prestodb/presto · error · IllegalArgumentException

Unable to parse '%s' offset for column '%s'

Error message

Unable to parse '%s' offset for column '%s'

What it means

RawRowEncoder.parseOffset converts the start/end groups of a matched mapping string to integers via parseInt. A NumberFormatException is rethrown as IllegalArgumentException 'Unable to parse <start|end> offset for column <name>', chaining the original exception.

Source

Thrown at presto-kafka/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/kafka/encoder/raw/RawRowEncoder.java:165

                    this.end = parseOffset(mappingMatcher.group(2), "end", this.name);
                }
                else {
                    this.start = parseOffset(mappingMatcher.group(1), "start", this.name);
                    this.end = this.start + this.fieldType.getSize();
                }
            }
            else {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(format("No mapping defined for column '%s'", this.name));
            }
        }

        private static int parseOffset(String group, String offsetName, String columnName)
        {
            try {
                return parseInt(group);
            }
            catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(format("Unable to parse '%s' offset for column '%s'", offsetName, columnName), e);
            }
        }

        private static FieldType parseFieldType(String dataFormat, String columnName)
        {
            try {
                if (!dataFormat.isEmpty()) {
                    return FieldType.valueOf(dataFormat.toUpperCase(Locale.ENGLISH));
                }
                return FieldType.BYTE;
            }
            catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(format("Invalid dataFormat '%s' for column '%s'", dataFormat, columnName));
            }
        }

        private static void checkFieldType(String columnName, Type columnType, FieldType fieldType)
        {

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

1. Use integer offsets within Integer range for both start and end in the mapping string (e.g. '0-8', not '99999999999-100000000007').
2. Ensure offsets are plain decimal digits with no sign or whitespace.
3. If the message is genuinely that large, remap the needed bytes at smaller offsets or switch to a structured data format.

Example fix

// before
"mapping": "2147483648-2147483655"
// after
"mapping": "0-7"

// ensure offsets are plain integers within range before using them
long off = Long.parseLong(group); // fail fast on bad input
if (off < 0 || off > Integer.MAX_VALUE) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Offset out of int range: " + group);
}

try {
    createKafkaTable(defn);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("Unable to parse")) {
        // fix the named column's start/end offsets to plain decimal ints
    }
    throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: A mapping like '01234567890123-5' (offset exceeding Integer.MAX_VALUE) or a mapping that matched the pattern with a group too large/non-numeric, parsed as a start or end offset for the column.

Common situations: Mapping offsets past 2^31-1 in very large messages; leading '+' sign or other characters accepted by the regex but not parseInt; accidental concatenation in templated config producing huge numbers.

Understand the failure class

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

Related errors

• Mapping length '%s' is not equal to expected length '%s' for
• Invalid mapping for column '%s'
• No mapping defined for column '%s'
• unexpected internal column '%s'
• Column '%s' does not support 'null' value

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d6fef64999af808d. Report an issue: GitHub.