diff --git a/internal/cmd/executetemplatecmd.go b/internal/cmd/executetemplatecmd.go
index f406ba91505..2366f2477d4 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/executetemplatecmd.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/executetemplatecmd.go
@@ -117,8 +117,8 @@ func (c *Config) runExecuteTemplateCmd(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error
 			return promptBoolInitTemplateFunc(field, args...)
 		}
 
-		promptChoiceInitTemplateFunc := func(prompt string, choices []any, args ...string) string {
-			choiceStrs, err := anySliceToStringSlice(choices)
+		promptChoiceInitTemplateFunc := func(prompt string, choices any, args ...string) string {
+			choiceStrs, err := anyToStringSlice(choices)
 			if err != nil {
 				panic(err)
 			}
diff --git a/internal/cmd/interactivetemplatefuncs.go b/internal/cmd/interactivetemplatefuncs.go
index 847a399ef9c..cc6365a2153 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/interactivetemplatefuncs.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/interactivetemplatefuncs.go
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ func (c *Config) promptBoolOnceInteractiveTemplateFunc(m map[string]any, path an
 	return c.promptBoolInteractiveTemplateFunc(prompt, args...)
 }
 
-func (c *Config) promptChoiceInteractiveTemplateFunc(prompt string, choices []any, args ...string) string {
+func (c *Config) promptChoiceInteractiveTemplateFunc(prompt string, choices any, args ...string) string {
 	if len(args) > 1 {
 		err := fmt.Errorf("want 2 or 3 arguments, got %d", len(args)+2)
 		panic(err)
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ func (c *Config) promptChoiceInteractiveTemplateFunc(prompt string, choices []an
 		return valueStr
 	}
 
-	choiceStrs, err := anySliceToStringSlice(choices)
+	choiceStrs, err := anyToStringSlice(choices)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ func (c *Config) promptChoiceOnceInteractiveTemplateFunc(
 	m map[string]any,
 	path any,
 	prompt string,
-	choices []any,
+	choices any,
 	args ...string,
 ) string {
 	if len(args) > 1 {
@@ -228,17 +228,32 @@ func (c *Config) promptStringOnceInteractiveTemplateFunc(m map[string]any, path
 	return c.promptStringInteractiveTemplateFunc(prompt, args...)
 }
 
-func anySliceToStringSlice(slice []any) ([]string, error) {
-	result := make([]string, 0, len(slice))
-	for _, elem := range slice {
-		switch elem := elem.(type) {
-		case []byte:
-			result = append(result, string(elem))
-		case string:
-			result = append(result, elem)
-		default:
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%v: not a string", elem)
+func anyToString(v any) (string, error) {
+	switch v := v.(type) {
+	case []byte:
+		return string(v), nil
+	case string:
+		return v, nil
+	default:
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("%v: not a string", v)
+	}
+}
+
+func anyToStringSlice(slice any) ([]string, error) {
+	switch slice := slice.(type) {
+	case []any:
+		result := make([]string, 0, len(slice))
+		for _, elem := range slice {
+			elemStr, err := anyToString(elem)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			result = append(result, elemStr)
 		}
+		return result, nil
+	case []string:
+		return slice, nil
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%v: not a slice", slice)
 	}
-	return result, nil
 }
diff --git a/internal/cmd/templatefuncs.go b/internal/cmd/templatefuncs.go
index f9628e32c33..20dc51859cf 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/templatefuncs.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/templatefuncs.go
@@ -132,9 +132,9 @@ func (c *Config) eqFoldTemplateFunc(first, second string, more ...string) bool {
 	return false
 }
 
-func (c *Config) findExecutableTemplateFunc(file string, pathList []any) string {
+func (c *Config) findExecutableTemplateFunc(file string, pathList any) string {
 	files := []string{file}
-	paths, err := anySliceToStringSlice(pathList)
+	paths, err := anyToStringSlice(pathList)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(fmt.Errorf("path list: %w", err))
 	}
@@ -147,13 +147,13 @@ func (c *Config) findExecutableTemplateFunc(file string, pathList []any) string
 	}
 }
 
-func (c *Config) findOneExecutableTemplateFunc(fileList, pathList []any) string {
-	files, err := anySliceToStringSlice(fileList)
+func (c *Config) findOneExecutableTemplateFunc(fileList, pathList any) string {
+	files, err := anyToStringSlice(fileList)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(fmt.Errorf("file list: %w", err))
 	}
 
-	paths, err := anySliceToStringSlice(pathList)
+	paths, err := anyToStringSlice(pathList)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(fmt.Errorf("path list: %w", err))
 	}