theonedev/onedev · error · RuntimeException

Malformed query

Error message

Malformed query

What it means

IssueQuery.parse uses an ANTLR lexer/parser with a BaseErrorListener that converts any lexer syntax error into a RuntimeException('Malformed query'). This means the query text could not even be tokenized per the IssueQuery grammar — an illegal character or malformed token appears before parsing rules run.

Source

Thrown at server-core/src/main/java/io/onedev/server/search/entity/issue/IssueQuery.java:162

		this(criteria, new ArrayList<>());
	}

	public IssueQuery() {
		this(null);
	}

	public static IssueQuery parse(@Nullable Project project, @Nullable String queryString,
								   IssueQueryParseOption option, boolean validate) {
		if (queryString != null) {
			CharStream is = CharStreams.fromString(queryString);
			IssueQueryLexer lexer = new IssueQueryLexer(is);
			lexer.removeErrorListeners();
			lexer.addErrorListener(new BaseErrorListener() {

				@Override
				public void syntaxError(Recognizer<?, ?> recognizer, Object offendingSymbol, int line,
										int charPositionInLine, String msg, RecognitionException e) {
					throw new RuntimeException("Malformed query", e);
				}

			});
			CommonTokenStream tokens = new CommonTokenStream(lexer);
			IssueQueryParser parser = new IssueQueryParser(tokens);
			parser.removeErrorListeners();
			parser.setErrorHandler(new BailErrorStrategy());

			QueryContext queryContext = parser.query();
			CriteriaContext criteriaContext = queryContext.criteria();
			Criteria<Issue> issueCriteria;
			if (criteriaContext != null) {
				issueCriteria = new IssueQueryBaseVisitor<Criteria<Issue>>() {

					private long getValueOrdinal(ChoiceField field, String value) {
						List<String> choices = new ArrayList<>(field.getChoiceProvider().getChoices(true).keySet());
						return choices.indexOf(value);
					}

View on GitHub (pinned to d44925c47c)

Solutions

1. Fix the query syntax: balance quotes, remove or escape illegal characters, and use only grammar-supported operators
2. Catch the RuntimeException and surface a user-friendly parse error rather than a stack trace
3. Pre-validate the query with a try-parse before persisting it as a saved query

Example fix

// before
"text ~ \"foo"   // unbalanced quote -> Malformed query
// after
"text ~ \"foo\""

// pre-check: balanced quotes and no obviously illegal chars
if (q.chars().filter(c -> c == '"').count() % 2 != 0)
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unbalanced quotes in query");

try {
    IssueQuery query = IssueQuery.parse(project, q);
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
    if (e.getMessage() != null && e.getMessage().contains("Malformed query")) {
        // show user-friendly parse error
    } else {
        throw e;
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a query string containing characters illegal in the issue query lexer (unbalanced quotes, stray characters like '!', unescaped symbols) to IssueQuery.parse or a query field with that text.

Common situations: Typing a free-text search with special characters not supported by the grammar; copying queries with smart quotes; unbalanced '"' in field values; API callers submitting user-typed query strings unvalidated.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid query parameter" / "Failed to parse value of ...": fixing bad query string parameters across APIs — this error's family across 36 libraries.

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

Related errors

• Malformed query
• Malformed query
• Unexpected operator: ${operatorText}
• Malformed query
• "Malformed query"

AI-assisted analysis of theonedev/onedev@d44925c47c (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/98424710b6990d4d. Report an issue: GitHub.