apache/dolphinscheduler · error · RuntimeException

Expression not valid

Error message

Expression not valid

What it means

calcWeekEnd parses a $[week_end(...)] time placeholder expression. It strips the week_end prefix/suffix, splits by comma, and requires exactly two parts: a date format and a day-offset expression (relative to Sunday). Otherwise it throws an untyped RuntimeException("Expression not valid") — note the capital E, so string matching on the message is unreliable across these sibling methods.

Source

Thrown at dolphinscheduler-task-plugin/dolphinscheduler-task-api/src/main/java/org/apache/dolphinscheduler/plugin/task/api/parser/TimePlaceholderUtils.java:612

     * @param expression expresstion
     * @param date       date
     * @return last day of week
     */
    public static Map.Entry<Date, String> calcWeekEnd(String expression, Date date) {
        String addMonthExpr = expression.substring(WEEK_END.length() + 1, expression.length() - 1);
        String[] params = addMonthExpr.split(COMMA);

        if (params.length == 2) {
            String dateFormat = params[0];
            String dayExpr = params[1];
            Integer day = calculate(dayExpr);
            Date targetDate = DateUtils.getSunday(date);
            targetDate = addDays(targetDate, day);

            return new AbstractMap.SimpleImmutableEntry<>(targetDate, dateFormat);
        }

        throw new RuntimeException("Expression not valid");
    }

    /**
     * calc months expression
     *
     * @param expression expresstion
     * @param date       date
     * @return calc months
     */
    public static Map.Entry<Date, String> calcMonths(String expression, Date date) {
        String addMonthExpr = expression.substring(ADD_MONTHS.length() + 1, expression.length() - 1);
        String[] params = addMonthExpr.split(COMMA);

        if (params.length == 2) {
            String dateFormat = params[0];
            String monthExpr = params[1];
            Integer addMonth = calculate(monthExpr);
            Date targetDate = addMonths(date, addMonth);

View on GitHub (pinned to 02eac45a1b)

Solutions

1. Provide exactly two comma-separated arguments: format then day expression, e.g. $[week_end(yyyyMMdd,0)] or $[week_end(yyyyMMdd,-7)].
2. Ensure the expression is fully parenthesized; the method assumes a trailing ')' is present (expression.length() - 1 strip).
3. Add upstream validation of placeholder arity before calling TimePlaceholderUtils.replacePlaceholder.
4. Do not match on the exact message string 'Expression not valid' when handling — siblings use lowercase 'expression not valid'; catch RuntimeException around the substitution call instead.

Example fix

// before: extra argument -> params.length == 3 -> throws
String expr = "$[week_end(yyyyMMdd,1,1)]";
// after: exactly format + offset
String expr = "$[week_end(yyyyMMdd,1)]";

String body = expr.substring(expr.indexOf('(') + 1, expr.length() - 1);
if (expr.startsWith("$[week_end(") && body.split(",").length != 2) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("week_end needs exactly format,offset: " + expr);
}

static boolean isValidWeekEnd(String expr) {
    return expr != null && expr.matches("\\$\\[week_end\\([^,]+,[^,()]+\\)\\]");
}

try {
    String value = TimePlaceholderUtils.replacePlaceholder(expr, new Date(), timezoneId);
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
    throw new TaskException("Invalid week_end placeholder: " + expr, e);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling calcWeekEnd (via calcTimeExpression) with a week_end expression whose body does not split into exactly 2 comma-separated parts, e.g. '$[week_end(yyyyMMdd)]' (only format, no offset) or '$[week_end(yyyyMMdd,1,2)]' (extra argument).

Common situations: A user defined a weekend-based placeholder without the day offset; an extra comma slipped in during editing; expressions migrated from another scheduler (e.g. Airtime/Cron-based placeholders) use different arity.

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

• java.lang.CloneNotSupportedException
• 50026
• DATA_IS_NOT_VALID
• Object json deserialization exception.
• Read file: %s error

AI-assisted analysis of apache/dolphinscheduler@02eac45a1b (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e09ca15a98454706. Report an issue: GitHub.