pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error

The function call escapeHtml requires 1 argument.

Error message

The function call escapeHtml requires 1 argument.

What it means

escapeHtml HTML-escapes a string using Const.escapeHtml in the Modified Java Script Value step. This error is thrown when the function is invoked with an argument count other than 1 — the wrapper only supports a single input string.

Solutions

1. Call escapeHtml with exactly one argument: escapeHtml(htmlString)
2. Remove extra arguments; escaping options are not supported by this built-in
3. Review the JS function list in the step dialog for the correct signature

Example fix

// before
var escaped = escapeHtml(text, false);
// after
var escaped = escapeHtml(text);

if (typeof html === 'string') { var escaped = escapeHtml(html); }

function isString(v){ return typeof v === 'string'; }

try { var escaped = escapeHtml(html); } catch (e) { throw new Error('escapeHtml requires exactly 1 argument: ' + e.message); }

When it happens

Trigger: escapeHtml() with zero args or escapeHtml(s, mode) with extra args; ArgList.length != 1 triggers Context.reportRuntimeError.

Common situations: Scripts ported from other JS environments where escapeHtml accepts options objects; users trying to pass an output field as a second argument.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• The function call unEscapeHtml requires 1 argument.
• The function call date2str requires 1, 2, 3, or 4 arguments.
• The function call dateAdd requires 3 arguments.
• The function call escapeSQL requires 1 argument.
• The function call escapeXml requires 1 argument.

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c203d00c9f646484. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/scriptvalues_mod/ScriptValuesAddedFunctions.java:2722

    }
  }

  public static String escapeXml( Context actualContext, Scriptable actualObject, Object[] ArgList,
    Function FunctionContext ) {
    if ( ArgList.length == 1 ) {
      return Const.escapeXML( Context.toString( ArgList[0] ) );
    } else {
      throw Context.reportRuntimeError( "The function call escapeXml requires 1 argument." );

    }
  }

  public static String escapeHtml( Context actualContext, Scriptable actualObject, Object[] ArgList,
    Function FunctionContext ) {
    if ( ArgList.length == 1 ) {
      return Const.escapeHtml( Context.toString( ArgList[0] ) );
    } else {
      throw Context.reportRuntimeError( "The function call escapeHtml requires 1 argument." );
    }
  }

  public static String unEscapeHtml( Context actualContext, Scriptable actualObject, Object[] ArgList,
    Function FunctionContext ) {
    if ( ArgList.length == 1 ) {
      return Const.unEscapeHtml( Context.toString( ArgList[0] ) );
    } else {
      throw Context.reportRuntimeError( "The function call unEscapeHtml requires 1 argument." );
    }
  }

  public static String unEscapeXml( Context actualContext, Scriptable actualObject, Object[] ArgList,
    Function FunctionContext ) {
    if ( ArgList.length == 1 ) {
      return Const.unEscapeXml( Context.toString( ArgList[0] ) );
    } else {
      throw Context.reportRuntimeError( "The function call unEscapeXml requires 1 argument." );

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