gohugoio/hugo · error

failed to create filter for

Error message

failed to create filter for %s: %w

What it means

While building an IntSets filter for a dimension (languages/versions/roles), NewIndexStringPredicateFromGlobsAndRanges failed to compile the provided glob/range patterns (vectorstores.go:806-808). This means the glob or range expression syntax itself is invalid, before any matching is attempted.

Solutions

1. Check the value of cfg.Globs for the failing dimension (named in the error) and correct the glob/range syntax.
2. Validate each pattern with the same glob library before feeding it to WithConfig.
3. Simplify the filter to isolate the offending token, then rebuild incrementally.

Example fix

// before
cfg.Globs.Versions = []string{"1..0..0", "[invalid"}

// after
cfg.Globs.Versions = []string{"1.0.0", "v2.*"}

// Pre-compile glob patterns to surface syntax errors before WithConfig.
func validateGlobs(patterns []string, resolve func(string) (int, error)) error {
    for _, p := range patterns {
        if _, err := predicate.NewIndexStringPredicateFromGlobsAndRanges([]string{p}, resolve, hglob.GetGlobDot); err != nil {
            return fmt.Errorf("invalid glob %q: %w", p, err)
        }
    }
    return nil
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a malformed glob (unbalanced brackets, invalid range like '1-5-9') in cfg.Globs.Languages/Versions/Roles; a character sequence the glob compiler rejects. The 'what' field names which dimension failed.

Common situations: Typing a version range filter with bad syntax in config; copy-pasting a glob from a shell that uses characters Hugo's matcher disallows; programmatically assembling filter strings with unescaped special chars.

Related errors

• failed to apply filters
• failed to compile Glob
• failed to match
• unknown dimension
• alias "" is an empty string

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@52c9bd7908 (2026-08-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bf49b991b92e9f92. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at hugolib/sitesmatrix/vectorstores.go:808

			switch cfg.ApplyDefaults {
			case IntSetsConfigApplyDefaultsIfNotSet:
				result.Set(matcher.IndexDefault())
			case IntSetsConfigApplyDefaultsAndAllLanguagesIfNotSet:
				if what == "languages" {
					for i := range matcher.ForEachIndex() {
						result.Set(i)
					}
				} else {
					result.Set(matcher.IndexDefault())
				}
			}

			return result, nil
		}

		filter, err := predicate.NewIndexStringPredicateFromGlobsAndRanges(values, matcher.ResolveIndex, hglob.GetGlobDot)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create filter for %s: %w", what, err)
		}
		iter, err := matcher.IndexMatch(filter)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to match %s %q: %w", what, values, err)
		}
		for i := range iter {
			if result == nil {
				result = hmaps.NewOrderedIntSet()
			}
			result.Set(i)
		}

		return result, nil
	}

	l, err1 := applyFilter("languages", cfg.Globs.Languages, b.cfg.ConfiguredLanguages)
	v, err2 := applyFilter("versions", cfg.Globs.Versions, b.cfg.ConfiguredVersions)
	r, err3 := applyFilter("roles", cfg.Globs.Roles, b.cfg.ConfiguredRoles)

View on GitHub (pinned to 52c9bd7908)