thoughtbot/shoulda-matchers · error · ArgumentError

need at least one attribute

Error message

need at least one attribute

What it means

Error "need at least one attribute" thrown in thoughtbot/shoulda-matchers.

Source

Thrown at lib/shoulda/matchers/active_record/normalize_matcher.rb:70

      #     end
      #
      #     # RSpec
      #     RSpec.describe User, type: :model do
      #       it { should normalize(:name).from("jane doe").to("Jane Doe") }
      #       it { should normalize(:name).from(nil).to("Untitled") }
      #     end
      #
      #     # Minitest (Shoulda)
      #     class User < ActiveSupport::TestCase
      #       should normalize(:name).from("jane doe").to("Jane Doe")
      #       should normalize(:name).from(nil).to("Untitled")
      #     end
      #
      # @return [NormalizeMatcher]
      #
      def normalize(*attributes)
        if attributes.empty?
          raise ArgumentError, 'need at least one attribute'
        else
          NormalizeMatcher.new(*attributes)
        end
      end

      # @private
      class NormalizeMatcher
        attr_reader :attributes, :from_value, :to_value, :failure_message,
          :failure_message_when_negated

        def initialize(*attributes)
          @attributes = attributes
        end

        def description
          %(
            normalize #{attributes.to_sentence(last_word_connector: ' and ')} from
            ‹#{from_value.inspect}› to ‹#{to_value.inspect}›

View on GitHub (pinned to 79cdfbc326)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/shoulda/matchers/active_record/normalize_matcher.rb:70 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of thoughtbot/shoulda-matchers@79cdfbc326 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/09ffc43b8ee9882a. Report an issue: GitHub.