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 · 2011-03-17 19:21:47Z

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, 2011 at 19:21

answered Mar 17, 2011 at 17:02

JasonSmith

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4 Comments

Jim Wharton Over a year ago

YES! That works for CURL. Any idea why appending that to the URL while using Firefox/Futon seems to trip it up?

JasonSmith Over a year ago

Updated with ideas about Firefox

Megidd Over a year ago

... 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\"

Billbad Over a year ago

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.

D George k · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-18 22:32:39Z

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, 2011 at 22:32

user142162

answered Apr 18, 2011 at 6:00

D George k

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Comments

iikkoo · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-24 11:12:21Z

3

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

This works for me in cygwin

edited Jan 24, 2013 at 11:12

iikkoo

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answered Jan 24, 2013 at 10:53

Arindam

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Comments

Nadeem Taj · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-31 04:26:37Z

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, 2021 at 4:26

Nadeem Taj

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answered Jul 30, 2021 at 2:00

bumkino

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