What causes "bind action not specified: ${keys}" in junegunn/fzf?

Make every key or key group in the --bind list is followed by ':action'

bind action not specified: ${keys}

Error message

bind action not specified: ${keys}

What it means

Thrown by parseKeymap at the end of --bind parsing. fzf allows multi-key binds ('a,b:accept'), accumulating pending key names until an action appears. If the input ends while keys are still pending (len(keys) > 0), those keys have no action bound and the option is rejected.

Source

Thrown at src/options.go:2057

				key = tui.Key(',')
			} else if len(keyName) == 1 && keyName[0] == escapedPlus {
				key = tui.Key('+')
			} else {
				keys, _, err := parseKeyChords(keyName, "key name required")
				if err != nil {
					return err
				}
				key = firstKey(keys)
			}
			keymap[key], err = parseActionList(pair[1], origPairStr[len(pair[0])+1:], keymap[key], key.Printable())
			if err != nil {
				return err
			}
		}
		keys = keys[:0]
	}
	if len(keys) > 0 {
		return errors.New("bind action not specified: " + strings.Join(keys, ", "))
	}
	return nil
}

func isExecuteAction(str string) actionType {
	masked := maskActionContents(":" + str)[1:]
	if masked == str {
		// Not masked
		return actIgnore
	}

	prefix := actionNameRegexp.FindString(str)
	switch prefix {
	case "become":
		return actBecome
	case "reload":
		return actReload
	case "reload-sync":

View on GitHub (pinned to bd4efa277b)

Solutions

Make every key or key group in the --bind list is followed by ':action'
Remove dangling trailing fragments like ',a,b' that have no action
Split complex binds into multiple --bind flags so each is easy to validate

Example fix

# before
fzf --bind 'ctrl-a:accept,a,b'
# after
fzf --bind 'ctrl-a:accept' --bind 'a,b:accept'

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

# bash: every comma-separated bind pair must contain ':action'
binds_ok() {
  IFS=',' read -ra p <<< "$1"
  for x in "${p[@]}"; do [[ "$x" == *:* ]] || return 1; done
}
binds_ok "$BINDS" || { echo "each --bind entry needs key:action" >&2; exit 1; }

Prevention

One --bind flag per binding keeps strings short and self-checking
When using multi-key chords, always terminate the group with ':action'

When it happens

Trigger: `--bind 'ctrl-a'` (single key, no colon/action), `--bind 'a,b'` (multi-key chord with no action), or a trailing fragment like `--bind 'ctrl-a:accept,a,b'` where the last chord has no action. Also the leading-comma case: ',ctrl-a:accept' leaves an empty pending key.

Common situations: Splitting a long bind list across shell lines and dropping the ':action' part of the last entry; refactoring bind strings and forgetting to close the final chord; truncated variables.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of junegunn/fzf@bd4efa277b (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/954abc32cc362eab. Report an issue: GitHub.