pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · RuntimeException

[ + ArgList[0] + ] is not a file!

Error message

[ + ArgList[0] + ] is not a file!

What it means

Thrown by ScriptAddedFunctions.isFile when the resolved VFS object exists but is not a regular file (e.g. it is a directory). Instead of simply returning false, the implementation throws 'is not a file!' when the type check fails on an existing path.

Solutions

1. Pass a path you expect to be a regular file; handle directories before calling isFile.
2. Strip trailing '/' from directory paths and append the expected filename.
3. If you only need existence semantics, check existence separately and treat directories explicitly.

Example fix

// before
 var ok = isFile('/data/archive');
// after
 var ok = isFile('/data/archive/export.csv');

var f = new java.io.File(path);
if (f.exists() && f.isFile()) {
  var ok = isFile(path);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling isFile('/some/folder') where the path exists in VFS but has type FOLDER instead of FILE.

Common situations: Testing whether a path is a file but pointing at a directory, user-supplied paths that may be folders, or configuration variables containing directory roots.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

• ] is not a file!
• file [ + ArgList[0] + ] can not be found!
• The function call getFileSize throw an error :
• The function call is File throw an error : + e.toString()
• AvroInputDialog.Error.KettleFileException

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5061fa96be4a0606. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/script/ScriptAddedFunctions.java:2142

  public static boolean isFile( Bowl bowl, ScriptEngine actualContext, Bindings actualObject, Object[] ArgList,
    Object FunctionContext ) {
    try {
      if ( ArgList.length == 1 && !isNull( ArgList[0] ) && !isUndefined( ArgList[0] ) ) {
        if ( ArgList[0].equals( null ) ) {
          return false;
        }
        FileObject file = null;

        try {
          // Source file
          file = KettleVFS.getInstance( bowl ).getFileObject( (String) ArgList[0] );
          boolean isafile = false;
          if ( file.exists() ) {
            if ( file.getType().equals( FileType.FILE ) ) {
              isafile = true;
            } else {
              throw new RuntimeException( "[" + ArgList[0] + "] is not a file!" );
            }
          } else {
            throw new RuntimeException( "file [" + ArgList[0] + "] can not be found!" );
          }
          return isafile;
        } catch ( IOException e ) {
          throw new RuntimeException( "The function call is File throw an error : " + e.toString() );
        } finally {
          if ( file != null ) {
            try {
              file.close();
            } catch ( Exception e ) {
              // Ignore errors
            }
          }
        }

      } else {

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