k3s-io/k3s · error

given token didn't match pattern %q or %q

Error message

given token didn't match pattern %q or %q

What it means

Error "given token didn't match pattern %q or %q" thrown in k3s-io/k3s.

Source

Thrown at pkg/cli/token/token.go:118

}

func deleteToken(app *cli.Context, cfg *cmds.Token) error {
	args := app.Args()
	if args.Len() < 1 {
		return errors.New("missing argument; 'token delete' is missing token")
	}

	cfg.Kubeconfig = util.GetKubeConfigPath(cfg.Kubeconfig)
	client, err := util.GetClientSet(cfg.Kubeconfig)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	for _, token := range args.Slice() {
		if !bootstraputil.IsValidBootstrapTokenID(token) {
			bts, err := kubeadm.NewBootstrapTokenString(token)
			if err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("given token didn't match pattern %q or %q", bootstrapapi.BootstrapTokenIDPattern, bootstrapapi.BootstrapTokenPattern)
			}
			token = bts.ID
		}
		secretName := bootstraputil.BootstrapTokenSecretName(token)
		if err := client.CoreV1().Secrets(metav1.NamespaceSystem).Delete(app.Context, secretName, metav1.DeleteOptions{}); err != nil {
			return errors.WithMessagef(err, "failed to delete bootstrap token %q", token)
		}

		fmt.Printf("bootstrap token %q deleted\n", token)
	}
	return nil
}

func Generate(app *cli.Context) error {
	if err := cmds.InitLogging(); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return generate(app, &cmds.TokenConfig)

View on GitHub (pinned to 6ba341e396)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pkg/cli/token/token.go:118 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of k3s-io/k3s@6ba341e396 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/65fce644e4f647a8. Report an issue: GitHub.