languagetool-org/languagetool · error · RuntimeException

Replacement has more than 1 modern form:" + line

Error message

Replacement has more than 1 modern form:" + line

What it means

Same convention as the form field: in DativePluralsData.loadWords the fourth field (the replacement) may encode one modern variant as repl:replModern. More than one colon in that field yields more than two parts and throws this RuntimeException with the offending line.

Solutions

  1. Fix the line so the replacement field has at most one colon (original:modern).
  2. Split multiple replacement variants into separate lines.
  3. Grep the resource file for lines with two+ colons in the last field to fix all occurrences at once.
  4. Extend the parser explicitly if multiple modern replacements are genuinely required, with a corresponding format change to all lines.

Example fix

// before
...; ...; ...; breis:breise:breisí
// after
...; ...; ...; breis:breise
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

String repl = line.split(";")[3];
if (repl.chars().filter(c -> c == ':').count() > 1)
  throw new IllegalStateException("multiple modern replacements in: " + line);

Try / catch

try { loadWords(reader); } catch (RuntimeException e) { log.error("Fix replacement field: " + e.getMessage()); }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: A data-file line whose fourth (replacement) field contains two or more ':' characters, so repls.length != 2.

Common situations: Manual data entry adding multiple replacement variants; stray colon typos; misunderstanding of the single-modern-form convention.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of languagetool-org/languagetool@2e990059ce (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/832cc1ed6df37d85. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at languagetool-language-modules/ga/src/main/java/org/languagetool/rules/ga/DativePluralsData.java:71

        if (parts.length != 4) {
          throw new RuntimeException("Incorrect number of fields: " + line);
        }
        String form = parts[0];
        String formModern = null;
        if (form.contains(":")) {
          String[] forms = form.split(":");
          if (forms.length != 2) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Form has more than 1 modern form:" + line);
          }
          form = forms[0];
          formModern = forms[1];
        }
        String repl = parts[3];
        String replModern = null;
        if (repl.contains(":")) {
          String[] repls = repl.split(":");
          if (repls.length != 2) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Replacement has more than 1 modern form:" + line);
          }
          repl = repls[0];
          replModern = repls[1];
        }
        String lemma = parts[1];
        String lemmaModern = null;
        if (lemma.contains(":")) {
          String[] lemmata = lemma.split(":");
          if (lemmata.length != 2) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Lemma has more than 1 modern form:" + line);
          }
          lemma = lemmata[0];
          lemmaModern = lemmata[1];
        }
        DativePluralsEntry entry = new DativePluralsEntry(form, lemma, parts[2], repl);
        if (formModern != null) {
          entry.setModernised(formModern);
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to 2e990059ce)