pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error

The function call indexOf requires 2 or 3 arguments

Error message

The function call indexOf requires 2 or 3 arguments

What it means

indexOf is a custom Rhino string helper that finds a substring and requires exactly 2 or 3 arguments (string, substring, optional fromIndex). Any other count throws the Rhino RuntimeError 'The function call indexOf requires 2 or 3 arguments'.

Solutions

1. Call indexOf(str, subString) with the target string first.
2. Add the optional third fromIndex argument only as a number.
3. Remove any arguments beyond the third.

Example fix

// before
var i = value.indexOf(sub); // wrong: only 1 arg to helper
// after
var i = indexOf(value, sub);

// JS guard before calling
if (str === null || str === undefined || sub === undefined) return -1;
var i = indexOf(String(str), String(sub));

function safeIndexOf(str, sub, fromIndex) {
  if (str === null || str === undefined || sub === undefined) return -1;
  return (fromIndex === undefined) ? indexOf(String(str), String(sub))
                                   : indexOf(String(str), String(sub), Number(fromIndex));
}

try { var i = indexOf(s, sub); }
catch (e) { if (String(e).indexOf('2 or 3 arguments') >= 0) { /* fix arity */ } throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling indexOf with only one argument (JS-style str.indexOf(sub) confusion — this helper takes the string as the first argument), or with more than 3 arguments.

Common situations: Using native JavaScript indexOf syntax (value.indexOf(sub)) with this helper instead; passing extra flags as a 4th argument; forgetting the substring 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 getDigitsOnly requires 1 argument.
• The function call LuhnCheck requires 1 argument.
• The function call copyFileis not valid.
• The function call getFileSize is not valid.
• The function call isEmpty is not valid

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c62ec06d145e984d. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/scriptvalues_mod/ScriptValuesAddedFunctions.java:195

  public static int indexOf( Context actualContext, Scriptable actualObject, Object[] ArgList,
    Function FunctionContext ) {

    int returnIndex = -1;

    if ( ArgList.length == 2 || ArgList.length == 3 ) {
      if ( !isNull( ArgList ) && !isUndefined( ArgList ) ) {
        String string = Context.toString( ArgList[0] );
        String subString = Context.toString( ArgList[1] );

        int fromIndex = 0;
        if ( ArgList.length == 3 ) {
          fromIndex = (int) Math.round( Context.toNumber( ArgList[2] ) );
        }
        returnIndex = string.indexOf( subString, fromIndex );
      }
    } else {
      throw Context.reportRuntimeError( "The function call indexOf requires 2 or 3 arguments" );
    }
    return returnIndex;
  }

  public static Object getTransformationName( Context actualContext, Scriptable actualObject, Object[] ArgList,
    Function FunctionContext ) {
    try {
      Object objTranName = Context.toString( actualObject.get( "_TransformationName_", actualObject ) );
      return objTranName;
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw Context.reportRuntimeError( e.toString() );
    }
  }

  public static void appendToFile( Context actualContext, Scriptable actualObject, Object[] ArgList,
    Function FunctionContext ) {

    if ( !isNull( ArgList ) && !isUndefined( ArgList ) ) {

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