PERLDIAG(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLDIAG(1)
NAME
perldiag - various Perl diagnostics
DESCRIPTION
These messages are classified as follows (listed in(1,8) increasing order of
desperation):
(W) A warning (optional).
(D) A deprecation (optional).
(S) A severe warning (default).
(F) A fatal error(8,n) (trappable).
(P) An internal error(8,n) you should never see (trappable).
(X) A very fatal error(8,n) (nontrappable).
(A) An alien error(8,n) message (not generated by Perl).
The majority of messages from the first three classifications above (W,
D & S) can be controlled using the "warnings" pragma.
If a message can be controlled by the "warnings" pragma, its warning
category is included with the classification letter in(1,8) the description
below.
Optional warnings are enabled by using the "warnings" pragma or the -w
and -W switches. Warnings may be captured by setting $SIG{__WARN__} to
a reference to a routine that will be called on each warning instead of
printing it. See perlvar.
Default warnings are always enabled unless they are explicitly disabled
with the "warnings" pragma or the -X switch.
Trappable errors may be trapped using the eval operator. See "eval" in(1,8)
perlfunc. In almost all cases, warnings may be selectively disabled or
promoted to fatal errors using the "warnings" pragma. See warnings.
The messages are in(1,8) alphabetical order, without regard to upper or
lower-case. Some of these messages are generic. Spots that vary are
denoted with a %s or other printf-style escape. These escapes are
ignored by the alphabetical order, as are all characters other than
letters. To look(1,8,3 Search::Dict) up your message, just ignore anything that is not a
letter.
accept(2,8)() on closed socket(2,7,n) %s
(W closed) You tried to do an accept(2,8) on a closed socket. Did you
forget to check the return value of your socket(2,7,n)() call? See
"accept(2,8)" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Allocation too large: %lx
(X) You can't allocate more than 64K on an MS-DOS machine.
'!' allowed only after types %s
(F) The '!' is allowed in(1,8) pack(3,n,n pack-old)() or unpack() only after certain
types. See "pack(3,n,n pack-old)" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Ambiguous call resolved as CORE::%s(), qualify as such or use &
(W ambiguous) A subroutine you have declared has the same name as a
Perl keyword, and you have used the name without qualification for
calling one or the other. Perl decided to call the builtin because
the subroutine is not imported.
To force interpretation as a subroutine call, either put an amper-
sand before the subroutine name, or qualify the name with its pack-
age. Alternatively, you can import the subroutine (or pretend that
it's imported with the "use subs" pragma).
To silently interpret it as the Perl operator, use the "CORE::"
prefix on the operator (e.g. "CORE::log($x)") or declare the sub-
routine to be an object method (see "Subroutine Attributes" in(1,8)
perlsub or attributes).
Ambiguous range in(1,8) transliteration operator
(F) You wrote something like "tr/a-z-0//" which doesn't mean any-
thing at all. To include a "-" character in(1,8) a transliteration, put
it either first or last. (In the past, "tr/a-z-0//" was synonymous
with "tr/a-y//", which was probably not what you would have
expected.)
Ambiguous use of %s resolved as %s
(W ambiguous)(S) You said something that may not be interpreted the
way you thought. Normally it's pretty easy to disambiguate it by
supplying a missing quote, operator, parenthesis pair or declara-
tion.
'|' and '<' may not both be specified on command line
(F) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. Perl does its own command line redi-
rection, and found that STDIN was a pipe(2,8), and that you also tried
to redirect STDIN using '<'. Only one STDIN stream to a customer,
please.
'|' and '>' may not both be specified on command line
(F) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. Perl does its own command line redi-
rection, and thinks you tried to redirect stdout both to a file(1,n) and
into a pipe(2,8) to another command. You need to choose one or the
other, though nothing's stopping you from piping into a program or
Perl script which 'splits' output into two streams, such as
open(2,3,n)(OUT,">$ARGV[0]") or die "Can't write(1,2) to $ARGV[0]: $!";
while (<STDIN>) {
print;
print OUT;
}
close(2,7,n) OUT;
Applying %s to %s will act on scalar(%s)
(W misc) The pattern match ("//"), substitution ("s///"), and
transliteration ("tr///") operators work on scalar values. If you
apply one of them to an array or a hash, it will convert the array
or hash to a scalar value -- the length of an array, or the popula-
tion info(1,5,n) of a hash -- and then work on that scalar value. This is
probably not what you meant to do. See "grep" in(1,8) perlfunc and
"map" in(1,8) perlfunc for alternatives.
Args must match #! line
(F) The setuid emulator requires that the arguments Perl was
invoked with match the arguments specified on the #! line. Since
some systems impose a one-argument limit on the #! line, try com-
bining switches; for example, turn "-w -U" into "-wU".
Arg too short for msgsnd
(F) msgsnd() requires a string(3,n) at least as long as sizeof(long).
%s argument is not a HASH or ARRAY element
(F) The argument to exists() must be a hash or array element, such
as:
$foo{$bar}
$ref->{"susie"}[12]
%s argument is not a HASH or ARRAY element or slice
(F) The argument to delete() must be either a hash or array ele-
ment, such as:
$foo{$bar}
$ref->{"susie"}[12]
or a hash or array slice, such as:
@foo[$bar, $baz, $xyzzy]
@{$ref->[12]}{"susie", "queue(1,3)"}
%s argument is not a subroutine name
(F) The argument to exists() for "exists &sub" must be a subroutine
name, and not a subroutine call. "exists &sub()" will generate
this error.
Argument "%s" isn't numeric%s
(W numeric) The indicated string(3,n) was fed as an argument to an oper-
ator that expected a numeric value instead. If you're fortunate
the message will identify which operator was so unfortunate.
Argument list not closed for PerlIO layer "%s"
(W layer) When pushing a layer with arguments onto the Perl I/O
system you forgot the ) that closes the argument list. (Layers
take care of transforming data between external and internal repre-
sentations.) Perl stopped parsing the layer list at this point and
did not attempt to push this layer. If your program didn't explic-
itly request the failing operation, it may be the result of the
value of the environment variable PERLIO.
Array @%s missing the @ in(1,8) argument %d of %s()
(D deprecated) Really old Perl let you omit the @ on array names in(1,8)
some spots. This is now heavily deprecated.
assertion botched: %s
(P) The malloc package that comes with Perl had an internal fail-
ure.
Assertion failed: file(1,n) "%s"
(P) A general assertion failed. The file(1,n) in(1,8) question must be exam-
ined.
Assignment to both a list and a scalar
(F) If you assign to a conditional operator, the 2nd and 3rd argu-
ments must either both be scalars or both be lists. Otherwise Perl
won't know which context to supply to the right side.
A thread exited while %d threads were running
(W) When using threaded Perl, a thread (not necessarily the main
thread) exited while there were still other threads running. Usu-
ally it's a good idea to first collect the return values of the
created threads by joining them, and only then exit(3,n,1 builtins) from the main
thread. See threads.
Attempt to access(2,5) disallowed key '%s' in(1,8) a restricted hash
(F) The failing code has attempted to get or set(7,n,1 builtins) a key which is not
in(1,8) the current set(7,n,1 builtins) of allowed keys of a restricted hash.
Attempt to bless into a reference
(F) The CLASSNAME argument to the bless() operator is expected to
be the name of the package to bless the resulting object into.
You've supplied instead a reference to something: perhaps you wrote
bless $self, $proto;
when you intended
bless $self, ref($proto) || $proto;
If you actually want to bless into the stringified version(1,3,5) of the
reference supplied, you need to stringify it yourself, for example
by:
bless $self, "$proto";
Attempt to delete disallowed key '%s' from a restricted hash
(F) The failing code attempted to delete from a restricted hash a
key which is not in(1,8) its key set.
Attempt to delete readonly key '%s' from a restricted hash
(F) The failing code attempted to delete a key whose value has been
declared readonly from a restricted hash.
Attempt to free non-arena SV: 0x%lx
(P internal) All SV objects are supposed to be allocated from are-
nas that will be garbage collected on exit. An SV was discovered
to be outside any of those arenas.
Attempt to free nonexistent shared string(3,n)
(P internal) Perl maintains a reference counted internal table of
strings to optimize the storage and access(2,5) of hash keys and other
strings. This indicates someone tried to decrement the reference
count of a string(3,n) that can no longer be found in(1,8) the table.
Attempt to free temp prematurely
(W debugging) Mortalized values are supposed to be freed by the
free_tmps() routine. This indicates that something else is freeing
the SV before the free_tmps() routine gets(3,n) a chance, which means
that the free_tmps() routine will be freeing an unreferenced scalar
when it does try to free it.
Attempt to free unreferenced glob(1,3,7,n) pointers
(P internal) The reference counts got screwed up on symbol aliases.
Attempt to free unreferenced scalar
(W internal) Perl went to decrement the reference count of a scalar
to see if(3,n) it would go to 0, and discovered that it had already gone
to 0 earlier, and should have been freed, and in(1,8) fact, probably was
freed. This could indicate that SvREFCNT_dec() was called too many
times, or that SvREFCNT_inc() was called too few times, or that the
SV was mortalized when it shouldn't have been, or that memory has
been corrupted.
Attempt to join(1,n) self
(F) You tried to join(1,n) a thread from within itself, which is an
impossible task. You may be joining the wrong thread, or you may
need to move(3x,7,3x curs_move) the join(1,n)() to some other thread.
Attempt to pack(3,n,n pack-old) pointer to temporary value
(W pack(3,n,n pack-old)) You tried to pass a temporary value (like the result of a
function, or a computed expression) to the "p" pack(3,n,n pack-old)() template.
This means the result contains a pointer to a location that could
become invalid anytime, even before the end of the current state-
ment. Use literals or global values as arguments to the "p" pack(3,n,n pack-old)()
template to avoid this warning.
Attempt to use reference as lvalue in(1,8) substr
(W substr) You supplied a reference as the first argument to sub-
str() used as an lvalue, which is pretty strange. Perhaps you for-
got to dereference it first. See "substr" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Bad arg length for %s, is %d, should be %s
(F) You passed a buffer of the wrong size to one of msgctl(), sem-
ctl() or shmctl(). In C parlance, the correct sizes are, respec-
tively, sizeof(struct msqid_ds *), sizeof(struct semid_ds *), and
sizeof(struct shmid_ds *).
Bad evalled substitution pattern
(F) You've used the "/e" switch(1,n) to evaluate the replacement for a
substitution, but perl found a syntax error(8,n) in(1,8) the code to evalu-
ate, most likely an unexpected right brace '}'.
Bad filehandle: %s
(F) A symbol was passed to something wanting a filehandle, but the
symbol has no filehandle associated with it. Perhaps you didn't do
an open(2,3,n)(), or did it in(1,8) another package.
Bad free() ignored
(S malloc) An internal routine called free() on something that had
never been malloc()ed in(1,8) the first place. Mandatory, but can be
disabled by setting environment variable "PERL_BADFREE" to 0.
This message can be seen quite often with DB_File on systems with
"hard" dynamic linking, like "AIX" and "OS/2". It is a bug of
"Berkeley DB" which is left unnoticed if(3,n) "DB" uses forgiving system
malloc().
Bad hash
(P) One of the internal hash routines was passed a null HV pointer.
Bad index while coercing array into hash
(F) The index looked up in(1,8) the hash found as the 0'th element of a
pseudo-hash is not legal. Index values must be at 1 or greater.
See perlref.
Badly placed ()'s
(A) You've accidentally run your script through csh instead of
Perl. Check the #! line, or manually feed your script into Perl
yourself.
Bad name after %s::
(F) You started to name a symbol by using a package prefix, and
then didn't finish the symbol. In particular, you can't interpo-
late outside of quotes, so
$var = 'myvar';
$sym = mypack::$var;
is not the same as
$var = 'myvar';
$sym = "mypack::$var";
Bad realloc() ignored
(S malloc) An internal routine called realloc() on something that
had never been malloc()ed in(1,8) the first place. Mandatory, but can be
disabled by setting environment variable "PERL_BADFREE" to 1.
Bad symbol for array
(P) An internal request asked to add an array entry to something
that wasn't a symbol table entry.
Bad symbol for filehandle
(P) An internal request asked to add a filehandle entry to some-
thing that wasn't a symbol table entry.
Bad symbol for hash
(P) An internal request asked to add a hash entry to something that
wasn't a symbol table entry.
Bareword found in(1,8) conditional
(W bareword) The compiler found a bareword where it expected a con-
ditional, which often indicates that an || or && was parsed as part
of the last argument of the previous construct, for example:
open(2,3,n) FOO || die;
It may also indicate a misspelled constant that has been inter-
preted as a bareword:
use constant TYPO => 1;
if(3,n) (TYOP) { print "foo" }
The "strict" pragma is useful in(1,8) avoiding such errors.
Bareword "%s" not allowed while "strict subs" in(1,8) use
(F) With "strict subs" in(1,8) use, a bareword is only allowed as a sub-
routine identifier, in(1,8) curly brackets or to the left of the "=>"
symbol. Perhaps you need to predeclare a subroutine?
Bareword "%s" refers to nonexistent package
(W bareword) You used a qualified bareword of the form "Foo::", but
the compiler saw no other uses of that namespace before that point.
Perhaps you need to predeclare a package?
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted
(F) An untrapped exception was raised while executing a BEGIN sub-
routine. Compilation stops immediately and the interpreter is
exited.
BEGIN not safe after errors--compilation aborted
(F) Perl found a "BEGIN {}" subroutine (or a "use" directive, which
implies a "BEGIN {}") after one or more compilation errors had
already occurred. Since the intended environment for the "BEGIN
{}" could not be guaranteed (due to the errors), and since subse-
quent code likely depends on its correct operation, Perl just gave
up.
\1 better written as $1
(W syntax) Outside of patterns, backreferences live on as vari-
ables. The use of backslashes is grandfathered on the right-hand
side of a substitution, but stylistically it's better to use the
variable form because other Perl programmers will expect it, and it
works better if(3,n) there are more than 9 backreferences.
Binary number > 0b11111111111111111111111111111111 non-portable
(W portable) The binary number you specified is larger than 2**32-1
(4294967295) and therefore non-portable between systems. See perl-
port for more on portability concerns.
bind(2,n,1 builtins)() on closed socket(2,7,n) %s
(W closed) You tried to do a bind(2,n,1 builtins) on a closed socket. Did you for-
get to check the return value of your socket(2,7,n)() call? See "bind(2,n,1 builtins)" in(1,8)
perlfunc.
binmode() on closed filehandle %s
(W unopened) You tried binmode() on a filehandle that was never
opened. Check you control flow and number of arguments.
Bit vector size > 32 non-portable
(W portable) Using bit vector sizes larger than 32 is non-portable.
Bizarre copy of %s in(1,8) %s
(P) Perl detected an attempt to copy an internal value that is not
copyable.
Buffer overflow in(1,8) prime_env_iter: %s
(W internal) A warning peculiar to VMS. While Perl was preparing
to iterate over %ENV, it encountered a logical name or symbol defi-
nition which was too long, so it was truncated to the string(3,n) shown.
Callback called exit(3,n,1 builtins)
(F) A subroutine invoked from an external package via call_sv()
exited by calling exit.
%s() called too early to check prototype
(W prototype) You've called a function that has a prototype before
the parser saw a definition or declaration for it, and Perl could
not check that the call conforms to the prototype. You need to
either add an early prototype declaration for the subroutine in(1,8)
question, or move(3x,7,3x curs_move) the subroutine definition ahead of the call to
get proper prototype checking. Alternatively, if(3,n) you are certain
that you're calling the function correctly, you may put an amper-
sand before the name to avoid the warning. See perlsub.
Cannot compress integer in(1,8) pack(3,n,n pack-old)
(F) An argument to pack(3,n,n pack-old)("w",...) was too large to compress. The
BER compressed integer format can only be used with positive inte-
gers, and you attempted to compress Infinity or a very large number
(> 1e308). See "pack(3,n,n pack-old)" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Cannot compress negative numbers in(1,8) pack(3,n,n pack-old)
(F) An argument to pack(3,n,n pack-old)("w",...) was negative. The BER compressed
integer format can only be used with positive integers. See "pack(3,n,n pack-old)"
in(1,8) perlfunc.
Can only compress unsigned integers in(1,8) pack(3,n,n pack-old)
(F) An argument to pack(3,n,n pack-old)("w",...) was not an integer. The BER com-
pressed integer format can only be used with positive integers, and
you attempted to compress something else. See "pack(3,n,n pack-old)" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Can't bless non-reference value
(F) Only hard references may be blessed. This is how Perl
"enforces" encapsulation of objects. See perlobj.
Can't call method "%s" in(1,8) empty package "%s"
(F) You called a method correctly, and it correctly indicated a
package functioning as a class, but that package doesn't have ANY-
THING defined in(1,8) it, let alone methods. See perlobj.
Can't call method "%s" on an undefined value
(F) You used the syntax of a method call, but the slot filled by
the object reference or package name contains an undefined value.
Something like this will reproduce the error:
$BADREF = undef;
process $BADREF 1,2,3;
$BADREF->process(1,2,3);
Can't call method "%s" on unblessed reference
(F) A method call must know in(1,8) what package it's supposed to run.
It ordinarily finds this out from the object reference you supply,
but you didn't supply an object reference in(1,8) this case. A refer-
ence isn't an object reference until it has been blessed. See per-
lobj.
Can't call method "%s" without a package or object reference
(F) You used the syntax of a method call, but the slot filled by
the object reference or package name contains an expression that
returns a defined value which is neither an object reference nor a
package name. Something like this will reproduce the error:
$BADREF = 42;
process $BADREF 1,2,3;
$BADREF->process(1,2,3);
Can't chdir to %s
(F) You called "perl -x/foo/bar", but "/foo/bar" is not a directory
that you can chdir to, possibly because it doesn't exist.
Can't check filesystem of script "%s" for nosuid
(P) For some reason you can't check the filesystem of the script
for nosuid.
Can't coerce array into hash
(F) You used an array where a hash was expected, but the array has
no information on how to map from keys to array indices. You can
do that only with arrays that have a hash reference at index 0.
Can't coerce %s to integer in(1,8) %s
(F) Certain types of SVs, in(1,8) particular real symbol table entries
(typeglobs), can't be forced to stop being what they are. So you
can't say things like:
*foo += 1;
You CAN say
$foo = *foo;
$foo += 1;
but then $foo no longer contains a glob.
Can't coerce %s to number in(1,8) %s
(F) Certain types of SVs, in(1,8) particular real symbol table entries
(typeglobs), can't be forced to stop being what they are.
Can't coerce %s to string(3,n) in(1,8) %s
(F) Certain types of SVs, in(1,8) particular real symbol table entries
(typeglobs), can't be forced to stop being what they are.
Can't create pipe(2,8) mailbox
(P) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. The process is suffering from
exhausted quotas or other plumbing problems.
Can't declare class for non-scalar %s in(1,8) "%s"
(F) Currently, only scalar variables can be declared with a spe-
cific class qualifier in(1,8) a "my" or "our" declaration. The seman-
tics may be extended for other types of variables in(1,8) future.
Can't declare %s in(1,8) "%s"
(F) Only scalar, array, and hash variables may be declared as "my"
or "our" variables. They must have ordinary identifiers as names.
Can't do inplace edit: %s is not a regular file(1,n)
(S inplace) You tried to use the -i switch(1,n) on a special file(1,n), such
as a file(1,n) in(1,8) /dev, or a FIFO. The file(1,n) was ignored.
Can't do inplace edit on %s: %s
(S inplace) The creation of the new file(1,n) failed for the indicated
reason.
Can't do inplace edit without backup
(F) You're on a system such as MS-DOS that gets(3,n) confused if(3,n) you try
reading from a deleted (but still opened) file. You have to say
"-i.bak", or some such.
Can't do inplace edit: %s would not be unique
(S inplace) Your filesystem does not support filenames longer than
14 characters and Perl was unable to create a unique filename dur-
ing inplace editing with the -i switch. The file(1,n) was ignored.
Can't do {n,m} with n > m in(1,8) regex(3,7); marked by <-- HERE in(1,8) m/%s/
(F) Minima must be less(1,3) than or equal to maxima. If you really want
your regexp(3,n) to match something 0 times, just put {0}. The <-- HERE
shows in(1,8) the regular expression about where the problem was discov-
ered. See perlre.
Can't do setegid!
(P) The setegid() call failed for some reason in(1,8) the setuid emula-
tor of suidperl.
Can't do seteuid!
(P) The setuid emulator of suidperl failed for some reason.
Can't do setuid
(F) This typically means that ordinary perl tried to exec(3,n,1 builtins) suidperl
to do setuid emulation, but couldn't exec(3,n,1 builtins) it. It looks for a name
of the form sperl5.000 in(1,8) the same directory that the perl exe-
cutable resides under the name perl5.000, typically /usr/local/bin
on Unix machines. If the file(1,n) is there, check the execute permis-
sions. If it isn't, ask your sysadmin why he and/or she removed
it.
Can't do waitpid with flags
(F) This machine doesn't have either waitpid() or wait4(), so only
waitpid() without flags is emulated.
Can't emulate -%s on #! line
(F) The #! line specifies a switch(1,n) that doesn't make sense at this
point. For example, it'd be kind of silly to put a -x on the #!
line.
Can't exec(3,n,1 builtins) "%s": %s
(W exec(3,n,1 builtins)) A system(), exec(3,n,1 builtins)(), or piped open(2,3,n) call could not execute
the named(5,8) program for the indicated reason. Typical reasons
include: the permissions were wrong on the file(1,n), the file(1,n) wasn't
found in(1,8) $ENV{PATH}, the executable in(1,8) question was compiled for
another architecture, or the #! line in(1,8) a script points to an
interpreter that can't be run for similar reasons. (Or maybe your
system doesn't support #! at all.)
Can't exec(3,n,1 builtins) %s
(F) Perl was trying to execute the indicated program for you
because that's what the #! line said. If that's not what you
wanted, you may need to mention "perl" on the #! line somewhere.
Can't execute %s
(F) You used the -S switch(1,n), but the copies of the script to execute
found in(1,8) the PATH did not have correct permissions.
Can't find an opnumber for "%s"
(F) A string(3,n) of a form "CORE::word" was given to prototype(), but
there is no builtin with the name "word".
Can't find %s character property "%s"
(F) You used "\p{}" or "\P{}" but the character property by that
name could not be found. Maybe you misspelled the name of the prop-
erty (remember that the names of character properties consist only
of alphanumeric characters), or maybe you forgot the "Is" or "In"
prefix?
Can't find label %s
(F) You said to goto a label that isn't mentioned anywhere that
it's possible for us to go to. See "goto" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Can't find %s on PATH
(F) You used the -S switch(1,n), but the script to execute could not be
found in(1,8) the PATH.
Can't find %s on PATH, '.' not in(1,8) PATH
(F) You used the -S switch(1,n), but the script to execute could not be
found in(1,8) the PATH, or at least not with the correct permissions.
The script exists in(1,8) the current directory, but PATH prohibits run-
ning it.
Can't find %s property definition %s
(F) You may have tried to use "\p" which means a Unicode property
(for example "\p{Lu}" is all uppercase letters). If you did mean
to use a Unicode property, see perlunicode for the list of known
properties. If you didn't mean to use a Unicode property, escape
the "\p", either by "\\p" (just the "\p") or by "\Q\p" (the rest of
the string(3,n), until possible "\E").
Can't find string(3,n) terminator %s anywhere before EOF
(F) Perl strings can stretch over multiple lines. This message
means that the closing delimiter was omitted. Because bracketed
quotes count nesting levels, the following is missing its final
parenthesis:
print q(The character '(' starts a side comment.);
If you're getting this error(8,n) from a here-document, you may have
included unseen whitespace before or after your closing tag. A good
programmer's editor will have a way to help you find these charac-
ters.
Can't fork
(F) A fatal error(8,n) occurred while trying to fork while opening a
pipeline.
Can't get filespec - stale stat(1,2) buffer?
(S) A warning peculiar to VMS. This arises because of the differ-
ence between access(2,5) checks under VMS and under the Unix model Perl
assumes. Under VMS, access(2,5) checks are done by filename, rather
than by bits in(1,8) the stat(1,2) buffer, so that ACLs and other protections
can be taken into account. Unfortunately, Perl assumes that the
stat(1,2) buffer contains all the necessary information, and passes it,
instead of the filespec, to the access(2,5) checking routine. It will
try to retrieve the filespec using the device name and FID present
in(1,8) the stat(1,2) buffer, but this works only if(3,n) you haven't made a sub-
sequent call to the CRTL stat(1,2)() routine, because the device name is
overwritten with each call. If this warning appears, the name
lookup failed, and the access(2,5) checking routine gave up and returned
FALSE, just to be conservative. (Note: The access(2,5) checking routine
knows about the Perl "stat(1,2)" operator and file(1,n) tests, so you
shouldn't ever see this warning in(1,8) response to a Perl command; it
arises only if(3,n) some internal code takes stat(1,2) buffers lightly.)
Can't get pipe(2,8) mailbox device name
(P) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. After creating a mailbox to act as a
pipe(2,8), Perl can't retrieve its name for later use.
Can't get SYSGEN parameter value for MAXBUF
(P) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. Perl asked $GETSYI how big you want
your mailbox buffers to be, and didn't get an answer.
Can't "goto" into the middle of a foreach loop
(F) A "goto" statement was executed to jump into the middle of a
foreach loop. You can't get there from here. See "goto" in(1,8) perl-
func.
Can't "goto" out of a pseudo block
(F) A "goto" statement was executed to jump out of what might look(1,8,3 Search::Dict)
like a block, except that it isn't a proper block. This usually
occurs if(3,n) you tried to jump out of a sort(1,3)() block or subroutine,
which is a no-no. See "goto" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Can't goto subroutine from an eval-string
(F) The "goto subroutine" call can't be used to jump out of an eval
"string(3,n)". (You can use it to jump out of an eval {BLOCK}, but you
probably don't want to.)
Can't goto subroutine outside a subroutine
(F) The deeply magical "goto subroutine" call can only replace one
subroutine call for another. It can't manufacture one out of whole
cloth. In general you should be calling it out of only an AUTOLOAD
routine anyway. See "goto" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Can't ignore signal(2,7) CHLD, forcing to default
(W signal(2,7)) Perl has detected that it is being run with the SIGCHLD
signal(2,7) (sometimes known as SIGCLD) disabled. Since disabling this
signal(2,7) will interfere with proper determination of exit(3,n,1 builtins) status of
child processes, Perl has reset(1,7,1 tput) the signal(2,7) to its default value.
This situation typically indicates that the parent program under
which Perl may be running (e.g. cron) is being very careless.
Can't "last" outside a loop block
(F) A "last" statement was executed to break out of the current
block, except that there's this itty bitty problem called there
isn't a current block. Note that an "if(3,n)" or "else" block doesn't
count as a "loopish" block, as doesn't a block given to sort(1,3)(),
map() or grep(). You can usually double the curlies to get the
same effect though, because the inner curlies will be considered a
block that loops once. See "last" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Can't localize lexical variable %s
(F) You used local on a variable name that was previously declared
as a lexical variable using "my". This is not allowed. If you
want to localize a package variable of the same name, qualify it
with the package name.
Can't localize pseudo-hash element
(F) You said something like "local $ar->{'key'}", where $ar is a
reference to a pseudo-hash. That hasn't been implemented yet, but
you can get a similar effect by localizing the corresponding array
element directly -- "local $ar->[$ar->[0]{'key'}]".
Can't localize through a reference
(F) You said something like "local $$ref", which Perl can't cur-
rently handle, because when it goes to restore the old value of
whatever $ref pointed to after the scope of the local() is fin-
ished, it can't be sure that $ref will still be a reference.
Can't locate %s
(F) You said to "do" (or "require", or "use") a file(1,n) that couldn't
be found. Perl looks for the file(1,n) in(1,8) all the locations mentioned in(1,8)
@INC, unless the file(1,n) name included the full path to the file.
Perhaps you need to set(7,n,1 builtins) the PERL5LIB or PERL5OPT environment vari-
able to say where the extra library is, or maybe the script needs
to add the library name to @INC. Or maybe you just misspelled the
name of the file. See "require" in(1,8) perlfunc and lib.
Can't locate auto(5,8)/%s.al in(1,8) @INC
(F) A function (or method) was called in(1,8) a package which allows
autoload, but there is no function to autoload. Most probable
causes are a misprint in(1,8) a function/method name or a failure to
"AutoSplit" the file(1,n), say, by doing "make install".
Can't locate object method "%s" via package "%s"
(F) You called a method correctly, and it correctly indicated a
package functioning as a class, but that package doesn't define
that particular method, nor does any of its base classes. See per-
lobj.
Can't locate package %s for @%s::ISA
(W syntax) The @ISA array contained the name of another package
that doesn't seem to exist.
Can't locate PerlIO%s
(F) You tried to use in(1,8) open(2,3,n)() a PerlIO layer that does not exist,
e.g. open(2,3,n)(FH, ">:nosuchlayer", "somefile").
Can't make list assignment to \%ENV on this system
(F) List assignment to %ENV is not supported on some systems,
notably VMS.
Can't modify %s in(1,8) %s
(F) You aren't allowed to assign to the item indicated, or other-
wise try to change it, such as with an auto-increment.
Can't modify nonexistent substring
(P) The internal routine that does assignment to a substr() was
handed a NULL.
Can't modify non-lvalue subroutine call
(F) Subroutines meant to be used in(1,8) lvalue context should be
declared as such, see "Lvalue subroutines" in(1,8) perlsub.
Can't msgrcv to read-only var
(F) The target of a msgrcv must be modifiable to be used as a
receive buffer.
Can't "next" outside a loop block
(F) A "next" statement was executed to reiterate the current block,
but there isn't a current block. Note that an "if(3,n)" or "else" block
doesn't count as a "loopish" block, as doesn't a block given to
sort(1,3)(), map() or grep(). You can usually double the curlies to get
the same effect though, because the inner curlies will be consid-
ered a block that loops once. See "next" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Can't open(2,3,n) %s: %s
(S inplace) The implicit opening of a file(1,n) through use of the "<>"
filehandle, either implicitly under the "-n" or "-p" command-line
switches, or explicitly, failed for the indicated reason. Usually
this is because you don't have read(2,n,1 builtins) permission for a file(1,n) which you
named(5,8) on the command line.
Can't open(2,3,n) a reference
(W io) You tried to open(2,3,n) a scalar reference for reading or writing,
using the 3-arg open(2,3,n)() syntax :
open(2,3,n) FH, '>', $ref;
but your version(1,3,5) of perl is compiled without perlio, and this form
of open(2,3,n) is not supported.
Can't open(2,3,n) bidirectional pipe(2,8)
(W pipe(2,8)) You tried to say "open(2,3,n)(CMD, "|cmd|")", which is not sup-
ported. You can try any of several modules in(1,8) the Perl library to
do this, such as IPC::Open2. Alternately, direct the pipe(2,8)'s output
to a file(1,n) using ">", and then read(2,n,1 builtins) it in(1,8) under a different file(1,n)
handle.
Can't open(2,3,n) error(8,n) file(1,n) %s as stderr
(F) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. Perl does its own command line redi-
rection, and couldn't open(2,3,n) the file(1,n) specified after '2>' or '2>>'
on the command line for writing.
Can't open(2,3,n) input file(1,n) %s as stdin
(F) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. Perl does its own command line redi-
rection, and couldn't open(2,3,n) the file(1,n) specified after '<' on the com-
mand line for reading.
Can't open(2,3,n) output file(1,n) %s as stdout
(F) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. Perl does its own command line redi-
rection, and couldn't open(2,3,n) the file(1,n) specified after '>' or '>>' on
the command line for writing.
Can't open(2,3,n) output pipe(2,8) (name: %s)
(P) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. Perl does its own command line redi-
rection, and couldn't open(2,3,n) the pipe(2,8) into which to send(2,n) data des-
tined for stdout.
Can't open(2,3,n) perl script%s
(F) The script you specified can't be opened for the indicated rea-
son.
Can't read(2,n,1 builtins) CRTL environ
(S) A warning peculiar to VMS. Perl tried to read(2,n,1 builtins) an element of
%ENV from the CRTL's internal environment array and discovered the
array was missing. You need to figure out where your CRTL mis-
placed its environ or define PERL_ENV_TABLES (see perlvms) so that
environ is not searched.
Can't redefine active sort(1,3) subroutine %s
(F) Perl optimizes the internal handling of sort(1,3) subroutines and
keeps pointers into them. You tried to redefine one such sort(1,3) sub-
routine when it was currently active, which is not allowed. If you
really want to do this, you should write(1,2) "sort(1,3) { &func } @x"
instead of "sort(1,3) func @x".
Can't "redo" outside a loop block
(F) A "redo" statement was executed to restart the current block,
but there isn't a current block. Note that an "if(3,n)" or "else" block
doesn't count as a "loopish" block, as doesn't a block given to
sort(1,3)(), map() or grep(). You can usually double the curlies to get
the same effect though, because the inner curlies will be consid-
ered a block that loops once. See "redo" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Can't remove %s: %s, skipping file(1,n)
(S inplace) You requested an inplace edit without creating a backup
file. Perl was unable to remove the original file(1,n) to replace it
with the modified file. The file(1,n) was left unmodified.
Can't rename(1,2,n) %s to %s: %s, skipping file(1,n)
(S inplace) The rename(1,2,n) done by the -i switch(1,n) failed for some rea-
son, probably because you don't have write(1,2) permission to the direc-
tory.
Can't reopen input pipe(2,8) (name: %s) in(1,8) binary mode
(P) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. Perl thought stdin was a pipe(2,8), and
tried to reopen it to accept(2,8) binary data. Alas, it failed.
Can't resolve method `%s' overloading `%s' in(1,8) package `%s'
(F|P) Error resolving overloading specified by a method name (as
opposed to a subroutine reference): no such method callable via the
package. If method name is "???", this is an internal error.
Can't reswap uid and euid
(P) The setreuid() call failed for some reason in(1,8) the setuid emula-
tor of suidperl.
Can't return %s from lvalue subroutine
(F) Perl detected an attempt to return illegal lvalues (such as
temporary or readonly values) from a subroutine used as an lvalue.
This is not allowed.
Can't return outside a subroutine
(F) The return statement was executed in(1,8) mainline code, that is,
where there was no subroutine call to return out of. See perlsub.
Can't return %s to lvalue scalar context
(F) You tried to return a complete array or hash from an lvalue
subroutine, but you called the subroutine in(1,8) a way that made Perl
think you meant to return only one value. You probably meant to
write(1,2) parentheses around the call to the subroutine, which tell
Perl that the call should be in(1,8) list context.
Can't stat(1,2) script "%s"
(P) For some reason you can't fstat() the script even though you
have it open(2,3,n) already. Bizarre.
Can't swap uid and euid
(P) The setreuid() call failed for some reason in(1,8) the setuid emula-
tor of suidperl.
Can't take log of %g
(F) For ordinary real numbers, you can't take the logarithm of a
negative number or zero. There's a Math::Complex package that comes
standard with Perl, though, if(3,n) you really want to do that for the
negative numbers.
Can't take sqrt of %g
(F) For ordinary real numbers, you can't take the square root of a
negative number. There's a Math::Complex package that comes stan-
dard with Perl, though, if(3,n) you really want to do that.
Can't undef active subroutine
(F) You can't undefine a routine that's currently running. You
can, however, redefine it while it's running, and you can even
undef the redefined subroutine while the old routine is running.
Go figure.
Can't unshift
(F) You tried to unshift an "unreal" array that can't be unshifted,
such as the main Perl stack.
Can't upgrade that kind of scalar
(P) The internal sv_upgrade routine adds "members" to an SV, making
it into a more specialized kind of SV. The top several SV types
are so specialized, however, that they cannot be interconverted.
This message indicates that such a conversion was attempted.
Can't upgrade to undef
(P) The undefined SV is the bottom of the totem pole, in(1,8) the scheme
of upgradability. Upgrading to undef indicates an error(8,n) in(1,8) the
code calling sv_upgrade.
Can't use anonymous symbol table for method lookup
(P) The internal routine that does method lookup was handed a sym-
bol table that doesn't have a name. Symbol tables can become
anonymous for example by undefining stashes: "undef %Some::Pack-
age::".
Can't use an undefined value as %s reference
(F) A value used as either a hard reference or a symbolic reference
must be a defined value. This helps to delurk some insidious
errors.
Can't use bareword ("%s") as %s ref while "strict refs" in(1,8) use
(F) Only hard references are allowed by "strict refs". Symbolic
references are disallowed. See perlref.
Can't use %! because Errno.pm is not available
(F) The first time(1,2,n) the %! hash is used, perl automatically loads
the Errno.pm module. The Errno module is expected to tie the %!
hash to provide symbolic names for $! errno values.
Can't use %s for loop variable
(F) Only a simple scalar variable may be used as a loop variable on
a foreach.
Can't use global %s in(1,8) "my"
(F) You tried to declare a magical variable as a lexical variable.
This is not allowed, because the magic(4,5) can be tied to only one
location (namely the global variable) and it would be incredibly
confusing to have variables in(1,8) your program that looked like magi-
cal variables but weren't.
Can't use "my %s" in(1,8) sort(1,3) comparison
(F) The global variables $a and $b are reserved for sort(1,3) compar-
isons. You mentioned $a or $b in(1,8) the same line as the <=> or cmp
operator, and the variable had earlier been declared as a lexical
variable. Either qualify the sort(1,3) variable with the package name,
or rename(1,2,n) the lexical variable.
Can't use %s ref as %s ref
(F) You've mixed up your reference types. You have to dereference
a reference of the type needed. You can use the ref() function to
test the type of the reference, if(3,n) need be.
Can't use string(3,n) ("%s") as %s ref while "strict refs" in(1,8) use
(F) Only hard references are allowed by "strict refs". Symbolic
references are disallowed. See perlref.
Can't use subscript on %s
(F) The compiler tried to interpret a bracketed expression as a
subscript. But to the left of the brackets was an expression that
didn't look(1,8,3 Search::Dict) like an array reference, or anything else subscript-
able.
Can't use \%c to mean $%c in(1,8) expression
(W syntax) In an ordinary expression, backslash is a unary operator
that creates a reference to its argument. The use of backslash to
indicate a backreference to a matched substring is valid only as
part of a regular expression pattern. Trying to do this in(1,8) ordi-
nary Perl code produces a value that prints out looking like
SCALAR(0xdecaf). Use the $1 form instead.
Can't weaken a nonreference
(F) You attempted to weaken something that was not a reference.
Only references can be weakened.
Can't x= to read-only value
(F) You tried to repeat a constant value (often the undefined
value) with an assignment operator, which implies modifying the
value itself. Perhaps you need to copy the value to a temporary,
and repeat that.
Character in(1,8) "C" format wrapped in(1,8) pack(3,n,n pack-old)
(W pack(3,n,n pack-old)) You said
pack(3,n,n pack-old)("C", $x)
where $x is either less(1,3) than 0 or more than 255; the "C" format is
only for encoding(3,n) native operating system characters (ASCII,
EBCDIC, and so on) and not for Unicode characters, so Perl behaved
as if(3,n) you meant
pack(3,n,n pack-old)("C", $x & 255)
If you actually want to pack(3,n,n pack-old) Unicode codepoints, use the "U" format
instead.
Character in(1,8) "c" format wrapped in(1,8) pack(3,n,n pack-old)
(W pack(3,n,n pack-old)) You said
pack(3,n,n pack-old)("c", $x)
where $x is either less(1,3) than -128 or more than 127; the "c" format
is only for encoding(3,n) native operating system characters (ASCII,
EBCDIC, and so on) and not for Unicode characters, so Perl behaved
as if(3,n) you meant
pack(3,n,n pack-old)("c", $x & 255);
If you actually want to pack(3,n,n pack-old) Unicode codepoints, use the "U" format
instead.
close(2,7,n)() on unopened filehandle %s
(W unopened) You tried to close(2,7,n) a filehandle that was never opened.
Code missing after '/'
(F) You had a (sub-)template that ends with a '/'. There must be
another template code following the slash. See "pack(3,n,n pack-old)" in(1,8) perlfunc.
%s: Command not found
(A) You've accidentally run your script through csh instead of
Perl. Check the #! line, or manually feed your script into Perl
yourself.
Compilation failed in(1,8) require
(F) Perl could not compile a file(1,n) specified in(1,8) a "require" state-
ment. Perl uses this generic message when none of the errors that
it encountered were severe enough to halt compilation immediately.
Complex regular subexpression recursion limit (%d) exceeded
(W regexp(3,n)) The regular expression engine uses recursion in(1,8) complex
situations where back-tracking is required. Recursion depth is
limited to 32766, or perhaps less(1,3) in(1,8) architectures where the stack
cannot grow arbitrarily. ("Simple" and "medium" situations are
handled without recursion and are not subject to a limit.) Try
shortening the string(3,n) under examination; looping in(1,8) Perl code (e.g.
with "while") rather than in(1,8) the regular expression engine; or
rewriting the regular expression so that it is simpler or back-
tracks less. (See perlfaq2 for information on Mastering Regular
Expressions.)
cond_broadcast() called on unlocked variable
(W threads) Within a thread-enabled program, you tried to call
cond_broadcast() on a variable which wasn't locked. The cond_broad-
cast() function is used to wake up another thread that is waiting
in(1,8) a cond_wait(). To ensure that the signal(2,7) isn't sent before the
other thread has a chance to enter the wait, it is usual for the
signaling thread to first wait for a lock on variable. This lock
attempt will only succeed after the other thread has entered
cond_wait() and thus relinquished the lock.
cond_signal() called on unlocked variable
(W threads) Within a thread-enabled program, you tried to call
cond_signal() on a variable which wasn't locked. The cond_signal()
function is used to wake up another thread that is waiting in(1,8) a
cond_wait(). To ensure that the signal(2,7) isn't sent before the other
thread has a chance to enter the wait, it is usual for the signal-
ing thread to first wait for a lock on variable. This lock attempt
will only succeed after the other thread has entered cond_wait()
and thus relinquished the lock.
connect() on closed socket(2,7,n) %s
(W closed) You tried to do a connect on a closed socket. Did you
forget to check the return value of your socket(2,7,n)() call? See "con-
nect" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Constant(%s)%s: %s
(F) The parser found inconsistencies either while attempting to
define an overloaded constant, or when trying to find the character
name specified in(1,8) the "\N{...}" escape. Perhaps you forgot to load(7,n)
the corresponding "overload" or "charnames" pragma? See charnames
and overload.
Constant is not %s reference
(F) A constant value (perhaps declared using the "use constant"
pragma) is being dereferenced, but it amounts to the wrong type of
reference. The message indicates the type of reference that was
expected. This usually indicates a syntax error(8,n) in(1,8) dereferencing
the constant value. See "Constant Functions" in(1,8) perlsub and con-
stant.
Constant subroutine %s redefined
(S) You redefined a subroutine which had previously been eligible
for inlining. See "Constant Functions" in(1,8) perlsub for commentary
and workarounds.
Constant subroutine %s undefined
(W misc) You undefined a subroutine which had previously been eli-
gible for inlining. See "Constant Functions" in(1,8) perlsub for com-
mentary and workarounds.
Copy method did not return a reference
(F) The method which overloads "=" is buggy. See "Copy Constructor"
in(1,8) overload.
CORE::%s is not a keyword
(F) The CORE:: namespace is reserved for Perl keywords.
corrupted regexp(3,n) pointers
(P) The regular expression engine got confused by what the regular
expression compiler gave it.
corrupted regexp(3,n) program
(P) The regular expression engine got passed a regexp(3,n) program with-
out a valid magic(4,5) number.
Corrupt malloc ptr 0x%lx at 0x%lx
(P) The malloc package that comes with Perl had an internal fail-
ure.
Count after length/code in(1,8) unpack
(F) You had an unpack template indicating a counted-length string(3,n),
but you have also specified an explicit size for the string. See
"pack(3,n,n pack-old)" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Deep recursion on subroutine "%s"
(W recursion) This subroutine has called itself (directly or indi-
rectly) 100 times more than it has returned. This probably indi-
cates an infinite recursion, unless you're writing strange bench-
mark programs, in(1,8) which case it indicates something else.
defined(@array) is deprecated
(D deprecated) defined() is not usually useful on arrays because it
checks for an undefined scalar value. If you want to see if(3,n) the
array is empty, just use "if(3,n) (@array) { # not empty }" for example.
defined(%hash) is deprecated
(D deprecated) defined() is not usually useful on hashes because it
checks for an undefined scalar value. If you want to see if(3,n) the
hash is empty, just use "if(3,n) (%hash) { # not empty }" for example.
%s defines neither package nor VERSION--version check failed
(F) You said something like "use Module 42" but in(1,8) the Module file(1,n)
there are neither package declarations nor a $VERSION.
Delimiter for here document is too long
(F) In a here document construct like "<<FOO", the label "FOO" is
too long for Perl to handle. You have to be seriously twisted to
write(1,2) code that triggers this error.
DESTROY created new reference to dead object '%s'
(F) A DESTROY() method created a new reference to the object which
is just being DESTROYed. Perl is confused, and prefers to abort(3,7)
rather than to create a dangling reference.
Did not produce a valid header
See Server error.
%s did not return a true value
(F) A required (or used) file(1,n) must return a true value to indicate
that it compiled correctly and ran its initialization code cor-
rectly. It's traditional to end such a file(1,n) with a "1;", though
any true value would do. See "require" in(1,8) perlfunc.
(Did you mean &%s instead?)
(W) You probably referred to an imported subroutine &FOO as $FOO or
some such.
(Did you mean "local" instead of "our"?)
(W misc) Remember that "our" does not localize the declared global
variable. You have declared it again in(1,8) the same lexical scope,
which seems superfluous.
(Did you mean $ or @ instead of %?)
(W) You probably said %hash{$key} when you meant $hash{$key} or
@hash{@keys}. On the other hand, maybe you just meant %hash and
got carried away.
Died
(F) You passed die() an empty string(3,n) (the equivalent of "die """)
or you called it with no args and both $@ and $_ were empty.
Document contains no data
See Server error.
%s does not define %s::VERSION--version check failed
(F) You said something like "use Module 42" but the Module did not
define a "$VERSION."
'/' does not take a repeat count
(F) You cannot put a repeat count of any kind right after the '/'
code. See "pack(3,n,n pack-old)" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Don't know how to handle magic(4,5) of type '%s'
(P) The internal handling of magical variables has been cursed.
do_study: out of memory
(P) This should have been caught by safemalloc() instead.
(Do you need to predeclare %s?)
(S syntax) This is an educated guess made in(1,8) conjunction with the
message "%s found where operator expected". It often means a sub-
routine or module name is being referenced that hasn't been
declared yet. This may be because of ordering problems in(1,8) your
file(1,n), or because of a missing "sub", "package", "require", or "use"
statement. If you're referencing something that isn't defined yet,
you don't actually have to define the subroutine or package before
the current location. You can use an empty "sub foo;" or "package
FOO;" to enter a "forward" declaration.
dump() better written as CORE::dump()
(W misc) You used the obsolescent "dump()" built-in function, with-
out fully qualifying it as "CORE::dump()". Maybe it's a typo. See
"dump" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Duplicate free() ignored
(S malloc) An internal routine called free() on something that had
already been freed.
elseif should be elsif
(S syntax) There is no keyword "elseif" in(1,8) Perl because Larry
thinks it's ugly. Your code will be interpreted as an attempt to
call a method named(5,8) "elseif" for the class returned by the follow-
ing block. This is unlikely to be what you want.
Empty %s
(F) "\p" and "\P" are used to introduce a named(5,8) Unicode property,
as described in(1,8) perlunicode and perlre. You used "\p" or "\P" in(1,8) a
regular expression without specifying the property name.
entering effective %s failed
(F) While under the "use filetest" pragma, switching the real and
effective uids or gids failed.
Error converting file(1,n) specification %s
(F) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. Because Perl may have to deal with
file(1,n) specifications in(1,8) either VMS or Unix syntax, it converts them
to a single form when it must operate on them directly. Either
you've passed an invalid file(1,n) specification to Perl, or you've
found a case the conversion routines don't handle. Drat.
%s: Eval-group in(1,8) insecure regular expression
(F) Perl detected tainted data when trying to compile a regular
expression that contains the "(?{ ... })" zero-width assertion,
which is unsafe. See "(?{ code })" in(1,8) perlre, and perlsec.
%s: Eval-group not allowed at run time(1,2,n)
(F) Perl tried to compile a regular expression containing the "(?{
... })" zero-width assertion at run time(1,2,n), as it would when the pat-
tern contains interpolated values. Since that is a security risk,
it is not allowed. If you insist, you may still do this by explic-
itly building the pattern from an interpolated string(3,n) at run time(1,2,n)
and using that in(1,8) an eval(). See "(?{ code })" in(1,8) perlre.
%s: Eval-group not allowed, use re 'eval'
(F) A regular expression contained the "(?{ ... })" zero-width
assertion, but that construct is only allowed when the "use re
'eval'" pragma is in(1,8) effect. See "(?{ code })" in(1,8) perlre.
Excessively long <> operator
(F) The contents of a <> operator may not exceed the maximum size
of a Perl identifier. If you're just trying to glob(1,3,7,n) a long list of
filenames, try using the glob(1,3,7,n)() operator, or put the filenames into
a variable and glob(1,3,7,n) that.
exec(3,n,1 builtins)? I'm not *that* kind of operating system
(F) The "exec(3,n,1 builtins)" function is not implemented in(1,8) MacPerl. See perl-
port.
Execution of %s aborted due to compilation errors
(F) The final summary message when a Perl compilation fails.
Exiting eval via %s
(W exiting) You are exiting an eval by unconventional means, such
as a goto, or a loop control statement.
Exiting format via %s
(W exiting) You are exiting a format by unconventional means, such
as a goto, or a loop control statement.
Exiting pseudo-block via %s
(W exiting) You are exiting a rather special block construct (like
a sort(1,3) block or subroutine) by unconventional means, such as a
goto, or a loop control statement. See "sort(1,3)" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Exiting subroutine via %s
(W exiting) You are exiting a subroutine by unconventional means,
such as a goto, or a loop control statement.
Exiting substitution via %s
(W exiting) You are exiting a substitution by unconventional means,
such as a return, a goto, or a loop control statement.
Explicit blessing to '' (assuming package main)
(W misc) You are blessing a reference to a zero length string.
This has the effect of blessing the reference into the package
main. This is usually not what you want. Consider providing a
default target package, e.g. bless($ref, $p || 'MyPackage');
%s: Expression syntax
(A) You've accidentally run your script through csh instead of
Perl. Check the #! line, or manually feed your script into Perl
yourself.
%s failed--call queue(1,3) aborted
(F) An untrapped exception was raised while executing a CHECK,
INIT, or END subroutine. Processing of the remainder of the queue(1,3)
of such routines has been prematurely ended.
False [] range "%s" in(1,8) regex(3,7); marked by <-- HERE in(1,8) m/%s/
(W regexp(3,n)) A character class range must start and end at a literal
character, not another character class like "\d" or "[:alpha:]".
The "-" in(1,8) your false range is interpreted as a literal "-". Con-
sider quoting the "-", "\-". The <-- HERE shows in(1,8) the regular
expression about where the problem was discovered. See perlre.
Fatal VMS error(8,n) at %s, line %d
(P) An error(8,n) peculiar to VMS. Something untoward happened in(1,8) a VMS
system service or RTL routine; Perl's exit(3,n,1 builtins) status should provide
more details. The filename in(1,8) "at %s" and the line number in(1,8) "line
%d" tell you which section of the Perl source code is distressed.
fcntl is not implemented
(F) Your machine apparently doesn't implement fcntl(). What is
this, a PDP-11 or something?
Filehandle %s opened only for input
(W io) You tried to write(1,2) on a read-only filehandle. If you
intended it to be a read-write filehandle, you needed to open(2,3,n) it
with "+<" or "+>" or "+>>" instead of with "<" or nothing. If you
intended only to write(1,2) the file(1,n), use ">" or ">>". See "open(2,3,n)" in(1,8)
perlfunc.
Filehandle %s opened only for output
(W io) You tried to read(2,n,1 builtins) from a filehandle opened only for writing,
If you intended it to be a read(2,n,1 builtins)/write(1,2) filehandle, you needed to
open(2,3,n) it with "+<" or "+>" or "+>>" instead of with "<" or nothing.
If you intended only to read(2,n,1 builtins) from the file(1,n), use "<". See "open(2,3,n)" in(1,8)
perlfunc. Another possibility is that you attempted to open(2,3,n)
filedescriptor 0 (also known as STDIN) for output (maybe you closed
STDIN earlier?).
Filehandle %s reopened as %s only for input
(W io) You opened for reading a filehandle that got the same file-
handle id as STDOUT or STDERR. This occured because you closed STD-
OUT or STDERR previously.
Filehandle STDIN reopened as %s only for output
(W io) You opened for writing a filehandle that got the same file-
handle id as STDIN. This occured because you closed STDIN previ-
ously.
Final $ should be \$ or $name
(F) You must now decide whether the final $ in(1,8) a string(3,n) was meant
to be a literal dollar sign, or was meant to introduce a variable
name that happens to be missing. So you have to put either the
backslash or the name.
flock(1,2)() on closed filehandle %s
(W closed) The filehandle you're attempting to flock(1,2)() got itself
closed some time(1,2,n) before now. Check your control flow. flock(1,2)()
operates on filehandles. Are you attempting to call flock(1,2)() on a
dirhandle by the same name?
Format not terminated
(F) A format must be terminated by a line with a solitary dot.
Perl got to the end of your file(1,n) without finding such a line.
Format %s redefined
(W redefine) You redefined a format. To suppress this warning, say
{
no warnings 'redefine';
eval "format NAME =...";
}
Found = in(1,8) conditional, should be ==
(W syntax) You said
if(3,n) ($foo = 123)
when you meant
if(3,n) ($foo == 123)
(or something like that).
%s found where operator expected
(S syntax) The Perl lexer knows whether to expect a term(5,7) or an
operator. If it sees what it knows to be a term(5,7) when it was
expecting to see an operator, it gives you this warning. Usually
it indicates that an operator or delimiter was omitted, such as a
semicolon.
gdbm store returned %d, errno %d, key "%s"
(S) A warning from the GDBM_File extension that a store failed.
gethostent not implemented
(F) Your C library apparently doesn't implement gethostent(), prob-
ably because if(3,n) it did, it'd feel morally obligated to return every
hostname on the Internet.
get%sname() on closed socket(2,7,n) %s
(W closed) You tried to get a socket(2,7,n) or peer socket(2,7,n) name on a
closed socket. Did you forget to check the return value of your
socket(2,7,n)() call?
getpwnam returned invalid UIC %#o for user "%s"
(S) A warning peculiar to VMS. The call to "sys$getuai" underlying
the "getpwnam" operator returned an invalid UIC.
getsockopt() on closed socket(2,7,n) %s
(W closed) You tried to get a socket(2,7,n) option on a closed socket.
Did you forget to check the return value of your socket(2,7,n)() call?
See "getsockopt" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Global symbol "%s" requires explicit package name
(F) You've said "use strict vars", which indicates that all vari-
ables must either be lexically scoped (using "my"), declared
beforehand using "our", or explicitly qualified to say which pack-
age the global variable is in(1,8) (using "::").
glob(1,3,7,n) failed (%s)
(W glob(1,3,7,n)) Something went wrong with the external program(s) used for
"glob(1,3,7,n)" and "<*.c>". Usually, this means that you supplied a "glob(1,3,7,n)"
pattern that caused the external program to fail and exit(3,n,1 builtins) with a
nonzero status. If the message indicates that the abnormal exit(3,n,1 builtins)
resulted in(1,8) a coredump, this may also mean that your csh (C shell)
is broken. If so, you should change all of the csh-related vari-
ables in(1,8) config.sh: If you have tcsh, make the variables refer to
it as if(3,n) it were csh (e.g. "full_csh='/usr/bin/tcsh'"); otherwise,
make them all empty (except that "d_csh" should be 'undef') so that
Perl will think csh is missing. In either case, after editing con-
fig.sh, run "./Configure -S" and rebuild Perl.
Glob not terminated
(F) The lexer saw a left angle bracket in(1,8) a place where it was
expecting a term(5,7), so it's looking for the corresponding right angle
bracket, and not finding it. Chances are you left some needed
parentheses out earlier in(1,8) the line, and you really meant a "less(1,3)
than".
Got an error(8,n) from DosAllocMem
(P) An error(8,n) peculiar to OS/2. Most probably you're using an obso-
lete version(1,3,5) of Perl, and this should not happen anyway.
goto must have label
(F) Unlike with "next" or "last", you're not allowed to goto an
unspecified destination. See "goto" in(1,8) perlfunc.
()-group starts with a count
(F) A ()-group started with a count. A count is supposed to follow
something: a template character or a ()-group.
See "pack(3,n,n pack-old)" in(1,8) perlfunc.
%s had compilation errors
(F) The final summary message when a "perl -c" fails.
Had to create %s unexpectedly
(S internal) A routine asked for a symbol from a symbol table that
ought to have existed already, but for some reason it didn't, and
had to be created on an emergency basis to prevent a core dump.
Hash %%s missing the % in(1,8) argument %d of %s()
(D deprecated) Really old Perl let you omit the % on hash names in(1,8)
some spots. This is now heavily deprecated.
%s has too many errors
(F) The parser has given up trying to parse the program after 10
errors. Further error(8,n) messages would likely be uninformative.
Hexadecimal number > 0xffffffff non-portable
(W portable) The hexadecimal number you specified is larger than
2**32-1 (4294967295) and therefore non-portable between systems.
See perlport for more on portability concerns.
Identifier too long
(F) Perl limits identifiers (names for variables, functions, etc.)
to about 250 characters for simple names, and somewhat more for
compound names (like $A::B). You've exceeded Perl's limits.
Future versions of Perl are likely to eliminate these arbitrary
limitations.
Illegal binary digit %s
(F) You used a digit other than 0 or 1 in(1,8) a binary number.
Illegal binary digit %s ignored
(W digit) You may have tried to use a digit other than 0 or 1 in(1,8) a
binary number. Interpretation of the binary number stopped before
the offending digit.
Illegal character %s (carriage return)
(F) Perl normally treats carriage returns in(1,8) the program text as it
would any other whitespace, which means you should never see this
error(8,n) when Perl was built using standard options. For some reason,
your version(1,3,5) of Perl appears to have been built without this sup-
port. Talk to your Perl administrator.
Illegal character in(1,8) prototype for %s : %s
(W syntax) An illegal character was found in(1,8) a prototype declara-
tion. Legal characters in(1,8) prototypes are $, @, %, *, ;, [, ], &,
and \.
Illegal declaration of anonymous subroutine
(F) When using the "sub" keyword to construct an anonymous subrou-
tine, you must always specify a block of code. See perlsub.
Illegal declaration of subroutine %s
(F) A subroutine was not declared correctly. See perlsub.
Illegal division by zero
(F) You tried to divide a number by 0. Either something was wrong
in(1,8) your logic, or you need to put a conditional in(1,8) to guard against
meaningless input.
Illegal hexadecimal digit %s ignored
(W digit) You may have tried to use a character other than 0 - 9 or
A - F, a - f in(1,8) a hexadecimal number. Interpretation of the hexa-
decimal number stopped before the illegal character.
Illegal modulus zero
(F) You tried to divide a number by 0 to get the remainder. Most
numbers don't take to this kindly.
Illegal number of bits in(1,8) vec
(F) The number of bits in(1,8) vec() (the third argument) must be a
power of two from 1 to 32 (or 64, if(3,n) your platform supports that).
Illegal octal digit %s
(F) You used an 8 or 9 in(1,8) an octal number.
Illegal octal digit %s ignored
(W digit) You may have tried to use an 8 or 9 in(1,8) an octal number.
Interpretation of the octal number stopped before the 8 or 9.
Illegal switch(1,n) in(1,8) PERL5OPT: %s
(X) The PERL5OPT environment variable may only be used to set(7,n,1 builtins) the
following switches: -[DIMUdmtw].
Ill-formed CRTL environ value "%s"
(W internal) A warning peculiar to VMS. Perl tried to read(2,n,1 builtins) the
CRTL's internal environ array, and encountered an element without
the "=" delimiter used to separate keys from values. The element
is ignored.
Ill-formed message in(1,8) prime_env_iter: |%s|
(W internal) A warning peculiar to VMS. Perl tried to read(2,n,1 builtins) a logi-
cal name or CLI symbol definition when preparing to iterate over
%ENV, and didn't see the expected delimiter between key and value,
so the line was ignored.
(in(1,8) cleanup) %s
(W misc) This prefix usually indicates that a DESTROY() method
raised the indicated exception. Since destructors are usually
called by the system at arbitrary points during execution, and
often a vast number of times, the warning is issued only once for
any number of failures that would otherwise result in(1,8) the same mes-
sage being repeated.
Failure of user callbacks dispatched using the "G_KEEPERR" flag
could also result in(1,8) this warning. See "G_KEEPERR" in(1,8) perlcall.
In EBCDIC the v-string components cannot exceed 2147483647
(F) An error(8,n) peculiar to EBCDIC. Internally, v-strings are stored
as Unicode code points, and encoded in(1,8) EBCDIC as UTF-EBCDIC. The
UTF-EBCDIC encoding(3,n) is limited to code points no larger than
2147483647 (0x7FFFFFFF).
Insecure dependency in(1,8) %s
(F) You tried to do something that the tainting mechanism didn't
like. The tainting mechanism is turned on when you're running
setuid or setgid, or when you specify -T to turn it on explicitly.
The tainting mechanism labels all data that's derived directly or
indirectly from the user, who is considered to be unworthy of your
trust. If any such data is used in(1,8) a "dangerous" operation, you
get this error. See perlsec for more information.
Insecure directory in(1,8) %s
(F) You can't use system(), exec(3,n,1 builtins)(), or a piped open(2,3,n) in(1,8) a setuid or
setgid script if(3,n) $ENV{PATH} contains a directory that is writable
by the world. See perlsec.
Insecure $ENV{%s} while running %s
(F) You can't use system(), exec(3,n,1 builtins)(), or a piped open(2,3,n) in(1,8) a setuid or
setgid script if(3,n) any of $ENV{PATH}, $ENV{IFS}, $ENV{CDPATH},
$ENV{ENV}, $ENV{BASH_ENV} or $ENV{TERM} are derived from data sup-
plied (or potentially supplied) by the user. The script must set(7,n,1 builtins)
the path to a known value, using trustworthy data. See perlsec.
Integer overflow in(1,8) %s number
(W overflow) The hexadecimal, octal or binary number you have spec-
ified either as a literal or as an argument to hex() or oct() is
too big for your architecture, and has been converted to a floating
point number. On a 32-bit architecture the largest hexadecimal,
octal or binary number representable without overflow is
0xFFFFFFFF, 037777777777, or 0b11111111111111111111111111111111
respectively. Note that Perl transparently promotes all numbers to
a floating point representation internally--subject to loss of pre-
cision errors in(1,8) subsequent operations.
Internal disaster in(1,8) regex(3,7); marked by <-- HERE in(1,8) m/%s/
(P) Something went badly wrong in(1,8) the regular expression parser.
The <-- HERE shows in(1,8) the regular expression about where the prob-
lem was discovered.
Internal inconsistency in(1,8) tracking vforks
(S) A warning peculiar to VMS. Perl keeps track of the number of
times you've called "fork" and "exec(3,n,1 builtins)", to determine whether the
current call to "exec(3,n,1 builtins)" should affect the current script or a sub-
process (see "exec(3,n,1 builtins) LIST" in(1,8) perlvms). Somehow, this count has
become scrambled, so Perl is making a guess and treating this
"exec(3,n,1 builtins)" as a request to terminate the Perl script and execute the
specified command.
Internal urp in(1,8) regex(3,7); marked by <-- HERE in(1,8) m/%s/
(P) Something went badly awry in(1,8) the regular expression parser. The
<-- HERE shows in(1,8) the regular expression about where the problem
was discovered.
%s (...) interpreted as function
(W syntax) You've run afoul of the rule that says that any list
operator followed by parentheses turns into a function, with all
the list operators arguments found inside the parentheses. See
"Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in(1,8) perlop.
Invalid %s attribute: %s
The indicated attribute for a subroutine or variable was not recog-
nized by Perl or by a user-supplied handler. See attributes.
Invalid %s attributes: %s
The indicated attributes for a subroutine or variable were not rec-
ognized by Perl or by a user-supplied handler. See attributes.
Invalid conversion in(1,8) %s: "%s"
(W printf(1,3,1 builtins)) Perl does not understand the given format conversion.
See "sprintf" in(1,8) perlfunc.
Invalid [] range "%s" in(1,8) regex(3,7); marked by <-- HERE in(1,8) m/%s/
(F) The range specified in(1,8) a character class had a minimum charac-
ter greater than the maximum character. One possibility is that
you forgot the "{}" from your ending "\x{}" - "\x" without the
curly braces can go only up to "ff"