stanfordnlp/CoreNLP · error · ParseException

No named tregex nodes allowed in the scope of negation.

Error message

No named tregex nodes allowed in the scope of negation.

What it means

Tregex forbids declaring a named node (a variable binding) inside the scope of a negation, because a binding created in a negated subexpression can never be reliably bound (the subexpression is required to fail). The parser throws ParseException when it sees =name while underNegation is true.

Solutions

1. Remove the =name binding from inside the negation
2. Restructure the query: negate a subpattern that references an externally named node instead
3. Match positively, then filter results in Java code after matching

Example fix

// before
String pattern = "NP < !(NNS=${name})";
// after
String pattern = "NP < !NNS"; // filter/extract in code instead

// reject named nodes inside negation before compiling
if (pattern.matches(".*!.*=\\w+.*")) throw new IllegalArgumentException("named node inside negation: " + pattern);

try { TregexPattern.compile(pattern); } catch (ParseException e) { /* named node under negation; rewrite query */ }

When it happens

Trigger: Compiling a pattern like "!A=${name}" or any named node appearing within !(...) negation scope.

Common situations: Users trying to capture what did NOT match; converting positive queries to negated ones without removing capture names; misunderstanding that negated nodes cannot produce bindings.

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

• Unrecognized simple relation
• Unrecognized compound relation
• Unknown multi relation
• Variable has been declared twice, which makes no sense
• Variable was referenced before it was declared

AI-assisted analysis of stanfordnlp/CoreNLP@1b7edd19c4 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/39c9cb5840690e43. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/edu/stanford/nlp/trees/tregex/TregexParser.java:258

          break label_2;
        }
        jj_consume_token(19);
        groupNum = jj_consume_token(NUMBER);
        jj_consume_token(20);
        groupVar = jj_consume_token(IDENTIFIER);
varGroups.add(new Pair<Integer,String>(Integer.parseInt(groupNum.image),groupVar.image));
      }
      switch ((jj_ntk==-1)?jj_ntk_f():jj_ntk) {
      case 21:{
        jj_consume_token(21);
        name = jj_consume_token(IDENTIFIER);
if (knownVariables.contains(name.image)) {
            {if (true) throw new ParseException("Variable " + name.image + " has been declared twice, which makes no sense");}
          } else {
            knownVariables.add(name.image);
          }
          if (underNegation)
            {if (true) throw new ParseException("No named tregex nodes allowed in the scope of negation.");}
        break;
        }
      default:
        jj_la1[8] = jj_gen;
        ;
      }
      break;
      }
    case 22:{
      jj_consume_token(22);
      linkedName = jj_consume_token(IDENTIFIER);
      switch ((jj_ntk==-1)?jj_ntk_f():jj_ntk) {
      case 21:{
        jj_consume_token(21);
        name = jj_consume_token(IDENTIFIER);
        break;
        }
      default:

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