pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · RuntimeException

The function call getLastModifiedTime is not valid.

Error message

The function call getLastModifiedTime is not valid.

What it means

getLastModifiedTime(FilePath, DateFormat) is a JavaScript scripting function added by Pentaho Kettle (ScriptAddedFunctions) that returns a file's last-modified timestamp formatted with a SimpleDateFormat pattern. This RuntimeException is thrown when the argument contract is violated: the function requires exactly 2 arguments (file path string and date format string), with a non-null, non-undefined first argument. The library throws it before doing any I/O so the script author immediately learns the call shape is wrong.

Solutions

1. Pass exactly 2 arguments: getLastModifiedTime(filePath, 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss')
2. Ensure the first argument is a non-null, non-undefined string file path before calling
3. If no custom format is needed, pass null as the second argument (defaults to 'yyyy-MM-dd') but never omit it
4. Wrap the call in a check like if (path != null) before invoking

Example fix

// before
var ts = getLastModifiedTime(filename);
// after
var ts = getLastModifiedTime(filename, 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss');

function safeGetLastModifiedTime(path, fmt) {
  if (path == null) return null;
  if (typeof path !== 'string') path = String(path);
  if (fmt == null) fmt = 'yyyy-MM-dd';
  return getLastModifiedTime(path, fmt);
}

function isNonEmptyString(v) { return typeof v === 'string' && v.length > 0; }

try {
  var ts = getLastModifiedTime(path, 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss');
} catch (e) {
  // log and fall back
  var ts = null;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getLastModifiedTime in a JavaScript step with zero, one, or three+ arguments, or with a null/undefined file path as the first argument.

Common situations: Script authors copy a getLastModifiedTime(filePath) one-argument call from an older example or another dialect; a variable holding the path is undefined at runtime because an upstream field was renamed or empty; the second date-format argument was accidentally removed in a refactor.

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

• Please provide a valid date to the function call date2str.
• Row.EndOfFileReached
• Row.EndOfFileReadingRow
• Row.ErrorWritingRow
• Row.RowError

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/99e7f79264779a5c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/script/ScriptAddedFunctions.java:2376

          } else {
            throw new RuntimeException( "file [" + ArgList[0] + "] can not be found!" );
          }

          return lastmodifiedtime;
        } catch ( IOException e ) {
          throw new RuntimeException( "The function call getLastModifiedTime throw an error : " + e.toString() );
        } finally {
          if ( file != null ) {
            try {
              file.close();
            } catch ( Exception e ) {
              // Ignore errors
            }
          }
        }

      } else {
        throw new RuntimeException( "The function call getLastModifiedTime is not valid." );
      }
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new RuntimeException( e.toString() );
    }
  }

  public static Object trunc( ScriptEngine actualContext, Bindings actualObject, Object[] ArgList,
    Object FunctionContext ) {
    try {
      // 1 argument: normal truncation of numbers
      //
      if ( ArgList.length == 1 ) {
        if ( isNull( ArgList[0] ) ) {
          return null;
        } else if ( isUndefined( ArgList[0] ) ) {
          return undefinedValue;
        }

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