mikefarah/yq · error

failed to parse INI content: %w

Error message

failed to parse INI content: %w

What it means

gopkg.in/ini's LoadSources rejected the input bytes as unparseable INI. The decoder forwards the library's error with %w, so the wrapped text names the actual syntax fault (e.g. missing section header delimiter, unbalanced quotes given the PreserveSurroundedQuote option, or key/value lines without a '=' delimiter).

Source

Thrown at pkg/yqlib/decoder_ini.go:50

func (dec *iniDecoder) Decode() (*CandidateNode, error) {
	// If processing is already finished, return io.EOF
	if dec.finished {
		return nil, io.EOF
	}

	// Read all content from the stored reader
	content, err := io.ReadAll(dec.reader)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read INI content: %w", err)
	}

	// Parse the INI content
	loadOpts := ini.LoadOptions{
		PreserveSurroundedQuote: dec.prefs.PreserveSurroundedQuote,
	}
	cfg, err := ini.LoadSources(loadOpts, content)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse INI content: %w", err)
	}

	// Create a root CandidateNode as a MappingNode (since INI is key-value based)
	root := &CandidateNode{
		Kind:  MappingNode,
		Tag:   "!!map",
		Value: "",
	}

	// Process each section in the INI file
	for _, section := range cfg.Sections() {
		sectionName := section.Name()

		if sectionName == ini.DefaultSection {
			// For the default section, add key-value pairs directly to the root node
			for _, key := range section.Keys() {
				keyName := key.Name()
				keyValue := key.String()

View on GitHub (pinned to 8b5af0694b)

Solutions

1. Fix the INI syntax reported in the wrapped error (delimiters, quoting, section headers)
2. Check that key/value pairs use '=' or ':' separators
3. Confirm the file is INI and not a similar format like TOML or .env
4. Review ini.LoadOptions (e.g. PreserveSurroundedQuote) if quotes are intentional

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pkg/yqlib/decoder_ini.go:50 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

AI-assisted analysis of mikefarah/yq@8b5af0694b (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/229e0cb6d5ad52a0. Report an issue: GitHub.