elastic/elasticsearch · error · IllegalArgumentException

delimiter must be a one char value

Error message

delimiter must be a one char value

What it means

Error "delimiter must be a one char value" thrown in elastic/elasticsearch.

Source

Thrown at modules/analysis-common/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/analysis/common/PathHierarchyTokenizerFactory.java:36

import org.elasticsearch.index.analysis.AbstractTokenizerFactory;

public class PathHierarchyTokenizerFactory extends AbstractTokenizerFactory {

    private final int bufferSize;

    private final char delimiter;
    private final char replacement;
    private final int skip;
    private final boolean reverse;

    PathHierarchyTokenizerFactory(IndexSettings indexSettings, Environment environment, String name, Settings settings) {
        super(name);
        bufferSize = settings.getAsInt("buffer_size", 1024);
        String delimiterString = settings.get("delimiter");
        if (delimiterString == null) {
            this.delimiter = PathHierarchyTokenizer.DEFAULT_DELIMITER;
        } else if (delimiterString.length() != 1) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("delimiter must be a one char value");
        } else {
            this.delimiter = delimiterString.charAt(0);
        }

        String replacementString = settings.get("replacement");
        if (replacementString == null) {
            this.replacement = this.delimiter;
        } else if (replacementString.length() != 1) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("replacement must be a one char value");
        } else {
            this.replacement = replacementString.charAt(0);
        }
        this.skip = settings.getAsInt("skip", PathHierarchyTokenizer.DEFAULT_SKIP);
        this.reverse = settings.getAsBoolean("reverse", false);
    }

    @Override
    public Tokenizer create() {

View on GitHub (pinned to db6a809a66)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at modules/analysis-common/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/analysis/common/PathHierarchyTokenizerFactory.java:36 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of elastic/elasticsearch@db6a809a66 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7cb8e18df58c5732. Report an issue: GitHub.