yiisoft/yii2 · error · InvalidConfigException

The column must be specified in the format of "attribute", "

Error message

The column must be specified in the format of "attribute", "attribute:format" or "attribute:format:label"

What it means

Error "The column must be specified in the format of "attribute", "attribute:format" or "attribute:format:label"" thrown in yiisoft/yii2.

Source

Thrown at framework/grid/GridView.php:587

            }
            if (!$column->visible) {
                unset($this->columns[$i]);
                continue;
            }
            $this->columns[$i] = $column;
        }
    }

    /**
     * Creates a [[DataColumn]] object based on a string in the format of "attribute:format:label".
     * @param string $text the column specification string
     * @return DataColumn the column instance
     * @throws InvalidConfigException if the column specification is invalid
     */
    protected function createDataColumn($text)
    {
        if (!preg_match('/^([^:]+)(:(\w*))?(:(.*))?$/', $text, $matches)) {
            throw new InvalidConfigException('The column must be specified in the format of "attribute", "attribute:format" or "attribute:format:label"');
        }

        return Yii::createObject([
            'class' => $this->dataColumnClass ?: DataColumn::className(),
            'grid' => $this,
            'attribute' => $matches[1],
            'format' => isset($matches[3]) ? $matches[3] : 'text',
            'label' => isset($matches[5]) ? $matches[5] : null,
        ]);
    }

    /**
     * This function tries to guess the columns to show from the given data
     * if [[columns]] are not explicitly specified.
     */
    protected function guessColumns()
    {
        $models = $this->dataProvider->getModels();

View on GitHub (pinned to 66f00d18a2)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at framework/grid/GridView.php:587 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of yiisoft/yii2@66f00d18a2 (2026-08-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cb63f612e9da8961. Report an issue: GitHub.