I’m having trouble with my Android Studio project after trying to add a library from GitHub. When I build the project, I keep getting this weird error message that mentions illegal characters. The error seems to be related to the file path where the AAR file is located.
Error: Invalid character detected at position 76: D:\Development\MyProject\external-lib\module\build\outputs\aar\D:\Development\MyProject\external-lib\module\build\outputs\aar\external-lib-1.2.4-SNAPSHOT.aar
It looks like the path is getting duplicated somehow. Has anyone seen this before? I’m not sure what’s causing this issue or how to fix it. Any help would be really appreciated.
Check your module’s build.gradle file - look for wrong paths in the dependencies section. This usually happens when Android Studio messes up file paths during builds. I hit this same issue importing a custom library. My gradle config mixed absolute and relative paths, which broke everything. Fix it by using proper gradle syntax like implementation files('path/to/your.aar') or even better, implementation project(':modulename'). Also make sure settings.gradle includes your module correctly and scan for weird characters in your gradle files. Copying gradle configs from different places sometimes adds hidden characters that break the parser.
Had this exact error last month with a third-party GitHub library. The problem was in my gradle.properties file - I had messed up the android.useAndroidX property and some custom repository paths. The duplicated path happens because Android Studio concatenates the base path twice during AAR resolution. Delete any custom repository configs you added for the GitHub library. Instead, add it through JitPack or import the module properly. Also check for environment variables pointing to your project directory - they can mess with gradle’s path resolution. Once I removed the custom configs and re-imported through standard gradle channels, everything built fine.
android studio’s doin somethin weird with path concatenation. I’ve seen this when there are spaces or special chars in the project folder name. move ur project to a simpler path - like C:\dev\myproject instead of that long development path. also check for hidden non-ascii chars in ur folder names.
This path duplication usually happens when your gradle config is conflicted. Had the same issue with external AAR files last year. You’re probably importing the AAR both manually (libs folder) and through gradle dependencies at the same time. Check your build.gradle for duplicate dependencies or conflicting implementation statements. Make sure the AAR isn’t copied to multiple project locations. Try clearing gradle cache first - Build > Clean Project, then Rebuild Project. Android Studio’s trying to reference the same AAR from two different paths.
This path duplication mess is classic build system chaos. I’ve hit this exact problem multiple times when teams manually manage external dependencies.
Stop wrestling with gradle configs and AAR files - automate the whole dependency management process instead. Set up a workflow that monitors your GitHub library for updates and automatically integrates them without the manual file juggling that creates these path conflicts.
Create an automation that pulls the library, validates it, and updates your project dependencies on new releases. This kills the duplicate path issues since you’re not manually copying files around anymore.
I switched to this after wasting too many hours debugging similar build problems. Now my projects update dependencies cleanly without these weird path errors.
The automation handles version management, conflict resolution, and keeps everything synced. No more duplicate AAR references or build path nightmares.