CouchDB view throwing invalid UTF-8 JSON error when using key, startkey

Question

I have a VERY basic view defined in CouchDB:

function(doc) {
  if(doc.date && doc.erc) {
    emit(doc.date, doc.erc);
  }
}

It simply pulls ALL documents and sorts by dates.

I've tried appending

?startkey="2010-05-01"

to the URL and Futon just browser redirects.

I've tried using CURL as well:

curl -X GET http://localhost:5984/plots/_design/by_date/_view/by_date?startkey="2010-05-01"

That throws an error:

{"error":"bad_request","reason":"invalid UTF-8 JSON"}

What am I doing wrong? This should be a VERY basic thing.

Thanks, -Jim

JasonSmith · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-17T19:21:47.463

33

CouchDB needs to see the double-quotes.

Bash is probably eating your double quotes before curl runs. Put the URL (double-quotes and all) in single quotes.

curl -X GET 'http://localhost:5984/plots/_design/by_date/_view/by_date?startkey="2010-05-01"'

That way, Bash will send the quotes to curl which will send them to CouchDB.

Possibly Firefox or Futon is eating your quotes too. Futon has a gray pointer icon in the upper-right. That links to the raw URL of the view. Try adding the startkey there. You can also input the double-quotes as %22.

edited Mar 17 '11 at 19:21

answered Mar 17 '11 at 17:02

JasonSmith

72,674
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149

YES! That works for CURL. Any idea why appending that to the URL while using Firefox/Futon seems to trip it up? – Jim Wharton Mar 17 '11 at 17:19
Updated with ideas about Firefox – JasonSmith Mar 17 '11 at 19:22
1

`... Bash is probably eating your double quotes before curl runs ...` that was true in my case. On my terminal command line the curl command was not working. Then I used back-slash before my double-quotes and the problem got resolved. Also I needed to use back-slash before `&` character, too. Like this: `?startkey=\"ב\"\&endkey=\"ש\"` – Megidd Mar 28 '18 at 10:10
1

HOURS on a similar problem. When forming the URL to make a request to my update handler, the key must be in quotes, but not the value. Version 2.2.0. Method: 'PUT'. URL: 'testdata/_design/testDesigns/_update/setKeyValue/DOCID?key="hairColor"&value=purple' . If I put quotes around the value, they get carried over as escaped quotes in the database. – Billbad Dec 18 '18 at 13:26

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 18 '11 at 22:32

5

I dont know whether you have already got the solution.. anyway for viewers like me who got the same error. This is the solution . I tried in windows

curl -X GET http://localhost:5984/plots/_design/by_date/_view/by_date?startkey=\"2010-05-01\"

edited Apr 18 '11 at 22:32

answered Apr 18 '11 at 06:00

D George k

51
1

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 24 '13 at 11:12

3

curl xxx:xxxm@aaaa:5984/kitsi_arin/_design/arinDesign/_view/TestView2?key=\"Arindam\"

This works for me in cygwin

edited Jan 24 '13 at 11:12

iikkoo

2,810
6
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38

answered Jan 24 '13 at 10:53

Arindam

31
1

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 31 '21 at 04:26

0

You can also use URL %codes, %22 gets converted to double quotes " by most fetch programs

curl -X GET http://localhost:5984/plots/_design/by_date/_view/by_date?startkey=%222010-05-01%22

edited Jul 31 '21 at 04:26

Nadeem Taj

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answered Jul 30 '21 at 02:00

bumkino

31
3

CouchDB view throwing invalid UTF-8 JSON error when using key, startkey

4 Answers4