == 'NODE') UNION SELECT CHAIN_ID, NODE, SERIAL_NUMBER, NEXT_PTR FROM DCD_MODIFY_DAISY_CHAIN WHERE SERIAL_NUMBER == NEXT_PTR ) DELETE FROM DAISY_CHAINED_DEVICES WHERE (DCD_ID == (SELECT CHAIN_ID FROM NODES_TO_REMOVE)) AND (DCD_NODE IN (SELECT NODE FROM NODES_TO_REMOVE)); So I tried the following: -- The following statement will cause an error WITH RECURSIVE NODES_TO_REMOVE (CHAIN_ID, NODE, SERIAL_NUMBER, NEXT_PTR) AS ( SELECT CHAIN_ID, NODE, SERIAL_NUMBER, NEXT_PTR FROM DCD_MODIFY_DAISY_CHAIN WHERE CHAIN_ID == (SELECT VALUE FROM _Variables WHERE NAME == 'CHAIN_ID') AND NODE > (SELECT VALUE FROM _Variables WHERE NAME == 'NODE') UNION SELECT CHAIN_ID, NODE, SERIAL_NUMBER, NEXT_PTR FROM DCD_MODIFY_DAISY_CHAIN WHERE SERIAL_NUMBER == NEXT_PTR ) DELETE FROM DAISY_CHAINED_DEVICES; -- WHERE (DCD_ID == (SELECT CHAIN_ID FROM NODES_TO_REMOVE)) -- AND (DCD_NODE IN (SELECT NODE FROM NODES_TO_REMOVE)); Results in: Error: near line 5082: near "DELETE": syntax error QED: DELETE in combination with a CTE will FAIL! PS: Strangely, it is impossible to use the column names defined by the CTE directly. Writing a select to access the result from the CTE is just plain silly. XRasy