Shopify/liquid · error · Liquid::ZeroDivisionError

e.message (re-raised as Liquid::ZeroDivisionError from…

Error message

e.message (re-raised as Liquid::ZeroDivisionError from ::ZeroDivisionError in divided_by)

What it means

The `divided_by` filter wraps Ruby's native ::ZeroDivisionError and re-raises it as Liquid::ZeroDivisionError. This happens when the divisor operand evaluates to zero (or 0.0 for float division producing Infinity handling in some cases). Liquid converts the low-level Ruby error so templates surface a consistent error type.

Solutions

Guard the divisor in the template: use `{% if divisor != 0 %}` before applying divided_by.
Default the operand with the `default` filter: `{{ total | divided_by: count | default: 0 }}` only helps if count is nil, so validate count != 0 first.
Fix the data source so the denominator is never 0 (e.g. skip averaging when items list is empty).
Rescue Liquid::ZeroDivisionError in your render error handling and render a fallback message.
Ensure operand is coerced correctly (strings like "0" also trigger it; check the value bound to the variable).

Example fix

// before
{% assign avg = total | divided_by: count %}
// after
{% if count > 0 %}{% assign avg = total | divided_by: count %}{% else %}{% assign avg = 0 %}{% endif %}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

{% if divisor and divisor != 0 %}{{ total | divided_by: divisor }}{% else %}0{% endif %}

Type guard

def zero?(v)
  v.respond_to?(:to_f) && v.to_f == 0.0
end

Try / catch

begin
  template.render(assigns)
rescue Liquid::ZeroDivisionError => e
  fallback_division_output
end

Prevention

Always validate denominators are non-zero before binding them to template assigns
Use the `default` filter for nil operands but still check for literal 0
Add render-level error handling for Liquid::ZeroDivisionError in production
Unit-test templates with zero/empty denominator edge cases

When it happens

Trigger: Calling a template filter like `{{ 10 | divided_by: 0 }}` or `{{ price | divided_by: divisor }}` where `divisor` is 0 or evaluates to 0 after Utils.to_number coercion.

Common situations: Rendering templates with computed divisors (counts, averages, percentages) where the denominator variable is empty, 0, or nil-coerced to 0; e.g. average-per-item calculations over empty collections.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Shopify/liquid@807d45a6b3 (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/81c4e4ba055f47ba. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at lib/liquid/standardfilters.rb:866

    # @liquid_summary
    #   Multiplies a number by a given number.
    # @liquid_syntax number | times: number
    # @liquid_return [number]
    def times(input, operand)
      apply_operation(input, operand, :*)
    end

    # @liquid_public_docs
    # @liquid_type filter
    # @liquid_category math
    # @liquid_summary
    #   Divides a number by a given number. The `divided_by` filter produces a result of the same type as the divisor. This means if you divide by an integer, the result will be an integer, and if you divide by a float, the result will be a float.
    # @liquid_syntax number | divided_by: number
    # @liquid_return [number]
    def divided_by(input, operand)
      apply_operation(input, operand, :/)
    rescue ::ZeroDivisionError => e
      raise Liquid::ZeroDivisionError, e.message
    end

    # @liquid_public_docs
    # @liquid_type filter
    # @liquid_category math
    # @liquid_summary
    #   Returns the remainder of dividing a number by a given number.
    # @liquid_syntax number | modulo: number
    # @liquid_return [number]
    def modulo(input, operand)
      apply_operation(input, operand, :%)
    rescue ::ZeroDivisionError => e
      raise Liquid::ZeroDivisionError, e.message
    end

    # @liquid_public_docs
    # @liquid_type filter
    # @liquid_category math

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