mikefarah/yq · error

could not load tz [%v]: %w

Error message

could not load tz [%v]: %w

What it means

The tz operator passed its timezone argument to time.LoadLocation and the IANA database lookup failed. The named zone (shown in brackets) is not a valid IANA timezone identifier or the zoneinfo database is unavailable on this system; the %w wraps Go's own error detail.

Source

Thrown at pkg/yqlib/operator_datetime.go:109

		node.Key = candidate.Key
		results.PushBack(node)
	}

	return context.ChildContext(results), nil
}

func tzOp(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *ExpressionNode) (Context, error) {
	timezoneStr, err := getStringParameter("timezone", d, context, expressionNode.RHS)
	layout := context.GetDateTimeLayout()

	if err != nil {
		return Context{}, err
	}
	var results = list.New()

	timezone, err := time.LoadLocation(timezoneStr)
	if err != nil {
		return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("could not load tz [%v]: %w", timezoneStr, err)
	}

	for el := context.MatchingNodes.Front(); el != nil; el = el.Next() {
		candidate := el.Value.(*CandidateNode)

		parsedTime, err := parseDateTime(layout, candidate.Value)
		if err != nil {
			return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("could not parse datetime of [%v] using layout [%v]: %w", candidate.GetNicePath(), layout, err)
		}
		tzTime := parsedTime.In(timezone)

		results.PushBack(candidate.CreateReplacement(ScalarNode, candidate.Tag, tzTime.Format(layout)))
	}

	return context.ChildContext(results), nil
}

func parseUnixTime(unixTime string) (time.Time, error) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 8b5af0694b)

Solutions

1. Use a valid IANA name such as "Australia/Sydney" or "UTC" (not "AEST", not "GMT+10")
2. Check spelling of the zone name
3. On systems without tzdata, ensure Go can find it (embed tzdata or set ZONEINFO)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pkg/yqlib/operator_datetime.go:109 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of mikefarah/yq@8b5af0694b (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f59576fdd2e90c38. Report an issue: GitHub.