gohugoio/hugo · error

missing arguments for comparison

Error message

missing arguments for comparison

What it means

Thrown by Namespace.checkComparisonArgCount (compare.go:224-228) when a comparison function is called with fewer than the required number of additional arguments. Eq/Ne/Gt/Ge/Lt/Le/LtCollate each require at least one `other` value to compare against the first.

Source

Thrown at tpl/compare/compare.go:226

func (n *Namespace) LtCollate(collator *langs.Collator, first any, others ...any) bool {
	n.checkComparisonArgCount(1, others...)
	for _, other := range others {
		left, right := n.compareGetWithCollator(collator, first, other)
		if !(left < right) {
			return false
		}
	}
	return true
}

// Lt returns the boolean truth of arg1 < arg2 && arg1 < arg3 && arg1 < arg4.
func (n *Namespace) Lt(first any, others ...any) bool {
	return n.LtCollate(nil, first, others...)
}

func (n *Namespace) checkComparisonArgCount(min int, others ...any) bool {
	if len(others) < min {
		panic("missing arguments for comparison")
	}
	return true
}

// Conditional can be used as a ternary operator.
//
// It returns v1 if cond is true, else v2.
func (n *Namespace) Conditional(cond any, v1, v2 any) any {
	if hreflect.IsTruthful(cond) {
		return v1
	}
	return v2
}

func (ns *Namespace) compareGet(a any, b any) (float64, float64) {
	return ns.compareGetWithCollator(nil, a, b)
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 52c9bd7908)

Solutions

1. Provide at least two operands to every comparison function.
2. Guard the call so the second operand exists before invoking gt/lt/eq/etc.
3. Use with/if blocks to ensure the value is present.

Example fix

// before
{{ if gt $x }}yes{{ end }}
// after
{{ if gt $x 1 }}yes{{ end }}

{{ with $y }}
  {{ if gt $x . }}yes{{ end }}
{{ end }}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling gt, lt, ge, le, eq, or ne with only one argument, or with no arguments, e.g. {{ gt 5 }}. The variadic `others` slice is shorter than the minimum (1).

Common situations: A template variable meant to supply the second operand is empty/nil and the function is invoked unconditionally; refactoring a conditional removes the second argument by mistake.

Related errors

• size of result exceeds limit
• 'increment' must not be 0
• 'increment' must be > 0
• 'increment' must be < 0
• config needs a filename

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@52c9bd7908 (2026-08-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e98de45447d3cea9. Report an issue: GitHub.