JanDeDobbeleer/oh-my-posh · error

key-value delimiter not found:

Error message

key-value delimiter not found: 

What it means

Every non-blank, non-section, non-comment line in an INI file must contain a key-value delimiter '=' or ':'. If IndexAny finds neither, the line cannot be parsed as a key-value pair and the error echoes the line. This keeps the parser strict rather than silently skipping garbage.

Source

Thrown at src/ini/ini.go:63

		line = strings.TrimSpace(line)

		if line == "" || line[0] == '#' || line[0] == ';' {
			continue
		}

		if line[0] == '[' {
			name, _, found := strings.CutLast(line, "]")
			if !found {
				return nil, errors.New("unclosed section: " + line)
			}

			current = file.section(strings.TrimSpace(name[1:]))
			continue
		}

		delim := strings.IndexAny(line, "=:")
		if delim < 0 {
			return nil, errors.New("key-value delimiter not found: " + line)
		}

		name := strings.TrimSpace(line[:delim])
		value := parseValue(line[delim+1:], verbatim)

		if _, ok := current.keys[name]; ok {
			continue
		}

		key := &Key{name: name, value: value}
		current.keys[name] = key
		current.order = append(current.order, key)
	}

	return file, nil
}

func parseValue(value string, verbatim bool) string {

View on GitHub (pinned to 0976794618)

Solutions

1. Fix the reported line so the key is followed by '=' or ':' and a value
2. Join accidentally wrapped lines back into a single 'key = value' line
3. Convert the value syntax if the file was authored in another format (JSON/YAML) and rename it accordingly

Example fix

// before (file content)
enable_icons
// after (file content)
enable_icons = true

for i, line := range lines {
    l := strings.TrimSpace(line)
    if l == "" || strings.HasPrefix(l, "[") || strings.HasPrefix(l, "#") {
        continue
    }
    if !strings.ContainsAny(l, "=:") {
        return fmt.Errorf("line %d: missing key-value delimiter", i+1)
    }
}

func isKeyValueLine(line string) bool {
    l := strings.TrimSpace(line)
    return l != "" && !strings.HasPrefix(l, "[") && !strings.HasPrefix(l, "#") && strings.ContainsAny(l, "=:")
}

file, err := ini.Load(path)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "delimiter not found") {
        return fmt.Errorf("config %s has a malformed line: %w", path, err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: parse() (via Load or LoadVerbatim) reads a line that isn't a section header or comment but contains no '=' or ':' - e.g. 'enable_icons' instead of 'enable_icons = true'.

Common situations: Missing '=' after a key when hand-editing a theme; pasting JSON/YAML-style keys into an INI/TOML config; a wrapped line from a bad copy-paste splitting 'key = value' across lines.

Related errors

• unclosed section:
• section does not exist:
• failed to parse theme %s
• failed to parse data file: %w
• invalid export format

AI-assisted analysis of JanDeDobbeleer/oh-my-posh@0976794618 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ff71a595c2a6b5d5. Report an issue: GitHub.