What causes "coordinates length must be 4" in qax-os/excelize?

Ensure the slice has exactly 4 elements: [col1, row1, col2, row2]

coordinates length must be 4

Error message

coordinates length must be 4

What it means

ErrCoordinates is returned when a coordinates tuple does not contain exactly 4 integers. Functions like sortCoordinates and coordinatesToRangeRef expect [col1,row1,col2,row2] defining a rectangular range; any other length cannot form a range reference. It is a fast input-shape check.

Source

Thrown at errors.go:43

	// boolean type XML attribute.
	ErrAttrValBool = errors.New("unexpected child of attrValBool")
	// ErrCellCharsLength defined the error message for receiving a cell
	// characters length that exceeds the limit.
	ErrCellCharsLength = fmt.Errorf("cell value must be 0-%d characters", TotalCellChars)
	// ErrCellStyles defined the error message on cell styles exceeds the limit.
	ErrCellStyles = fmt.Errorf("the cell styles exceeds the %d limit", MaxCellStyles)
	// ErrChartTitle defined the error message on both formula and rich text for
	// chart title.
	ErrChartTitle = errors.New("cannot set both 'Formula' and 'Paragraph' for chart title")
	// ErrColumnNumber defined the error message on receive an invalid column
	// number.
	ErrColumnNumber = fmt.Errorf("the column number must be greater than or equal to %d and less than or equal to %d", MinColumns, MaxColumns)
	// ErrColumnWidth defined the error message on receive an invalid column
	// width.
	ErrColumnWidth = fmt.Errorf("the width of the column must be less than or equal to %d characters", MaxColumnWidth)
	// ErrCoordinates defined the error message on invalid coordinates tuples
	// length.
	ErrCoordinates = errors.New("coordinates length must be 4")
	// ErrCustomNumFmt defined the error message on receive the empty custom
	// number format.
	ErrCustomNumFmt = errors.New("custom number format can not be empty")
	// ErrDataValidationFormulaLength defined the error message for receiving a
	// data validation formula length that exceeds the limit.
	ErrDataValidationFormulaLength = fmt.Errorf("data validation must be 0-%d characters", MaxFieldLength)
	// ErrDataValidationRange defined the error message on set decimal range
	// exceeds limit.
	ErrDataValidationRange = errors.New("data validation range exceeds limit")
	// ErrDefinedNameDuplicate defined the error message on the same name
	// already exists on the scope.
	ErrDefinedNameDuplicate = errors.New("the same name already exists on the scope")
	// ErrDefinedNameScope defined the error message on not found defined name
	// in the given scope.
	ErrDefinedNameScope = errors.New("no defined name on the scope")
	// ErrExistsSheet defined the error message on given sheet already exists.
	ErrExistsSheet = errors.New("the same name sheet already exists")
	// ErrExistsTableName defined the error message on given table already

View on GitHub (pinned to f2483381fb)

Solutions

Ensure the slice has exactly 4 elements: [col1, row1, col2, row2]
Use CoordinatesToCellName twice and join with ":" if you only have two individual cells
Add a length check (len(c) == 4) before calling and produce a domain-specific error
Remember coordinates are 1-based row and 0-based/1-based per API docs — verify ordering col,row,col,row

Example fix

// before
ref, err := f.coordinatesToRangeRef([]int{1, 1, 5}) // ErrCoordinates
// after
ref, err := f.coordinatesToRangeRef([]int{1, 1, 5, 10}) // "B1:F10"-style range

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

func validRange(c []int) bool { return len(c) == 4 }

Type guard

func isRangeCoordinates(c []int) bool {
    return len(c) == 4 && c[0] >= 1 && c[2] >= 1
}

Prevention

Always build range slices as [col1,row1,col2,row2]
Use a constructor/helper instead of literal slices at call sites
Distinguish 2-int cell coordinates from 4-int range coordinates in your types

When it happens

Trigger: Calling coordinatesToRangeRef or sortCoordinates with slices of length 0, 2, 3, 5+ instead of exactly 4; passing a two-cell pair [col1,row1,col2,row2] misremembered as two separate args or as [x1,y1,x2,y2] of wrong arity.

Common situations: Building ranges from user input or CLI flags where some values were dropped; appending coordinates in a loop but forgetting the end cell; confusing cell coordinates (2 ints) with range coordinates (4 ints).

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of qax-os/excelize@f2483381fb (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6a2552a51c20dde3. Report an issue: GitHub.