vectordotdev/vector · error

Invalid filename

Error message

Invalid filename {}

What it means

`vdev check examples` iterates the examples directory and requires every entry path to be valid UTF-8 to build a `vector validate` command. If an entry's filename cannot be converted to a Rust `str`, the command bails immediately.

Solutions

1. Find the offending file (its path is printed in the error) with `ls` or `find <examples-dir> -type f`.
2. Rename it to a normal UTF-8 name or delete it if it is not a real example.
3. Re-run the check.

Example fix

// before: examples dir contains a file with invalid UTF-8 name
// after
mv "config/$(ls config | grep -v '^[a-z0-9_.-]*$')" config/renamed_example.yaml

for entry in std::fs::read_dir("config")? {
    let p = entry?.path();
    if p.as_os_str().to_str().is_none() { eprintln!("non-UTF-8 filename: {p:?}"); }
}

fn has_utf8_name(p: &Path) -> bool { p.as_os_str().to_str().is_some() }

When it happens

Trigger: A file inside the examples directory has a non-UTF-8 filename (e.g. created accidentally with weird bytes) so `as_os_str().to_str()` returns `None`.

Common situations: Stray files with unusual names created by test runs, editors, or copied from another OS ending up in `config/` examples directory.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

• already exists
• does not exist
• Failed to get metadata for
• failed to read path
• failed to turn path into string

AI-assisted analysis of vectordotdev/vector@bdb87aeaa4 (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/732dde987fedaca4. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at vdev/src/commands/check/examples.rs:24

/// Check that the config/example files are valid
#[derive(clap::Args, Debug)]
#[command()]
pub struct Cli {}

const EXAMPLES: &str = "config/examples";

impl Cli {
    pub fn exec(self) -> Result<()> {
        app::set_repo_dir()?;

        for entry in fs::read_dir(EXAMPLES)
            .with_context(|| format!("Could not read directory {EXAMPLES:?}"))?
        {
            let entry = entry.with_context(|| format!("Could not read entry from {EXAMPLES:?}"))?;
            let filename = entry.path();
            let Some(filename) = filename.as_os_str().to_str() else {
                bail!("Invalid filename {}", filename.display());
            };

            let mut command = vec![
                "run",
                "--",
                "validate",
                "--deny-warnings",
                "--no-environment",
            ];
            if entry
                .metadata()
                .with_context(|| format!("Could not get metadata of {filename:?}"))?
                .is_dir()
            {
                command.push("--config-dir");
            }
            command.push(filename);

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