symfony/process · error · InvalidArgumentException

Expected a failed process, but the given process was…

Error message

Expected a failed process, but the given process was successful.

What it means

A guard thrown from ProcessFailedException::__construct: this exception may only wrap a Process that has actually terminated unsuccessfully. Passing a successful (exit code 0) Process is a caller programming error, so an InvalidArgumentException is raised before the exception object is built.

Solutions

1. Check $process->isSuccessful() before constructing ProcessFailedException
2. Only construct this exception from catch blocks or after wait()/run() reports failure
3. Use getProcess()->isSuccessful() to branch instead of relying on the exception constructor

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at Exception/ProcessFailedException.php:27 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of symfony/process@99b85026db (2026-09-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a6858d97dd197d39. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at Exception/ProcessFailedException.php:27

 * file that was distributed with this source code.
 */

namespace Symfony\Component\Process\Exception;

use Symfony\Component\Process\Process;

/**
 * Exception for failed processes.
 *
 * @author Johannes M. Schmitt <schmittjoh@gmail.com>
 */
class ProcessFailedException extends RuntimeException
{
    public function __construct(
        private Process $process,
    ) {
        if ($process->isSuccessful()) {
            throw new InvalidArgumentException('Expected a failed process, but the given process was successful.');
        }

        $error = \sprintf('The command "%s" failed.'."\n\nExit Code: %s(%s)\n\nWorking directory: %s",
            $process->getCommandLine(),
            $process->getExitCode(),
            $process->getExitCodeText(),
            $process->getWorkingDirectory()
        );

        if (!$process->isOutputDisabled()) {
            $error .= \sprintf("\n\nOutput:\n================\n%s\n\nError Output:\n================\n%s",
                $process->getOutput(),
                $process->getErrorOutput()
            );
        }

        parent::__construct($error);

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