apache/hadoop · error · IOException

Null argument at position

Error message

Null argument at position 

What it means

Error "Null argument at position " thrown in apache/hadoop.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/find/BaseExpression.java:186

    return this.arguments;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the argument at the given position (starting from 1).
   *
   * @param position
   *          argument to be returned
   * @return requested argument
   * @throws IOException
   *           if the argument doesn't exist or is null
   */
  protected String getArgument(int position) throws IOException {
    if (position > this.arguments.size()) {
      throw new IOException("Missing argument at " + position);
    }
    String argument = this.arguments.get(position - 1);
    if (argument == null) {
      throw new IOException("Null argument at position " + position);
    }
    return argument;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the children of this expression.
   *
   * @return list of child expressions
   */
  protected List<Expression> getChildren() {
    return this.children;
  }

  @Override
  public int getPrecedence() {
    return 0;
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Ensure no null/empty tokens are passed to the find expression parser.
2. Validate the argument list before constructing the expression.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown by find expression parsing when a null argument is encountered at a position where a value is required.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/45fe4234d157496c. Report an issue: GitHub.