EC
os.ErrNotExist
GoERRORCommonFilesystem

no such file or directory

Quick Answer

Use errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) to detect and handle a missing file.

What this means

Returned when an OS call fails because the file or path does not exist. Wrap with fmt.Errorf to add context.

Why it happens
  1. 1File path does not exist on disk
  2. 2Incorrect working directory at runtime

Fix

Check with errors.Is

Check with errors.Is
if _, err := os.Stat(p); errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
    log.Printf("missing: %s", p)
}

Why this works

errors.Is unwraps the error chain to match the sentinel value.

Code examples
Detectgo
f, err := os.Open("x.txt")
if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
    fmt.Println("not found")
}
Create if missinggo
f, _ := os.OpenFile("x.txt",
    os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY, 0644)
defer f.Close()
Wrap errorgo
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("load config: %w", err)
}
Sources
Official documentation ↗

Go standard library

Content generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy. Found an error? hello@errcodes.dev

← All Go errors