can1357/oh-my-pi · error · SortError

multiple output files specified

Error message

multiple output files specified

What it means

SortError::MultipleOutputFiles is thrown when more than one output file is specified. sort accepts at most a single -o/--output target; extra operands after the first -o are rejected because output cannot be split across files.

Source

Thrown at crates/pi-builtins/src/sort.rs:2621

	ReadFailed { path: PathBuf, error: std::io::Error },

	#[error("failed to open temporary file: {}", strip_errno(.error))]
	OpenTmpFileFailed { error: std::io::Error },

	#[error("could not run compress program '{}': {}", .prog, strip_errno(.error))]
	CompressProgExecutionFailed { prog: String, error: std::io::Error },

	#[error("{} terminated abnormally", .prog.quote())]
	CompressProgTerminatedAbnormally { prog: String },

	#[error("cannot create temporary file in {}:", .path.quote())]
	TmpFileCreationFailed { path: PathBuf },

	#[error("extra operand {}\nfile operands cannot be combined with --files0-from\nTry 'sort --help' for more information.", .file.quote())]
	FileOperandsCombined { file: PathBuf },


	#[error("multiple output files specified")]
	MultipleOutputFiles,

	#[error("when reading file names from standard input, no file name of '-' allowed")]
	MinusInStdIn,

	#[error("no input from {}", .file.quote())]
	EmptyInputFile { file: PathBuf },

	#[error("{}:{}: invalid zero-length file name", .file.maybe_quote(), .line_num)]
	ZeroLengthFileName { file: PathBuf, line_num: usize },
}

impl SortError {
	fn message(message: impl Into<String>) -> Self {
		Self::Message(message.into())
	}

	fn code(&self) -> i32 {

View on GitHub (pinned to 9690622007)

Solutions

1. Pass exactly one -o/--output file.
2. Use `tee` or explicit separate invocations if multiple outputs are genuinely needed.
3. Fix wrapper scripts to take the last/single configured output path rather than joining an array.

Example fix

// before
sort -o a.txt -o b.txt input.txt
// after
sort -o a.txt input.txt

// ensure at most one -o/--output before invoking sort
const outputs = args.filter(a => a === "-o" || a === "--output");
if (outputs.length > 1) throw new Error("at most one -o/--output is allowed");

try {
  await sort(args);
} catch (err) {
  if (String(err).includes("multiple output files")) {
    // fall back to the last configured output only
    await sort(dedupeOutputFlags(args));
  } else throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking the sort builtin with multiple -o options (e.g. `sort -o a.txt -o b.txt input`) or otherwise arranging for more than one output file operand.

Common situations: Shell scripts that append `-o $OUT` in a loop, producing several output flags; copy-paste mistakes; config-driven wrappers that join an array of output paths into repeated -o flags.

Related errors

• extra operand {} file operands cannot be combined with --fil
• when reading file names from standard input, no file name of
• Invalid quoting style: {style}
• validate requires a finding URI or <scan-id> <finding-id>
• show requires a scan id or security:// URI

AI-assisted analysis of can1357/oh-my-pi@9690622007 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ba795129cf1e93e9. Report an issue: GitHub.