golang/go · warning

cannot combine -all and -short

Error message

cannot combine -all and -short

What it means

Returned by the `go doc` flag handler when both -all (full recursive docs) and -short (one-line per symbol) are passed. The two flags are semantically mutually exclusive — -all expands everything while -short collapses to a summary — so combining them is a user error caught right after flagSet.Parse.

Source

Thrown at src/cmd/go/internal/doc/doc.go:218

	matchCase = false
	flagSet.StringVar(&chdir, "C", "", "change to `dir` before running command")
	flagSet.BoolVar(&unexported, "u", false, "show unexported symbols as well as exported")
	flagSet.BoolVar(&matchCase, "c", false, "symbol matching honors case (paths not affected)")
	flagSet.BoolVar(&showAll, "all", false, "show all documentation for package")
	flagSet.BoolVar(&showEx, "ex", false, "show executable examples for symbol or package")
	flagSet.BoolVar(&showCmd, "cmd", false, "show symbols with package docs even if package is a command")
	flagSet.BoolVar(&showSrc, "src", false, "show source code for symbol")
	flagSet.BoolVar(&short, "short", false, "one-line representation for each symbol")
	flagSet.BoolVar(&serveHTTP, "http", false, "serve HTML docs over HTTP")
	flagSet.Parse(args)
	counter.CountFlags("doc/flag:", *flagSet)
	if chdir != "" {
		if err := os.Chdir(chdir); err != nil {
			return err
		}
	}
	if showAll && short {
		return fmt.Errorf("cannot combine -all and -short")
	}
	if serveHTTP {
		// Special case: if there are no arguments, try to go to an appropriate page
		// depending on whether we're in a module or workspace. The pkgsite homepage
		// is often not the most useful page.
		if len(flagSet.Args()) == 0 {
			mod, err := runCmd(append(os.Environ(), "GOWORK=off"), "go", "list", "-m")
			if err == nil && mod != "" && mod != "command-line-arguments" {
				// If there's a module, go to the module's doc page.
				return doPkgsite(ctx, mod, "")
			}
			gowork, err := runCmd(nil, "go", "env", "GOWORK")
			if err == nil && gowork != "" {
				// Outside a module, but in a workspace, go to the home page
				// with links to each of the modules' pages.
				return doPkgsite(ctx, "", "")
			}
			// Outside a module or workspace, go to the documentation for the standard library.

View on GitHub (pinned to b6b368adc5)

Solutions

1. Pick one: use -all for full docs or -short for a summary, not both.
2. Audit shell aliases / Makefile targets for conflicting flag pairs.
3. Drop one flag from the command line and retry.

Example fix

# before
$ go doc -all -short fmt
# -> cannot combine -all and -short

# after
$ go doc -short fmt   # one-line summary
$ go doc -all fmt     # full docs

hasAll := containsFlag(args, "-all")
hasShort := containsFlag(args, "-short")
if hasAll && hasShort {
    return errors.New("-all and -short are mutually exclusive")
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking `go doc -all -short [pkg]` (in either order); aliasing flags in a wrapper script that sets both.

Common situations: Copy-pasted flag combos from different guides; shell aliases or Makefile targets that bolt -all and -short together; tab-completion inserting extra flags.

Related errors

• -C flag must be first flag on command line
• no such package: %s
• no symbol %s in package%s
• pattern %q does not specify a single package
• error: cannot use -w with standard input

AI-assisted analysis of golang/go@b6b368adc5 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/085000d6be781744. Report an issue: GitHub.