golangci/golangci-lint · error

error in exclude rule #%d: %w

Error message

error in exclude rule #%d: %w

What it means

LinterExclusions.Validate iterates linters.exclusions.rules and wraps any per-rule validation failure with 'error in exclude rule #%d', where #N is the zero-based index of the offending rule. It localizes which rule in the list is malformed; the wrapped inner error says what's wrong with it.

Source

Thrown at pkg/config/linters_exclusions.go:35

	ExclusionPresetCommonFalsePositives = "common-false-positives"
	ExclusionPresetLegacy               = "legacy"
)

const excludeRuleMinConditionsCount = 2

type LinterExclusions struct {
	Generated   string        `mapstructure:"generated"`
	WarnUnused  bool          `mapstructure:"warn-unused"`
	Presets     []string      `mapstructure:"presets"`
	Rules       []ExcludeRule `mapstructure:"rules"`
	Paths       []string      `mapstructure:"paths"`
	PathsExcept []string      `mapstructure:"paths-except"`
}

func (e *LinterExclusions) Validate() error {
	for i, rule := range e.Rules {
		if err := rule.Validate(); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error in exclude rule #%d: %w", i, err)
		}
	}

	allPresets := []string{
		ExclusionPresetComments,
		ExclusionPresetStdErrorHandling,
		ExclusionPresetCommonFalsePositives,
		ExclusionPresetLegacy,
	}

	for _, preset := range e.Presets {
		if !slices.Contains(allPresets, preset) {
			return fmt.Errorf("invalid preset: %s", preset)
		}
	}

	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to ed7a235d2d)

Solutions

1. Look at rule index #N (0-based) in linters.exclusions.rules and read the wrapped cause
2. Fix the inner issue: add missing conditions or correct the regex
3. Validate the config with 'golangci-lint config verify' before running

Example fix

# before (rule #1 has no second condition)
  exclusions:
    rules:
      - path: _test\.go
      - text: 'unused'
# after
  exclusions:
    rules:
      - path: _test\.go
      - text: 'unused'
        linters:
          - staticcheck

for i, rule := range cfg.Linters.Exclusions.Rules {
	if err := rule.Validate(); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("exclusion rule #%d: %w", i, err)
	}
}

if err := cfg.Linters.Exclusions.Validate(); err != nil {
	var idxErr interface{ Error() string }
	// parse "#N" from message or pre-validate per-rule to get the index
	log.Fatalf("%v", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any exclusion rule failing its own Validate — e.g. too few conditions set, invalid regex in path/source/text, or a bad exclusion-preset reference within the rule.

Common situations: Large exclusion lists where a hand-added rule is incomplete; regexes with unbalanced parentheses; rules copied between configs missing fields.

Related errors

• at least %d of (text, source, path[-except], linters) should
• %s is not a formatter
• %s is a formatter
• invalid preset: %s
• custom linter %q: %w

AI-assisted analysis of golangci/golangci-lint@ed7a235d2d (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/35a6f5f36d7cad51. Report an issue: GitHub.