crowdsecurity/crowdsec · error

long2 is not a float : %v

Error message

long2 is not a float : %v

What it means

The Distance expr helper parses long2 as its final coordinate conversion. This error is thrown when the long2 argument cannot be parsed by strconv.ParseFloat; the helper logs a warning and returns (0.0, error).

Source

Thrown at pkg/exprhelpers/helpers.go:416

	long1f, err := strconv.ParseFloat(long1, 64)
	if err != nil {
		log.Warningf("long1 is not a float : %v", err)

		return 0.0, fmt.Errorf("long1 is not a float : %v", err)
	}

	lat2f, err := strconv.ParseFloat(lat2, 64)
	if err != nil {
		log.Warningf("lat2 is not a float : %v", err)

		return 0.0, fmt.Errorf("lat2 is not a float : %v", err)
	}

	long2f, err := strconv.ParseFloat(long2, 64)
	if err != nil {
		log.Warningf("long2 is not a float : %v", err)

		return 0.0, fmt.Errorf("long2 is not a float : %v", err)
	}

	// either set of coordinates is 0,0, return 0 to avoid FPs
	if (lat1f == 0.0 && long1f == 0.0) || (lat2f == 0.0 && long2f == 0.0) {
		log.Warningf("one of the coordinates is 0,0, returning 0")
		return 0.0, nil
	}

	first := haversine.Coord{Lat: lat1f, Lon: long1f}
	second := haversine.Coord{Lat: lat2f, Lon: long2f}

	_, km := haversine.Distance(first, second)

	return km, nil
}

// func QueryEscape(s string) string {
func QueryEscape(params ...any) (any, error) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 909b515798)

Solutions

1. Pass long2 as a plain decimal string such as "-0.1278".
2. Fix locale formatting (comma decimals, units, hemisphere letters) before the value reaches the helper.
3. Verify the interpolated variable is populated — a typo or missing field yields "" which always fails.
4. Add an expression-level numeric guard so Distance is only evaluated with all four valid coordinates.

Example fix

// before
Distance(lat1, long1, lat2, "-0,1278")
// after
Distance(lat1, long1, lat2, "-0.1278")

if _, err := strconv.ParseFloat(long2, 64); err != nil {
	// skip Distance call
}

func isFloat(s string) bool {
	_, err := strconv.ParseFloat(s, 64)
	return err == nil
}

expr: validate all four coordinates with isNumeric before Distance; on failure, take a non-scoring branch instead of relying on the 0.0 return

When it happens

Trigger: Calling exprhelpers.Distance where long2 is non-numeric — empty string from failed enrichment, "-0.1278 E" with a direction suffix, or a comma-decimal string.

Common situations: Reference coordinates configured in a config file with locale formatting; fields sourced from logs that embed units; typo in the variable name causing an empty string to be interpolated.

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

• lat1 is not a float : %v
• long1 is not a float : %v
• lat2 is not a float : %v
• unable to parse time
• unable to parse duration

AI-assisted analysis of crowdsecurity/crowdsec@909b515798 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6fc8c5e3fd97e9de. Report an issue: GitHub.