apache/hadoop · error · IOException

Fixed record length {} is invalid. It should be set to a va

Error message

Fixed record length {} is invalid.  It should be set to a value greater than zero

What it means

Error "Fixed record length {} is invalid. It should be set to a value greater than zero" thrown in apache/hadoop.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/FixedLengthInputFormat.java:84

   * @return the record length, zero means none was set
   */
  public static int getRecordLength(Configuration conf) {
    return conf.getInt(FIXED_RECORD_LENGTH, 0);
  }

  @Override
  public void configure(JobConf conf) {
    compressionCodecs = new CompressionCodecFactory(conf);
  }

  @Override
  public RecordReader<LongWritable, BytesWritable>
      getRecordReader(InputSplit genericSplit, JobConf job, Reporter reporter)
      throws IOException {
    reporter.setStatus(genericSplit.toString());
    int recordLength = getRecordLength(job);
    if (recordLength <= 0) {
      throw new IOException("Fixed record length " + recordLength
          + " is invalid.  It should be set to a value greater than zero");
    }
    return new FixedLengthRecordReader(job, (FileSplit)genericSplit,
                                       recordLength);
  }

  @Override
  protected boolean isSplitable(FileSystem fs, Path file) {
    final CompressionCodec codec = compressionCodecs.getCodec(file);
    return(null == codec);
  }

}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Set mapreduce.input.fixedlengthinputformat.record.length to a positive integer greater than zero.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/FixedLengthInputFormat.java:84 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c20c55dabc2bc620. Report an issue: GitHub.