stanfordnlp/CoreNLP · error · SsurgeonParseException

Unknown attribute | | when building an EditNode operation

Error message

Unknown attribute |${attr}| when building an EditNode operation

What it means

Every name listed in removedAttributes must map to a known CoreAnnotation key via AnnotationLookup.toCoreKey. If a name is unknown, the EditNode constructor throws SsurgeonParseException naming the offending attribute, preventing silent no-op removals of unrecognized keys.

Solutions

Fix the attribute name to one AnnotationLookup.toCoreKey recognizes (e.g. "pos", "lemma", "word", "feats", "ner").
Pre-validate each removal name with AnnotationLookup.toCoreKey(attr) != null before constructing EditNode.
Check the Stanford CoreNLP AnnotationLookup key table for the correct spelling for your version.

Example fix

// before
new EditNode("node", attrs, null, List.of("postag"), List.of());

// after
new EditNode("node", attrs, null, List.of("pos"), List.of());

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Java
for (String attr : removedAttributes) {
  if (AnnotationLookup.toCoreKey(attr) == null) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown attribute for removal: " + attr);
  }
}

Try / catch

// Java
try {
  EditNode op = new EditNode(node, attrs, morpho, removedAttrs, removedMorpho);
} catch (SsurgeonParseException e) {
  log.severe("Bad removeAttributes entry: " + e.getMessage());
}

Prevention

Use exact AnnotationLookup key spellings (pos, lemma, word, feats, ner) in -removeAttributes.
Pre-validate removal names against AnnotationLookup.toCoreKey when generating rules.

When it happens

Trigger: new EditNode("node", attrs, null, List.of("feats3"), List.of()) where "feats3" (or any misspelled key like "PoS", "postag") has no CoreAnnotation mapping; thrown in the constructor loop calling AnnotationLookup.toCoreKey.

Common situations: Typos or legacy field names in -removeAttributes lists in .ssurgeon files; using CoNLL-U column labels that AnnotationLookup does not recognize; version differences where a key was renamed.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of stanfordnlp/CoreNLP@1b7edd19c4 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b4d8707d14c6108b. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/edu/stanford/nlp/semgraph/semgrex/ssurgeon/EditNode.java:50

  public EditNode(String nodeName, Map<String, String> attributes, String updateMorphoFeatures, List<String> removedAttributes, List<String> removedMorpho) {
    if (nodeName == null) {
      throw new SsurgeonParseException("Cannot make an EditNode with no nodeName");
    }
    if (attributes.size() == 0 && updateMorphoFeatures == null && removedAttributes.size() == 0 && removedMorpho.size() == 0) {
      throw new SsurgeonParseException("Cannot make an EditNode with no updated attributes, removed attributes, or updated/removed morphological features");
    }
    AddDep.checkIllegalAttributes(attributes);
    this.nodeName = nodeName;
    this.attributes = new TreeMap<>(attributes);
    if (updateMorphoFeatures != null) {
      this.updateMorphoFeatures = new CoNLLUFeatures(updateMorphoFeatures);
    } else {
      this.updateMorphoFeatures = Collections.emptyMap();
    }
    this.removedAttributes = new ArrayList<>(removedAttributes);
    for (String attr : removedAttributes) {
      if (AnnotationLookup.toCoreKey(attr) == null) {
        throw new SsurgeonParseException("Unknown attribute |" + attr + "| when building an EditNode operation");
      }
    }
    this.removedMorpho = new ArrayList<>(removedMorpho);
  }


  /**
   * Emits a parseable instruction string.
   */
  @Override
  public String toEditString() {
    StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder();
    buf.append(LABEL);  buf.append("\t");
    buf.append(Ssurgeon.NODENAME_ARG);buf.append(" ");
    buf.append(nodeName); buf.append("\t");

    for (String key : attributes.keySet()) {
      buf.append("-");

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