puppetlabs/puppet · error · ArgumentError

Must include a list of fields

Error message

Must include a list of fields

What it means

record_line defines a field-based record type for a FileParsing provider; the :fields option (the list of columns a line splits into) is mandatory. If the options hash has no :fields key, ArgumentError is raised immediately at provider-definition time.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/util/fileparsing.rb:302

    nil
  end

  # Define a new type of record.  These lines get split into hashes.  Valid
  # options are:
  # * <tt>:absent</tt>: What to use as value within a line, when a field is
  #   absent.  Note that in the record object, the literal :absent symbol is
  #   used, and not this value.  Defaults to "".
  # * <tt>:fields</tt>: The list of fields, as an array.  By default, all
  #   fields are considered required.
  # * <tt>:joiner</tt>: How to join fields together.  Defaults to '\t'.
  # * <tt>:optional</tt>: Which fields are optional.  If these are missing,
  #   you'll just get the 'absent' value instead of an ArgumentError.
  # * <tt>:rts</tt>: Whether to remove trailing whitespace.  Defaults to false.
  #   If true, whitespace will be removed; if a regex, then whatever matches
  #   the regex will be removed.
  # * <tt>:separator</tt>: The record separator.  Defaults to /\s+/.
  def record_line(name, options, &block)
    raise ArgumentError, _("Must include a list of fields") unless options.include?(:fields)

    record = FileRecord.new(:record, **options, &block)
    record.name = name.intern

    new_line_type(record)
  end

  # Are there any record types defined?
  def records?
    defined?(@record_types) and !@record_types.empty?
  end

  # Define a new type of text record.
  def text_line(name, options, &block)
    raise ArgumentError, _("You must provide a :match regex for text lines") unless options.include?(:match)

    record = FileRecord.new(:text, **options, &block)
    record.name = name.intern

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Add fields: %i[col1 col2 ...] naming every parsed column
2. If the line is matched by regex rather than split into columns, use text_line with :match instead
3. When options are built dynamically, assert the key with options.fetch(:fields)

Example fix

# before
record_line :hosts, separator: /\s+/
# => ArgumentError: Must include a list of fields

# after
record_line :hosts, fields: %i[ip name_list], separator: /\s+/

raise ArgumentError, ':fields required' unless options.key?(:fields)
record_line :myline, **options

When it happens

Trigger: record_line :hosts, separator: /\s+/ with no fields: key — a typo'd options hash, dynamically built options that drop the key, or a line that should actually have been declared with text_line.

Common situations: First-time provider authors omitting fields; copy-paste between text_line and record_line definitions; option hashes assembled at runtime.

Understand the failure class

Background: Missing required parameter errors: what 'X is required' and 'the required X param is missing' mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

• You must provide a :match regex for text lines
• Cannot have fields named %{name}
• Invalid record type %{record_type}
• Field '%{field}' is required
• Process record type %{record_name} returned non-hash

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9e8c6598e1af1924. Report an issue: GitHub.