stanfordnlp/CoreNLP · error · RuntimeException

ERROR: Invalid syntax in macro line: ""!

Error message

ERROR: Invalid syntax in macro line: ""!

What it means

SemgrexBatchParser.extractMacro parses 'macro NAME = VALUE' lines; if the line contains no '=' character, it cannot be split into name/value and throws RuntimeException. This is a strict syntax check on macro definition lines.

Solutions

1. Add the missing '=' in the macro line: 'macro NAME = VALUE'
2. Ensure the line is actually intended as a macro definition; otherwise remove/fix the 'macro' prefix
3. Check for invisible characters or full-width '＝' copied from docs

Example fix

// before
macro ANIMAL dog
// after
macro ANIMAL = dog

if (line.startsWith("macro") && !line.contains("=")) throw new IllegalArgumentException("Macro line missing '=': " + line);

try { parser.parse(lines, macros); } catch (RuntimeException e) { log.error(e.getMessage()); }

When it happens

Trigger: A line starting with 'macro' (or routed to macro()) with no '=' present, e.g. 'macro NAME value' or a comment/blank line misinterpreted as a macro definition.

Common situations: Whitespace or typo where '=' was replaced by something else, editing batch files in editors that strip characters, or mixing syntax from other macro preprocessors.

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

• ERROR: Unknown macro ""!
• Cannot process a single key/value from annotation as it is…
• Child should only be set on a UniqPattern at creation time
• Coordination node must have at least 2 children.
• Duplicate attribute found in semgrex expression

AI-assisted analysis of stanfordnlp/CoreNLP@1b7edd19c4 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a0ec0d32763c3ab1. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/edu/stanford/nlp/semgraph/semgrex/SemgrexBatchParser.java:105

  }

  private static Map<String, String> preprocess(BufferedReader reader) throws IOException {
    Map<String, String> macros = Generics.newHashMap();
    for(String line; (line = reader.readLine()) != null; ) {
      line = line.trim();
      if(line.startsWith("macro ")){
        Pair<String, String> macro = extractMacro(line);
        macros.put(macro.first(), macro.second());
      }
    }
    return macros;
  }

  private static Pair<String, String> extractMacro(String line) {
    assert(line.startsWith("macro"));
    int equalPosition = line.indexOf('=');
    if(equalPosition < 0) {
      throw new RuntimeException("ERROR: Invalid syntax in macro line: \"" + line + "\"!");
    }
    String name = line.substring(5, equalPosition).trim();
    if(name.isEmpty()) {
      throw new RuntimeException("ERROR: Invalid syntax in macro line: \"" + line + "\"!");
    }
    String value = line.substring(equalPosition + 1).trim();
    if(value.isEmpty()) {
      throw new RuntimeException("ERROR: Invalid syntax in macro line: \"" + line + "\"!");
    }
    return new Pair<>(name, value);
  }

}

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