stanfordnlp/CoreNLP · error · SsurgeonParseException

Relation not specified for AddDep

Error message

Relation not specified for AddDep

What it means

When parsing an AddDep edit, parseEditLine requires the -reln argument giving the GrammaticalRelation for the new dependent edge. If argsBox.reln is null (no -reln flag was supplied), SsurgeonParseException('Relation not specified for AddDep') is thrown.

Solutions

  1. Add -reln <relation> to the adddep edit line, e.g. -reln obl.
  2. Use a relation name valid for the chosen language (GrammaticalRelation.valueOf(language, reln) runs next and will fail on bad names).
  3. Check the argument pairing on the line — a stray quote earlier can offset -flag/-value pairs so -reln is lost.

Example fix

// before
adddep -node governor -dep newnode
// after
adddep -node governor -dep newnode -reln nmod
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (line.startsWith("adddep") && !line.matches(".*-reln\\s+\\S+.*"))
  throw new IllegalArgumentException("adddep line missing -reln: " + line);

Try / catch

try { parseEditLine(line, attrs, lang); } catch (SsurgeonParseException e) { if (e.getMessage().equals("Relation not specified for AddDep")) log.error("Add -reln to: " + line); }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: An edit line 'adddep -node gov ...' that omits the -reln flag; a -reln value consumed by the wrong pairing in parseArgs (e.g. due to an earlier unmatched quote shifting arg pairs).

Common situations: Writing adddep rules from memory and forgetting -reln; rule templates from other ssurgeon ops (like addnode) that don't need -reln; a malformed argument list silently swallowing the -reln value.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of stanfordnlp/CoreNLP@1b7edd19c4 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/46f00417929f2902. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/edu/stanford/nlp/semgraph/semgrex/ssurgeon/Ssurgeon.java:615

      if (tuples1.length < 1) {
        throw new SsurgeonParseException("Error in SsurgeonEdit.parseEditLine: invalid number of arguments");
      }
      final String command = tuples1[0];

      if (command.equalsIgnoreCase(SetRoots.LABEL)) {
        String[] names = tuples1[1].split("\\s+");
        List<String> newRoots = Arrays.asList(names);
        return new SetRoots(newRoots);
      } else if (command.equalsIgnoreCase(KillNonRootedNodes.LABEL)) {
        return new KillNonRootedNodes();
      }

      // Parse the arguments based upon the type of command to execute.
      final SsurgeonArgs argsBox = parseArgsBox(tuples1.length == 1 ? "" : tuples1[1], attributeArgs);

      if (command.equalsIgnoreCase(AddDep.LABEL)) {
        if (argsBox.reln == null) {
          throw new SsurgeonParseException("Relation not specified for AddDep");
        }
        GrammaticalRelation reln = GrammaticalRelation.valueOf(language, argsBox.reln);
        return new AddDep(argsBox.govNodeName, reln, argsBox.annotations, argsBox.position);
      } else if (command.equalsIgnoreCase(AddNode.LABEL)) {
        return AddNode.createAddNode(argsBox.nodeString, argsBox.name);
      } else if (command.equalsIgnoreCase(AddEdge.LABEL)) {
        if (argsBox.reln == null) {
          throw new SsurgeonParseException("Relation not specified for AddEdge");
        }
        GrammaticalRelation reln = GrammaticalRelation.valueOf(language, argsBox.reln);
        return new AddEdge(argsBox.govNodeName, argsBox.dep, reln, argsBox.weight);
      } else if (command.equalsIgnoreCase(ReattachNamedEdge.LABEL)) {
          return new ReattachNamedEdge(argsBox.edge, argsBox.govNodeName, argsBox.dep);
      } else if (command.equalsIgnoreCase(DeleteGraphFromNode.LABEL)) {
        if (argsBox.nodes.size() != 1) {
          throw new SsurgeonParseException("Cannot make a DeleteGraphFromNode out of " + argsBox.nodes.size() + " nodes");
        }
        return new DeleteGraphFromNode(argsBox.nodes.get(0));

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