# PKG-018: EPUB file to check not found, how to fix it

Source: https://epubcc.com/epubcheck/pkg-018/ (updated 2026-11-04)

EPUBCheck PKG-018 is a fatal error message: “The EPUB file could not be found.” EPUBCheck could not find the EPUB file you asked it to check. It is a fatal error about the command, not about the book: nothing was validated.

- Official message (EPUBCheck 5.4.0): The EPUB file could not be found.
- Default severity: Fatal error

## Typical causes

- A typo in the path or the file name, or a path relative to a different folder than the one EPUBCheck runs in.
- Spaces or special characters in the path that the shell split or interpreted.
- The file was moved, renamed or deleted before EPUBCheck ran.

## How to fix it

1. Check that the file exists at the path you passed, for example with ls on the same path.
2. Quote the path if it contains spaces: java -jar epubcheck.jar "My Book.epub".
3. Run EPUBCheck again with the corrected path.

## When it's not this

If the file is found but cannot be read as a ZIP, that is PKG-003 or PKG-004.

## Sources

- EPUBCheck wiki: Running EPUBCheck (command-line options): https://github.com/w3c/epubcheck/wiki/Running (read 2026-11-04)

Message text and severity: EPUBCheck (W3C, BSD-3-Clause). Explanation: EpubCC.