What causes "error.password.space_invalid" in apache/answer?

Remove space characters from the password and retry.

error.password.space_invalid

error.password.space_invalid

Error message

error.password.space_invalid

What it means

CheckPassword enforces password rules; currently the only enforced rule is that the password must not contain a space character. Violating it returns the translatable code error.password.space_invalid.

Source

Thrown at pkg/checker/password.go:44

	"strings"
)

const (
	levelD = iota
	LevelC
	LevelB
	LevelA
	LevelS
)

const (
	PasswordCannotContainSpaces = "error.password.space_invalid"
)

// CheckPassword checks the password strength
func CheckPassword(password string) error {
	if strings.Contains(password, " ") {
		return errors.New(PasswordCannotContainSpaces)
	}

	// TODO Currently there is no requirement for password strength
	minLevel := 0

	// The password strength level is initialized to D.
	// The regular is used to verify the password strength.
	// If the matching is successful, the password strength increases by 1
	level := levelD
	patternList := []string{`[0-9]+`, `[a-z]+`, `[A-Z]+`, `[~!@#$%^&*?_-]+`}
	for _, pattern := range patternList {
		match, _ := regexp.MatchString(pattern, password)
		if match {
			level++
		}
	}

	// If the final password strength falls below the required minimum strength, return with an error

View on GitHub (pinned to 3b9f137061)

Solutions

Remove space characters from the password and retry.
Sanitize/validate the password client-side before submission to give early feedback.
Improve UX: show the 'password cannot contain spaces' rule in the form hint.
If passphrase-style passwords are desired, update CheckPassword to allow spaces and adjust the i18n message.

Example fix

// before
const password = 'my secret 123';
await resetPassword(password);
// after
const password = 'my-secret-123';
await resetPassword(password);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function passwordHasSpace(pw: string): boolean { return /\s/.test(pw); }
if (passwordHasSpace(pw)) alert('Password cannot contain spaces');

Try / catch

try {
  await api.resetPassword(pw);
} catch (e) {
  if (e?.msg === 'error.password.space_invalid') {
    showError(t('error.password.space_invalid'));
  }
}

Prevention

Regex-check for whitespace client-side before submit
Display password rules inline in the form
Strip accidental leading/trailing whitespace (but not internal) per policy
Document the rule wherever passwords are set (CLI prompt included)

When it happens

Trigger: Calling CheckPassword (directly or via ResetPassword/Check flows) with a password containing a space, e.g. 'my pass123'.

Common situations: Users typing passphrases with spaces in the reset-password or change-password form; promptForPassword in CLI setup accepting any input including spaces; password managers generating passphrases with spaces.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/answer@3b9f137061 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/276b7142fae31a7f. Report an issue: GitHub.