flxzt/rnote · error

Expected file, found directory

Error message

Expected file, found directory "{}"

What it means

Sentinel validation guard in path_is_file: the given path exists but is a directory, not a regular file, so it fails the file-type check. Fires whenever a CLI argument expected to be a file (e.g. an .rnote input) resolves to a directory.

Solutions

1. Pass the path to the actual file, not its containing directory
2. Verify the file exists (ls / Path::is_file) before running the command
3. Fix the typo or path in scripts; note the tool will not create missing inputs

Example fix

// before
rnote-cli export --rnote-file ./notes/
// after
rnote-cli export --rnote-file ./notes/sketch.rnote

let p = std::path::Path::new(input);
if !p.is_file() {
    eprintln!("{} is not a regular file", input);
    std::process::exit(2);
}

fn is_existing_file(p: &Path) -> bool {
    p.is_file()
}

match result {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("Expected file, found directory") => {
        eprintln!("Input must be a file, not a directory; check the path");
    }
    other => other,
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a directory or nonexistent path to an argument validated with path_is_file, such as the input .rnote or .xopp file path.

Common situations: Tab-completion selecting the parent directory; expecting the tool to create the file; typos in the file name.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

• Expected directory, found file
• Failed to get file name from output-file
• Failed to get file stem from rnote file
• Expected file with extension
• Expected file with extension

AI-assisted analysis of flxzt/rnote@bbc5354502 (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7fb5b7a81f6cf261. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/rnote-cli/src/validators.rs:15

use std::path::Path;

pub(crate) fn path_is_dir(path: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    if !path.is_dir() {
        return Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
            "Expected directory, found file \"{}\"",
            path.display()
        ));
    }
    Ok(())
}

pub(crate) fn path_is_file(path: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    if !path.is_file() {
        return Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
            "Expected file, found directory \"{}\"",
            path.display()
        ));
    }
    Ok(())
}

pub(crate) fn file_has_ext(path: &Path, expected_ext: &str) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    path_is_file(path)?;
    match path.extension() {
        Some(ext) if ext == expected_ext => Ok(()),
        Some(ext) => Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
            "Expected file with extension \"{expected_ext}\", found extension \"{ext:?}\", file \"{}\".",
            path.display()
        )),
        None => Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
            "Expected file with extension \"{expected_ext}\", no extension found for file \"{}\".",
            path.display()

View on GitHub (pinned to bbc5354502)