docker/cli · error

empty section between colons

Error message

empty section between colons

What it means

Error "empty section between colons" thrown in docker/cli.

Source

Thrown at internal/volumespec/volumespec.go:60

			buffer = buffer[:0] // reset, but reuse capacity
		default:
			buffer = append(buffer, char)
		}
	}

	populateType(&volume)
	return volume, nil
}

func isWindowsDrive(buffer []rune, char rune) bool {
	return char == ':' && len(buffer) == 1 && unicode.IsLetter(buffer[0])
}

func populateFieldFromBuffer(char rune, buffer []rune, volume *VolumeConfig) error {
	strBuffer := string(buffer)
	switch {
	case len(buffer) == 0:
		return errors.New("empty section between colons")
	// Anonymous volume
	case volume.Source == "" && char == endOfSpec:
		volume.Target = strBuffer
		return nil
	case volume.Source == "":
		volume.Source = strBuffer
		return nil
	case volume.Target == "":
		volume.Target = strBuffer
		return nil
	case char == ':':
		return errors.New("too many colons")
	}
	for option := range strings.SplitSeq(strBuffer, ",") {
		switch option {
		case "ro":
			volume.ReadOnly = true
		case "rw":

View on GitHub (pinned to e9452d6e78)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at internal/volumespec/volumespec.go:60 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of docker/cli@e9452d6e78 (2026-08-01). Data as JSON: /data/errors/97a60bf27e0ca042.json. Report an issue: GitHub.