Zie619/n8n-workflows · error · Error

${fileName} → ${baseName} → Unrecognized file name structure

Error message

${fileName} → ${baseName} → Unrecognized file name structure

What it means

Thrown by the 'Format Data' Code node in an automation-triggered file-ingestion workflow. It buckets incoming files into known categories (search_terms, campaigns, targeting, placement, budgets) by regex-testing the lowercased base filename. When no regex matches, the node throws with the offending fileName and derived baseName embedded in the message.

Source

Thrown at workflows/Code/1301_Code_Extractfromfile_Automation_Triggered.json:167

      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.merge",
      "position": [
        1200,
        -800
      ],
      "parameters": {},
      "typeVersion": 3.1,
      "notes": "This merge node performs automated tasks as part of the workflow."
    },
    {
      "id": "cd23e23c-9bb7-4b8d-90ab-8917783cf1ab",
      "name": "Format Data",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
      "position": [
        1420,
        -800
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "jsCode": "const result = {};\n\nfor (const item of items) {\n  const fileName = item.json.fileName || item.json.name || 'unknown_file';\n  const baseName = fileName\n    .split('.')[0]\n    .replace(/\\s+/g, '_')\n    .toLowerCase()\n    .replace(/\\s*\\(\\d+\\)$/, '')\n    .replace(/_+$/, '')\n    .trim();\n\n  // regex → result key\n  const map = [\n    { key: 'search_terms', regex: /search_term/ },\n    { key: 'campaigns',    regex: /campaign/     },\n    { key: 'targeting',    regex: /targeting/   },\n    { key: 'placement',    regex: /placement/   },\n    { key: 'budgets',      regex: /budget/      },\n  ];\n\n  const entry = map.find(m => m.regex.test(baseName));\n  const mappedKey = entry ? entry.key : null;\n\n  console.log('fileName:', fileName);\n  console.log('baseName:', baseName);\n  console.log('mappedKey:', mappedKey);\n\n  if (!mappedKey) {\n    throw new Error(`${fileName} → ${baseName} → Unrecognized file name structure`);\n  }\n  result[mappedKey] = result[mappedKey] || [];\n  result[mappedKey].push(item.json);\n}\n\nreturn [{ json: result }];\n\n\n\n"
      },
      "typeVersion": 2,
      "notes": "This code node performs automated tasks as part of the workflow."
    },
    {
      "id": "02172577-d867-45a4-96ea-eb105169deff",
      "name": "Set fileName",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.set",
      "position": [
        320,
        -800
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "options": {
          "dotNotation": true,
          "ignoreConversionErrors": false
        },
        "assignments": {

View on GitHub (pinned to 94007c1445)

Solutions

1. Rename the uploaded file so its base name contains one of the known keywords: search_term, campaign, targeting, placement, budget.
2. Inspect the error message's fileName → baseName chain to see exactly what base string the node derived, then fix the source of that name (uploader or naming convention).
3. Extend the `map` array with a new { key, regex } entry if a legitimate new file type must be supported.
4. Replace the hard throw with routing to a quarantine/error branch (e.g. result['unrecognized'].push) plus a notification, if unknown files should not kill the run.

Example fix

// before
if (!mappedKey) {
  throw new Error(`${fileName} → ${baseName} → Unrecognized file name structure`);
}

// after (collect and flag instead of halting the whole batch)
if (!mappedKey) {
  result['unrecognized'] = result['unrecognized'] || [];
  result['unrecognized'].push({ fileName, reason: 'no matching keyword' });
  continue;
}

const KNOWN = /search_term|campaign|targeting|placement|budget/;
const fileName = item.json.fileName || item.json.name || 'unknown_file';
const baseName = fileName.split('.')[0].replace(/\s+/g, '_').toLowerCase();
const recognized = KNOWN.test(baseName);

function classifyFile(baseName) {
  const map = [
    { key: 'search_terms', regex: /search_term/ },
    { key: 'campaigns', regex: /campaign/ },
    { key: 'targeting', regex: /targeting/ },
    { key: 'placement', regex: /placement/ },
    { key: 'budgets', regex: /budget/ }
  ];
  return map.find(m => m.regex.test(baseName))?.key ?? null;
}

for (const item of items) {
  const key = classifyFile(baseNameOf(item));
  if (!key) { result['unrecognized'] = result['unrecognized'] || []; result['unrecognized'].push(item.json); continue; }
  (result[key] = result[key] || []).push(item.json);
}

When it happens

Trigger: An uploaded file whose base name (after splitting at the first '.', lowercasing, trimming trailing digits/underscores) contains none of: 'search_term', 'campaign', 'targeting', 'placement', 'budget'. Examples: 'ad_creative_v2.csv', 'audience_list.xlsx', a temp file like '~$budgets.xlsx' split at first dot yielding '~$budgets' still matches budget, but 'report (1).json' or 'Untitled.json' do not. Also files with no extension or names like 'Budget-Final.v2.csv' (split at first dot gives 'budget-final' which still matches 'budget') — the real failures are genuinely off-vocabulary names.

Common situations: Marketers renaming template files ('Q4 budgts.xlsx' typo), uploading extra files (README, images, ~$ Excel lock files with the dot split producing unexpected fragments), double extensions truncating the meaningful part ('campaigns.xlsx.csv' → base 'campaigns' still matches), or new report types added to the source system that the map was never updated for.

Related errors

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AI-assisted analysis of Zie619/n8n-workflows@94007c1445 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/461d72417b3e2f11. Report an issue: GitHub.