Say so in the error message when a CSV/TSV length-mismatch line is blank (#1572)

Trailing blank lines at the end of a CSV/TSV file produce a
header/data length mismatch error which, especially for large files,
gives no clue that the offending line is simply blank. Since #2146
(issue #1535), the skip-trivial-records verb is an opt-in way to have
such lines skipped -- but users hitting the error had no pointer to it.

Now, when the mismatching input line is blank, the CSV and TSV readers
append a hint to the error message:

  mlr: CSV header/data length mismatch 2 != 1 at filename tmp.csv row 4; this input line is blank -- use the skip-trivial-records verb to have blank input lines skipped

Errors for genuinely ragged, non-blank lines are unchanged, as is all
non-error behavior. Also adds a note to the CSV/JSON troubleshooting
docs page about trailing blank lines and skip-trivial-records.

Addresses #1572.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

docs/src/troubleshooting-csv-and-json-input.md

@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ When Miller reports a parse error, it is often useful to first identify whether
   `--csvlite` or `--icsvlite` instead. See also [File Formats](file-formats.md).
 - If a CSV error mentions a "header/data length mismatch", inspect the reported input line for an
   unquoted comma, a missing closing quote, or an unexpected extra delimiter.
+- A common cause of header/data length mismatches is one or more blank lines at the end of the
+  file -- in that case the error message says the input line is blank. Use the
+  `skip-trivial-records` verb to have blank input lines skipped, e.g. `mlr --csv
+  skip-trivial-records then cat file.csv`.
 - For CSV generated by spreadsheets or hand-written scripts, `--csv-trim-leading-space` can help
   when fields look like `"foo", "bar"`, where the second field has a leading space before the quote.
 - For non-standard CSV that contains stray quote characters, `--lazy-quotes` can help Miller accept

docs/src/troubleshooting-csv-and-json-input.md.in

@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ When Miller reports a parse error, it is often useful to first identify whether
   `--csvlite` or `--icsvlite` instead. See also [File Formats](file-formats.md).
 - If a CSV error mentions a "header/data length mismatch", inspect the reported input line for an
   unquoted comma, a missing closing quote, or an unexpected extra delimiter.
+- A common cause of header/data length mismatches is one or more blank lines at the end of the
+  file -- in that case the error message says the input line is blank. Use the
+  `skip-trivial-records` verb to have blank input lines skipped, e.g. `mlr --csv
+  skip-trivial-records then cat file.csv`.
 - For CSV generated by spreadsheets or hand-written scripts, `--csv-trim-leading-space` can help
   when fields look like `"foo", "bar"`, where the second field has a leading space before the quote.
 - For non-standard CSV that contains stray quote characters, `--lazy-quotes` can help Miller accept

pkg/input/record_reader.go

@@ -34,3 +34,15 @@ func hasNonEmptyField(fields []string) bool {
 	}
 	return false
 }
+
+// blankInputLineHint returns a hint to be appended to CSV/TSV header/data
+// length mismatch errors when the offending input line is blank -- e.g. one
+// or more blank lines at the end of the file. Without this, the bare
+// mismatch error can be hard to act on, especially for large files. See
+// issue #1572.
+func blankInputLineHint(fields []string) string {
+	if hasNonEmptyField(fields) {
+		return ""
+	}
+	return "; this input line is blank -- use the skip-trivial-records verb to have blank input lines skipped"
+}

pkg/input/record_reader_csv.go

@@ -269,8 +269,8 @@ func (reader *RecordReaderCSV) getRecordBatch(
 					continue
 				}
 				err := fmt.Errorf(
-					"CSV header/data length mismatch %d != %d at filename %s row %d",
+					"CSV header/data length mismatch %d != %d at filename %s row %d%s",
-					nh, nd, reader.filename, reader.rowNumber,
+					nh, nd, reader.filename, reader.rowNumber, blankInputLineHint(csvRecord),
 				)
 				errorChannel <- err
 				return

pkg/input/record_reader_tsv.go

@@ -193,8 +193,9 @@ func getRecordBatchExplicitTSVHeader(
 					continue
 				}
 				err := fmt.Errorf(
-					"TSV header/data length mismatch %d != %d at filename %s line %d",
+					"TSV header/data length mismatch %d != %d at filename %s line %d%s",
 					len(reader.headerStrings), len(fields), filename, reader.inputLineNumber,
+					blankInputLineHint(fields),
 				)
 				errorChannel <- err
 				return

test/cases/io-skip-pass-comments/pr-1346/experr

@@ -1 +1 @@
-mlr: CSV header/data length mismatch 2 != 1 at filename test/input/pr-1346.csv row 4
+mlr: CSV header/data length mismatch 2 != 1 at filename test/input/pr-1346.csv row 4; this input line is blank -- use the skip-trivial-records verb to have blank input lines skipped

test/cases/io-spec-tsv/0004/experr

@@ -1 +1 @@
-mlr: TSV header/data length mismatch 1 != 0 at filename test/cases/io-spec-tsv/0004/single-column-with-blank.tsv line 4
+mlr: TSV header/data length mismatch 1 != 0 at filename test/cases/io-spec-tsv/0004/single-column-with-blank.tsv line 4; this input line is blank -- use the skip-trivial-records verb to have blank input lines skipped

test/cases/verb-skip-trivial-records/0005/experr

@@ -1 +1 @@
-mlr: CSV header/data length mismatch 2 != 1 at filename test/cases/verb-skip-trivial-records/0005/input.csv row 3
+mlr: CSV header/data length mismatch 2 != 1 at filename test/cases/verb-skip-trivial-records/0005/input.csv row 3; this input line is blank -- use the skip-trivial-records verb to have blank input lines skipped

test/cases/verb-skip-trivial-records/0009/cmd

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+mlr --itsv --otsv cat ${CASEDIR}/input.tsv

test/cases/verb-skip-trivial-records/0009/experr

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+mlr: TSV header/data length mismatch 2 != 0 at filename test/cases/verb-skip-trivial-records/0009/input.tsv line 3; this input line is blank -- use the skip-trivial-records verb to have blank input lines skipped

test/cases/verb-skip-trivial-records/0009/expout

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+a	b
+1	2

test/cases/verb-skip-trivial-records/0009/input.tsv

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+a	b
+1	2
+
+