I am currently integrated Cucumber with my Selenium framework, but I keep hitting a runtime.cucumberexception during the execution phase. The logs indicate an error parsing the feature file. I have checked my Gherkin syntax and keywords like Feature, Scenario, and Given, but the build still fails. Could this be a version mismatch between cucumber-java and cucumber-junit, or is it likely a hidden character or formatting issue within the .feature file itself?
3 answers
This exception almost always points to a syntax violation in your Gherkin script that the parser cannot interpret. Check for "orphaned" text that isn't under a keyword, or ensure your 'Examples' table is correctly formatted if you are using a Scenario Outline. Another common culprit is the encoding of the file; ensure it is saved in UTF-8. If you recently upgraded your dependencies, verify that your Gherkin and Cucumber-Core library versions are synchronized in your pom.xml file. I encountered this exact issue last year when a teammate accidentally used tabs instead of spaces for indentation, which some older Gherkin parsers find problematic during the execution cycle.
Have you tried running the feature file through a Gherkin linter or opening it in an IDE with the official Cucumber plugin to see if it highlights specific lines? Sometimes the parser fails on a specific line but the stack trace is a bit vague about where the actual syntax break occurs.
Check your 'Feature:' header. If there is any text before that keyword, the parser will throw this exception immediately. It must be the first functional line.
Exactly, Patricia. I had a stray comment at the top of my file once that didn't have the proper '#' sign, and it drove me crazy for hours. Always validate the header first!
Checking the IDE highlights is a great shout, James. Often, it's something as small as a missing colon after the 'Feature' or 'Scenario' keyword. I've also seen this happen when people use a pipe character inside a table cell without escaping it properly. If the IDE shows red squiggly lines at the very start of the file, it's usually a BOM (Byte Order Mark) issue or an incorrect tag placement at the header level.