charmbracelet/gum · error

failed to write selected row: %w

Error message

failed to write selected row: %w

What it means

Gum table failed to write the entire selected row to the output writer (when --return-column is not used or out of range). The writer error is wrapped with %w. Like error 44, the TUI succeeded but emitting the result failed.

Source

Thrown at table/command.go:174

		tea.WithOutput(os.Stderr),
		tea.WithContext(ctx),
	).Run()
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to start tea program: %w", err)
	}

	if tm == nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to get selection")
	}

	m = tm.(model)
	if o.ReturnColumn > 0 && o.ReturnColumn <= len(m.selected) {
		if err = writer.Write([]string{m.selected[o.ReturnColumn-1]}); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to write col %d of selected row: %w", o.ReturnColumn, err)
		}
	} else {
		if err = writer.Write([]string(m.selected)); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to write selected row: %w", err)
		}
	}

	writer.Flush()

	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4d089f9550)

Solutions

1. Verify the command's stdout destination is open and writable for the whole run
2. Don't let downstream consumers close the pipe prematurely
3. Check disk space/permissions on the redirect target
4. Read the wrapped %w cause for the precise IO failure

Example fix

// before
gum table > /dev/full   # write error: no space
// after
gum table > results.txt

row=$(gum table < data.csv) || { echo 'failed to write row' >&2; exit 1; }

When it happens

Trigger: No valid `--return-column` (0, unset, or greater than selected row length), `writer.Write([]string(m.selected))` fails — broken stdout pipe, closed descriptor, or IO error.

Common situations: Downstream process exits before reading output (SIGPIPE), redirecting to an unwritable path, disk full, or containerized environments with closed stdout.

Related errors

• failed to write col %d of selected row: %w
• unable to write output: %w
• stdin is empty
• failed to read line: %w
• failed to write to stdout: %w

AI-assisted analysis of charmbracelet/gum@4d089f9550 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cffdb3b13b57d5a0. Report an issue: GitHub.