ytdl-org/youtube-dl · error · ValueError

Operator %s does not support string values!

Error message

Operator %s does not support string values!

What it means

Raised by _match_one() in youtube_dl.utils while evaluating a --match-filter expression. The filter compares a field to a quoted or bare string value using a comparison operator other than = or != (e.g. <, <=, >, >=, ~=). Ordering/regex operators only work on numeric values, so applying one to a string comparison value is rejected with ValueError. The check also fires when the field's actual value is a string but the filter supplies a bare number (e.g. likes>100 against a string field), honoring the field's origin (issue #11082).

Source

Thrown at youtube_dl/utils.py:4898

            (?P<quote>["\'])(?P<quotedstrval>(?:\\.|(?!(?P=quote)|\\).)+?)(?P=quote)|
            (?P<strval>(?![0-9.])[a-z0-9A-Z]*)
        )
        \s*$
        ''' % '|'.join(map(re.escape, COMPARISON_OPERATORS.keys())))
    m = operator_rex.search(filter_part)
    if m:
        op = COMPARISON_OPERATORS[m.group('op')]
        actual_value = dct.get(m.group('key'))
        if (m.group('quotedstrval') is not None
            or m.group('strval') is not None
            # If the original field is a string and matching comparisonvalue is
            # a number we should respect the origin of the original field
            # and process comparison value as a string (see
            # https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/11082).
            or actual_value is not None and m.group('intval') is not None
                and isinstance(actual_value, compat_str)):
            if m.group('op') not in ('=', '!='):
                raise ValueError(
                    'Operator %s does not support string values!' % m.group('op'))
            comparison_value = m.group('quotedstrval') or m.group('strval') or m.group('intval')
            quote = m.group('quote')
            if quote is not None:
                comparison_value = comparison_value.replace(r'\%s' % quote, quote)
        else:
            try:
                comparison_value = int(m.group('intval'))
            except ValueError:
                comparison_value = parse_filesize(m.group('intval'))
                if comparison_value is None:
                    comparison_value = parse_filesize(m.group('intval') + 'B')
                if comparison_value is None:
                    raise ValueError(
                        'Invalid integer value %r in filter part %r' % (
                            m.group('intval'), filter_part))
        if actual_value is None:
            return m.group('none_inclusive')

View on GitHub (pinned to 956b8c5855)

Solutions

1. Use only = or != when comparing string fields, e.g. --match-filter "ext!=mkv".
2. Compare numeric fields numerically (view_count>1000) and verify the extractor populates that field as a number.
3. For substring/regex needs on strings, rely on = with the supported semantics or pre-filter downloads with your own script instead of the filter DSL.
4. Quote string values only for =/!= comparisons; drop quotes for numeric comparisons.

Example fix

# before
youtube-dl --match-filter "title>'Tutorial'" URL  # ValueError: Operator > does not support string values!

# after
youtube-dl --match-filter "title!='Tutorial'" URL  # equality on strings is allowed

import re
# only = and != may take string comparison values
_BAD = re.compile(r"[<>]=?|~=")

def check_filter(filter_str):
    for part in filter_str.split('&'):
        m = re.match(r'^([a-z_]+)\s*(=|!=|<|<=|>|>=|~=)\s*(.+)$', part.strip())
        if m and m.group(2) not in ('=', '!='):
            val = m.group(3)
            if not re.fullmatch(r'\d+([KMG]B?)?', val):
                raise ValueError('operator %s cannot take string value %r' % (m.group(2), val))

def is_safe_string_filter(op: str, value: str) -> bool:
    return op in ('=', '!=') or value.lstrip('-').isdigit()

from youtube_dl.utils import match_str
try:
    ok = match_str('title>\'x\'', info)
except ValueError as e:
    # rewrite filter to use =/!= or drop the part
    ok = None

When it happens

Trigger: Running youtube-dl --match-filter "title>'foo'" or any filter like field<value / field>value / field~=value where value is quoted ('...' or "...") or bare text; or a filter like likes>100 where the extractor reports likes as a string. Only = and != accept string comparison values.

Common situations: Users writing match-filters that compare text fields lexicographically (title>'A', duration~='long'); filters written against fields that one extractor types as int and another as string; copy-pasted filter examples that assume numeric fields.

Related errors

• Invalid integer value %r in filter part %r
• Invalid filter part %r
• requested format not available
• Giving up retrying
• Invalid URL

AI-assisted analysis of ytdl-org/youtube-dl@956b8c5855 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e1c5c61c6e0cfb5d. Report an issue: GitHub.