stanfordnlp/CoreNLP · error · RuntimeException

org.xml.sax.SAXException

Error message

org.xml.sax.SAXException

What it means

TransformXML.transformXML runs the SAX parser and wraps any exception — including the application-supplied SAXException from the transform handler — in a RuntimeException. So any parse error or callback failure surfaces as this unchecked exception with the original as the cause.

Solutions

1. Read e.getCause() to find the real SAXException/parse error and its line number
2. Validate/repair the input XML before transforming (e.g. parse it once beforehand)
3. Ensure the TransformXMLFunction does not throw; wrap its body and convert errors appropriately
4. Escape raw '&' and '<' characters in the source document

Example fix

// before
transformXML(Arrays.asList("tag"), fn, new FileInputStream(f));
// after
try {
  transformXML(Arrays.asList("tag"), fn, new FileInputStream(f));
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
  e.getCause().printStackTrace(); // real SAX parse error
}

// sanity check the document parses before transforming
DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder().parse(in);

try {
  tx.transformXML(tags, fn, in);
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
  Throwable cause = e.getCause(); // org.xml.sax.SAXException with line info
  log.error("XML transform failed: " + cause.getMessage());
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling transformXML on malformed XML input, or when the TransformXMLFunction applied to a matched element throws/SAXException is raised by a handler (e.g. the fn passed in fails, or an XMLTransformer.xmlTransform throws SAXException).

Common situations: Feeding non-XML or truncated files into transformXML; a user transform function throwing inside the handler; unescaped characters like a bare '&' in the XML.

Related errors

• Error configuring XML parser
• TIMEX3 should only contain text
• unexpected element
• unexpected content
• Attempted to parse empty/null tag

AI-assisted analysis of stanfordnlp/CoreNLP@1b7edd19c4 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/763b44b2a901a1a4. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/edu/stanford/nlp/process/TransformXML.java:379

   * be buffered if desirable.  Internally, this Writer is wrapped as
   * a PrintWriter.
   *
   * @param tags an array of <code>String</code>s, each an XML entity
   *             within which the transformation should be applied
   * @param fn   the {@link Function <code>Function</code>} to apply
   * @param in   the <code>InputStream</code> to read from
   * @param w    the <code>Writer</code> to write to
   * @param saxInterface the sax handler you would like to use (default is SaxInterface, defined in this class, but you may define your own handler)
   */
  public void transformXML(String[] tags, Function<String,T> fn, InputSource in, Writer w, SAXInterface<T> saxInterface) {
    saxInterface.outWriter = new PrintWriter(w, true);
    saxInterface.function = fn;
    saxInterface.elementsToBeTransformed = new ArrayList<>();
    saxInterface.elementsToBeTransformed.addAll(Arrays.asList(tags));
    try {
      saxParser.parse(in, saxInterface);
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new RuntimeException(e);
    }
  }

} // end class TransformXML

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