influxdata/influxdb · error · Error

Error writing output

Error message

Error writing output: {0}

What it means

Error::Write wraps a std::io::Error ([#from]) raised while writing the formatted InfluxQL output to the destination writer. Any I/O failure while streaming the formatted line-protocol bytes — 'Error writing output: {0}' — surfaces as this variant.

Solutions

1. Inspect the inner std::io::Error kind (e.g., PermissionDenied, BrokenPipe, UnexpectedEof) and address that root cause
2. Check disk space and write permissions on the destination file/directory before formatting
3. Handle BrokenPipe gracefully by catching it rather than treating it as a formatter bug
4. Retry the operation or write to a different destination (stdout, temp file) after fixing the I/O condition

Example fix

// before
let mut out = std::fs::File::create("/ro/mount/out.lp")?;
formatter.format(&batches, &mut out)?;
// after
let mut out = std::fs::OpenOptions::new()
    .write(true)
    .create(true)
    .open("./out.lp")?; // writable path
formatter.format(&batches, &mut out)?;

// ensure destination is writable before formatting
let probe = std::fs::OpenOptions::new().append(true).open(path)?;
drop(probe);

fn is_write_error(e: &influxql_format::Error) -> bool {
    matches!(e, influxql_format::Error::Write(_))
}

match formatter.format(&batches, &mut out) {
    Err(influxql_format::Error::Write(io)) if io.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::BrokenPipe => {
        // consumer went away; exit quietly
    }
    other => other?,
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling a format method that takes a writer (e.g., format_to or impl write into a File, TcpStream, or in-memory buffer) when the underlying write fails: disk full, closed pipe, permission denied on the file, or a broken connection to a remote sink.

Common situations: Redirecting formatted output to a file on a full or read-only filesystem; writing to a socket whose peer has disconnected (EPIPE); piping into a downstream process that exited early.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to write file", "Could not save figure", "Error saving remote file" — file write failed: causes and fixes across languages and libraries — this error's family across 38 libraries.

Related errors

• Arrow error
• Bind parameter ' ' was provided but not found in the…
• Bind parameter ' ' was referenced in the InfluxQL statement…
• can only perform queries on a single database
• cannot write parquet to a terminal, use `--output

AI-assisted analysis of influxdata/influxdb@06200ef96b (2026-09-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b5bdc2e5e27fc23f. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at core/influxdb_iox_client/src/format/influxql.rs:28

use thiserror::Error;

/// Error type for results formatting
#[derive(Debug, Error)]
pub enum Error {
    /// Arrow error.
    #[error("Arrow error: {}", .0)]
    Arrow(ArrowError),

    /// [`InfluxQlMetadata`] not found in Arrow schema metadata.
    #[error("Missing InfluxQL metadata")]
    MissingMetadata,

    /// Error deserializing [`InfluxQlMetadata`] from Arrow schema metadata.
    #[error("Invalid InfluxQL metadata: {0}")]
    InvalidMetadata(#[from] serde_json::Error),

    /// Error writing formatted output.
    #[error("Error writing output: {0}")]
    Write(#[from] std::io::Error),
}
type Result<T, E = Error> = std::result::Result<T, E>;

/// Options for controlling how table borders are rendered.
#[derive(Debug, Default, Clone, Copy)]
pub enum TableBorders {
    /// Use ASCII characters.
    #[default]
    Ascii,
    /// Use UNICODE box-drawing characters.
    Unicode,
    /// Do not render borders.
    None,
}

/// Options for the [`write_columnar`] function.
#[derive(Debug, Default, Copy, Clone)]

View on GitHub (pinned to 06200ef96b)