risingwavelabs/risingwave · error

invalid MATCH_RECOGNIZE pattern: {e}

Error message

invalid MATCH_RECOGNIZE pattern: {e}

What it means

This error wraps a failure while decoding the MATCH_RECOGNIZE pattern from its protobuf representation into the in-memory pattern AST during stream executor construction. `pattern_from_protobuf` failed to convert the serialized pattern node (variables, concatenation, quantifiers, etc.), so the executor refuses to build. It exists to preserve the underlying parse/decode error context rather than panic.

Source

Thrown at src/stream/src/from_proto/match_recognize.rs:110

        }

        let defines = node
            .defines
            .iter()
            .map(|d| CompiledDefine::from_protobuf(d, params.eval_error_report.clone()))
            .collect::<crate::executor::StreamExecutorResult<Vec<_>>>()?;
        let measures = node
            .measures
            .iter()
            .map(|m| CompiledMeasure::from_protobuf(m, params.eval_error_report.clone()))
            .collect::<crate::executor::StreamExecutorResult<Vec<_>>>()?;

        let pattern_node = node
            .pattern_node
            .as_ref()
            .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("MATCH_RECOGNIZE node missing pattern"))?;
        let pattern = pattern_from_protobuf(pattern_node)
            .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("invalid MATCH_RECOGNIZE pattern: {e}"))?;
        let nfa = Nfa::compile(&pattern);

        // Fail fast on anything malformed rather than silently defaulting to PAST LAST ROW, which
        // would mask a corrupt plan or a version skew.
        let skip = {
            use risingwave_pb::stream_plan::match_recognize_after_match_skip::Mode;
            let pb_skip = node
                .after_match_skip
                .as_ref()
                .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("MATCH_RECOGNIZE node missing after_match_skip"))?;
            let target = || {
                pb_skip.target.clone().ok_or_else(|| {
                    anyhow::anyhow!("AFTER MATCH SKIP TO FIRST/LAST missing its target variable")
                })
            };
            match pb_skip.mode() {
                Mode::PastLastRow => SkipMode::PastLastRow,
                Mode::ToNextRow => SkipMode::ToNextRow,

View on GitHub (pinned to 6469eb736d)

Solutions

1. Read the inner error text (the `{e}` part) to find which pattern element failed to decode.
2. Verify meta and stream node versions match; restart the cluster so all nodes run the same build.
3. Recreate or refresh the affected streaming job (e.g. ALTER/refresh the materialized view or re-issue the CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW) so the plan is regenerated.
4. If reproducible, file a bug with the plan — a valid binder-produced pattern should always decode.

Example fix

// before: opaque error
.map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("invalid MATCH_RECOGNIZE pattern: {e}"))?
// after: include the offending pattern for diagnosis
.map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("invalid MATCH_RECOGNIZE pattern {:?}: {e}", pattern_node))?

// Before relying on the executor, sanity-check the pattern proto is present and well-formed
fn pattern_valid(node: &MatchRecognizeNode) -> bool {
    node.pattern_node.is_some()
}

// Rust: executor construction returns Result; surface the context, don't unwrap
let exec = MatchRecognizeExecutor::new(...).map_err(|e| {
    tracing::error!("MATCH_RECOGNIZE executor build failed: {e:#}");
    e
})?;

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `MatchRecognizeExecutor::new` (via `new_boxed_executor`) with a stream plan whose `pattern_node` is present but whose nested pattern proto fails `pattern_from_protobuf` — e.g. malformed pattern fields, unknown enum variants, or an incompatible proto schema version.

Common situations: Version skew between the meta node (plan producer) and stream node (plan consumer) after a rolling upgrade; a corrupt or hand-edited serialized plan; a newly added pattern construct understood by the binder/frontend but not yet by the older proto decoder on the compute node.

Understand the failure class

Background: "cannot parse invalid wire-format data", "cannot unmarshal", "failed unmarshalling": protobuf unmarshal errors explained — this error's family across 10 libraries.

Related errors

• unknown MATCH_RECOGNIZE input mode: {}
• MATCH_RECOGNIZE node missing after_match_skip
• invalid MATCH_RECOGNIZE after_match_skip mode: {}
• Node {} cannot be convert to stream node
• Failed to decode prost: field not found `{}`

AI-assisted analysis of risingwavelabs/risingwave@6469eb736d (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/acf652bbaf663657. Report an issue: GitHub.