apache/cassandra · error · InvalidTypeException

Cannot parse map value from

Error message

Cannot parse map value from "%s", at character %d expecting ',' but got '%c'

What it means

Thrown while parsing a map literal when, after finishing an entry, the next non-space character is neither '}' (end of map) nor ',' (entry separator). The parser reports the offending character, indicating entries are separated by an invalid token.

Solutions

1. Separate map entries with ',' only
2. Verify the overall shape {k1:v1,k2:v2} before parsing
3. Generate the literal with codec.format() instead of manual concatenation

Example fix

// before
mapCodec.parse("{1:'a';2:'b'}");
// after
mapCodec.parse("{1:'a',2:'b'}");

if (value.contains(";"))
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Separate map entries with ',': " + value);
mapCodec.parse(value);

try {
    mapCodec.parse(value);
} catch (InvalidTypeException e) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Entries must be comma-separated: " + value, e);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling MapCodec.parse() with wrong entry separators such as "{1:'a';2:'b'}" (semicolon), "{1:'a' 2:'b'}" (missing separator), or a newline where a comma is expected.

Common situations: Literals copied from JSON or another language using ';'/newline separators; template-generated strings with the wrong join character; whitespace formatting that dropped the comma.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

• cannot parse map value from
• Cannot parse map value from
• Cannot parse map value from
• Malformed map value " ", missing closing '}
• Malformed collection value

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/20bb7c2111a63459. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/functions/types/TypeCodec.java:2416

                }
                catch (IllegalArgumentException e)
                {
                    throw new InvalidTypeException(
                    String.format(
                    "Cannot parse map value from \"%s\", invalid CQL value at character %d",
                    value, idx),
                    e);
                }

                V v = valueCodec.parse(value.substring(idx, n));
                idx = n;

                m.put(k, v);

                idx = ParseUtils.skipSpaces(value, idx);
                if (value.charAt(idx) == '}') return m;
                if (value.charAt(idx++) != ',')
                    throw new InvalidTypeException(
                    String.format(
                    "Cannot parse map value from \"%s\", at character %d expecting ',' but got '%c'",
                    value, idx, value.charAt(idx)));

                idx = ParseUtils.skipSpaces(value, idx);
            }
            throw new InvalidTypeException(
            String.format("Malformed map value \"%s\", missing closing '}'", value));
        }

        @Override
        public String format(Map<K, V> value)
        {
            if (value == null) return "NULL";
            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
            sb.append('{');
            int i = 0;
            for (Map.Entry<K, V> e : value.entrySet())

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