Unsettling error message when performing a bad operation using the bq cli

[neuromantik33]

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Summary of the issue

Context
I sometimes make typing mistakes and performing an illegal operation, I get an annoying stack trace rather than a clear error.

Expected Behavior:

$ gcloud version
Google Cloud SDK 564.0.0
alpha 2026.04.03
beta 2026.04.03
bq 2.1.31
bundled-python3-unix 3.13.11
core 2026.04.03
gcloud-crc32c 1.0.0
gsutil 5.36
kubectl 1.34.6
preview 2026.04.03

$ bq show drnick_prod.learner_milestones2
BigQuery error in show operation: Not found: Table data-42next:drnick_prod.learner_milestones2

Actual Behavior:

$ gcloud version
Google Cloud SDK 568.0.0
alpha 2026.05.08
beta 2026.05.08
bq 2.1.31
bundled-python3-unix 3.14.4
config-connector 145.0
core 2026.05.08
gcloud-crc32c 1.0.0
gke-gcloud-auth-plugin 0.5.14
gsutil 5.37
kubectl 1.35.3
preview 2026.05.08

$ bq show drnick_prod.learner_milestones2
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/clients/bigquery_http.py", line 277, in execute
    return super().execute(
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
        http=http,
        ^^^^^^^^^^
        num_retries=num_retries,
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    )
    ^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/googleapiclient/_helpers.py", line 135, in positional_wrapper
    return wrapped(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/googleapiclient/http.py", line 936, in execute
    raise HttpError(resp, content, uri=self.uri)
googleapiclient.errors.HttpError: <HttpError 404 when requesting https://bigquery.googleapis.com/bigquery/v2/projects/data-42next/datasets/drnick_prod/tables/learner_milestones2?alt=json returned "Not found: Table data-42next:drnick_prod.learner_milestones2". Details: "[{'message': 'Not found: Table data-42next:drnick_prod.learner_milestones2', 'domain': 'global', 'reason': 'notFound'}]">

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/frontend/bigquery_command.py", line 295, in RunSafely
    return_value = self.RunWithArgs(*args, **kwds)
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/frontend/command_show.py", line 419, in RunWithArgs
    object_info = client_deprecated.get_object_info(
        apiclient=client.apiclient,
    ...<2 lines>...
        reference=reference,
    )
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/clients/client_deprecated.py", line 61, in get_object_info
    return apiclient.tables().get(**dict(reference)).execute()
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/clients/bigquery_http.py", line 285, in execute
    bq_client_utils.RaiseErrorFromHttpError(e)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/clients/utils.py", line 539, in RaiseErrorFromHttpError
    RaiseError(content)
    ~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/clients/utils.py", line 1222, in RaiseError
    raise bq_error.CreateBigqueryError(error, result, [])
utils.bq_error.BigqueryNotFoundError: Not found: Table data-42next:drnick_prod.learner_milestones2

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/bq.py", line 162, in <module>
    appcommands.Run()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/pyglib/appcommands.py", line 837, in Run
    return app.run(_CommandsStart, flags_parser=ParseFlagsWithUsage)
           ~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/absl/app.py", line 312, in run
    _run_main(main, args)
    ~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/absl/app.py", line 258, in _run_main
    sys.exit(main(argv))
             ~~~~^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/pyglib/appcommands.py", line 821, in _CommandsStart
    raise sys.exit(command.CommandRun(GetCommandArgv()))
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/pyglib/appcommands.py", line 331, in CommandRun
    ret = self.Run(argv)
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/frontend/bigquery_command.py", line 289, in Run
    return super(BigqueryCmd, self).Run(argv)
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/frontend/bigquery_command.py", line 191, in Run
    return self.RunSafely(new_args, new_kwds)
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/frontend/bigquery_command.py", line 299, in RunSafely
    return bq_error_utils.process_error(e, name=self._command_name)
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/utils/bq_error_utils.py", line 251, in process_error
    response_message = flags.text_wrap(response_message)
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/absl/flags/_helpers.py", line 285, in text_wrap
    length = get_help_width()
  File "/usr/lib/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/absl/flags/_helpers.py", line 194, in get_help_width
    data = fcntl.ioctl(sys.stdout, termios.TIOCGWINSZ, '1234')
SystemError: buffer overflow

API client name and version

No response

Reproduction steps: code

Reproduction steps: supporting files

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Reproduction steps: actual results

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Reproduction steps: expected results

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OS & version + platform

Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS

Python environment

3.12.3

Python dependencies

No response

Additional context

No response