stanfordnlp/CoreNLP · error · IllegalArgumentException

Invalid projection function: " +…

Error message

Invalid projection function: " + Arrays.toString(projectionFunction)

What it means

The Polarity(byte[]) constructor validates that the projection function array is exactly length 7 (one slot per NaturalLogicRelation) before using it. If the caller supplies an array of any other length, it throws IllegalArgumentException reporting the offending array. The length 7 corresponds to the seven natural-logic relations the projection table must cover.

Solutions

1. Ensure the array passed to the constructor has exactly 7 entries, indexed by NaturalLogicRelation ordinal
2. Pad or truncate a shorter/longer source array to 7 before constructing, mapping old ordinals correctly
3. Check version compatibility of any serialized projection data

Example fix

// before
Polarity p = new Polarity(myTable); // myTable.length == 5
// after
byte[] table = new byte[7];
System.arraycopy(myTable, 0, table, 0, Math.min(myTable.length, 7));
Polarity p = new Polarity(table);

if (fn == null || fn.length != 7) throw new IllegalArgumentException("projection table must have 7 entries, got " + (fn == null ? "null" : fn.length));

try { new Polarity(fn); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { /* rebuild table from NaturalLogicRelation ordinals */ }

When it happens

Trigger: new Polarity(byte[]) with an array whose length != 7 — e.g. a hand-written projection table, a truncated byte[] read from a model file, or an array built from an older relation enum with a different cardinality.

Common situations: Hand-crafting custom polarity/projection tables; deserializing serialized Polarity data produced by a different CoreNLP version where the relation count changed.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

• Cannot put a child trie with no keys
• CoreMap must have either a Calendar or DocDate annotation
• Could not compute span from tokens!
• ERROR: numberOfKeys must be > size of counter !
• Invalid arguments to

AI-assisted analysis of stanfordnlp/CoreNLP@1b7edd19c4 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/82ccbdf5b245f715. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/edu/stanford/nlp/naturalli/Polarity.java:51

      }
    } else {
      for (int rel = 0; rel < 7; ++rel) {
        NaturalLogicRelation relation = NaturalLogicRelation.byFixedIndex(rel);
        for (int op = operatorsInNarrowingScopeOrder.size() - 1; op >= 0; --op) {
          relation = project(relation, operatorsInNarrowingScopeOrder.get(op).first, operatorsInNarrowingScopeOrder.get(op).second);
        }
        projectionFunction[rel] = (byte) relation.fixedIndex;
      }
    }
  }

  /**
   * Create a polarity item by directly copying the projection function from {@link edu.stanford.nlp.naturalli.NaturalLogicRelation}s to
   * their projected relation.
   */
  public Polarity(byte[] projectionFunction) {
    if (projectionFunction.length != 7) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid projection function: " + Arrays.toString(projectionFunction));
    }
    for (int i = 0; i < 7; ++i) {
      if (projectionFunction[i] < 0 || projectionFunction[i] > 6) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid projection function: " + Arrays.toString(projectionFunction));
      }
    }
    System.arraycopy(projectionFunction, 0, this.projectionFunction, 0, 7);
  }

  /**
   * Encode the projection table in painful detail.
   *
   * @param input The input natural logic relation to project up through the operator.
   * @param mono The monotonicity of the operator we are projecting through.
   * @param type The monotonicity type of the operator we are projecting through.
   *
   * @return The projected relation, once passed through an operator with the given specifications.
   */

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