languagetool-org/languagetool · error · SAXException

rule error. Cannot replace or filter more than one token at

Error message

 rule error. Cannot replace or filter more than one token at a time." + "\n Line: " + pLocator.getLineNumber() + ", column: " + pLocator.getColumnNumber() + ".

What it means

Guard for REPLACE/FILTER disambiguation actions: these actions operate on exactly one token, but the rule's pattern (after marker start/end corrections) matched more than one token. Fires at rule-group end while parsing the XML when a single-token action is paired with a multi-token match span.

Source

Thrown at languagetool-core/src/main/java/org/languagetool/tagging/disambiguation/rules/DisambiguationRuleHandler.java:350

        setRuleFilter(filterClassName, filterArgs, rule);
        if (!rulegroupAntiPatterns.isEmpty()) {
          rule.setAntiPatterns(rulegroupAntiPatterns);
        }
        if (!ruleAntiPatterns.isEmpty()) {
          rule.setAntiPatterns(ruleAntiPatterns);
          ruleAntiPatterns.clear();
        }
        rules.add(rule);
        if (disambigAction == DisambiguationPatternRule.DisambiguatorAction.UNIFY && matchedTokenCount != uniCounter) {
          throw new SAXException(language.getName() + " rule error. The number unified tokens: "
                  + uniCounter + " must be equal to the number of matched tokens: " + matchedTokenCount
                  + "\n Line: " + pLocator.getLineNumber() + ", column: "
                  + pLocator.getColumnNumber() + ".");
        }
        boolean singleTokenCorrection = endPos - startPos > 1;
        if ((!singleTokenCorrection && (disambigAction == DisambiguationPatternRule.DisambiguatorAction.FILTER || disambigAction == DisambiguationPatternRule.DisambiguatorAction.REPLACE))
                && (matchedTokenCount > 1)) {
          throw new SAXException(
                  language.getName() + " rule error. Cannot replace or filter more than one token at a time."
                          + "\n Line: " + pLocator.getLineNumber() + ", column: "
                          + pLocator.getColumnNumber() + ".");
        }
        patternTokens.clear();
        posSelector = null;
        disambExamples = null;
        untouchedExamples = null;
        startPos = -1;
        endPos = -1;
        filterClassName = null;
        filterArgs = null;
        inRule = false;
        break;
      case EXCEPTION:
        finalizeExceptions();
        break;
      case AND:

View on GitHub (pinned to 2e990059ce)

Solutions

1. Reduce the pattern or marker span so exactly one token is matched for REPLACE/FILTER actions
2. Split the rule so each single-token action has its own rule
3. Use an action that supports multiple tokens if multi-token handling is intended

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at languagetool-core/src/main/java/org/languagetool/tagging/disambiguation/rules/DisambiguationRuleHandler.java:350 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of languagetool-org/languagetool@2e990059ce (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ed6a15c27dfbb614. Report an issue: GitHub.