BurntSushi/ripgrep · error

<stdin>:{}

Error message

<stdin>:{}

What it means

In patterns_from_stdin, any error from patterns_from_reader (a line that is not valid UTF-8) is wrapped as format!("<stdin>:{}", err). The '<stdin>' label identifies the source as standard input rather than a file path, preserving the file:line convention used elsewhere.

Source

Thrown at crates/cli/src/pattern.rs:108

    patterns_from_reader(file).map_err(|err| {
        io::Error::new(
            io::ErrorKind::Other,
            format!("{}:{}", path.display(), err),
        )
    })
}

/// Read patterns from stdin, one per line.
///
/// If there was a problem reading or if any of the patterns contain invalid
/// UTF-8, then an error is returned. If there was a problem with a specific
/// pattern, then the error message will include the line number and the fact
/// that it came from stdin.
pub fn patterns_from_stdin() -> io::Result<Vec<String>> {
    let stdin = io::stdin();
    let locked = stdin.lock();
    patterns_from_reader(locked).map_err(|err| {
        io::Error::new(io::ErrorKind::Other, format!("<stdin>:{}", err))
    })
}

/// Read patterns from any reader, one per line.
///
/// If there was a problem reading or if any of the patterns contain invalid
/// UTF-8, then an error is returned. If there was a problem with a specific
/// pattern, then the error message will include the line number.
///
/// Note that this routine uses its own internal buffer, so the caller should
/// not provide their own buffered reader if possible.
///
/// # Example
///
/// This shows how to parse patterns, one per line.
///
/// ```
/// use grep_cli::patterns_from_reader;

View on GitHub (pinned to 3fce3b5bb0)

Solutions

1. Ensure the data piped to stdin is valid UTF-8, one pattern per line.
2. Filter the stream through iconv -f latin1 -t utf-8 or tr to strip non-UTF-8 bytes before it reaches the tool.
3. Pass patterns via a file or --regex argument instead of stdin if the source is inherently binary.

match patterns_from_stdin() {
    Ok(v) => v,
    Err(e) => { eprintln!("{e}"); vec![] }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Piping binary or non-UTF-8 data into a tool that reads patterns via patterns_from_stdin (e.g. rg -f - with a pattern list on stdin), where one input line fails pattern_from_bytes UTF-8 validation.

Common situations: cat binaryfile | rg -f -; a shell heredoc feeding patterns that contains a stray high byte; cross-platform line-ending issues from a redirected file.

Related errors

• found invalid UTF-8 in pattern at byte offset {}: {} (disabl
• {}:{}
• {}: {}
• invalid format for size '{}', which should be a non-empty se
• invalid integer found in size '{}': {}

AI-assisted analysis of BurntSushi/ripgrep@3fce3b5bb0 (2026-08-06). Data as JSON: /data/errors/d434489fdf9964eb.json. Report an issue: GitHub.