(W) A warning (optional).
(D) A deprecation (optional).
- (S) A severe warning (mandatory).
+ (S) A severe warning (default).
(F) A fatal error (trappable).
(P) An internal error you should never see (trappable).
(X) A very fatal error (nontrappable).
(A) An alien error message (not generated by Perl).
-Optional warnings are enabled by using the B<-w> switch. Warnings may
-be captured by setting C<$SIG{__WARN__}> to a reference to a routine that
-will be called on each warning instead of printing it. See L<perlvar>.
+The majority of messages from the first three classifications above (W,
+D & S) can be controlled using the C<warnings> pragma.
+
+If a message can be controlled by the C<warnings> pragma, its warning
+category is included with the classification letter in the description
+below.
+
+Optional warnings are enabled by using the C<warnings> pragma or the B<-w>
+and B<-W> switches. Warnings may be captured by setting C<$SIG{__WARN__}>
+to a reference to a routine that will be called on each warning instead
+of printing it. See L<perlvar>.
+
+Default warnings are always enabled unless they are explicitly disabled
+with the C<warnings> pragma or the B<-X> switch.
+
Trappable errors may be trapped using the eval operator. See
-L<perlfunc/eval>.
+L<perlfunc/eval>. In almost all cases, warnings may be selectively
+disabled or promoted to fatal errors using the C<warnings> pragma.
+See L<warnings>.
Some of these messages are generic. Spots that vary are denoted with a %s,
just as in a printf format. Note that some messages start with a %s!
-The symbols C<"%(-?@> sort before the letters, while C<[> and C<\> sort after.
+Since the messages are listed in alphabetical order, the symbols
+C<"%(-?@> sort before the letters, while C<[> and C<\> sort after.
=over 4
-=item "my" variable %s can't be in a package
-
-(F) Lexically scoped variables aren't in a package, so it doesn't make sense
-to try to declare one with a package qualifier on the front. Use local()
-if you want to localize a package variable.
-
-=item "my" variable %s masks earlier declaration in same %s
+=item "%s" variable %s masks earlier declaration in same %s
-(W) A lexical variable has been redeclared in the current scope or statement,
+(W misc) A "my" or "our" variable has been redeclared in the current scope or statement,
effectively eliminating all access to the previous instance. This is almost
always a typographical error. Note that the earlier variable will still exist
until the end of the scope or until all closure referents to it are
destroyed.
+=item "my sub" not yet implemented
+
+(F) Lexically scoped subroutines are not yet implemented. Don't try that
+yet.
+
+=item "my" variable %s can't be in a package
+
+(F) Lexically scoped variables aren't in a package, so it doesn't make sense
+to try to declare one with a package qualifier on the front. Use local()
+if you want to localize a package variable.
+
=item "no" not allowed in expression
(F) The "no" keyword is recognized and executed at compile time, and returns
no useful value. See L<perlmod>.
+=item "our" variable %s redeclared
+
+(W misc) You seem to have already declared the same global once before in the
+current lexical scope.
+
=item "use" not allowed in expression
(F) The "use" keyword is recognized and executed at compile time, and returns
(F) The '!' is allowed in pack() and unpack() only after certain types.
See L<perlfunc/pack>.
-=item # cannot take a count
+=item / cannot take a count
(F) You had an unpack template indicating a counted-length string,
but you have also specified an explicit size for the string.
See L<perlfunc/pack>.
-=item # must be followed by a, A or Z
+=item / must be followed by a, A or Z
(F) You had an unpack template indicating a counted-length string,
which must be followed by one of the letters a, A or Z
to indicate what sort of string is to be unpacked.
See L<perlfunc/pack>.
-=item # must be followed by a*, A* or Z*
+=item / must be followed by a*, A* or Z*
-(F) You had an pack template indicating a counted-length string,
+(F) You had a pack template indicating a counted-length string,
Currently the only things that can have their length counted are a*, A* or Z*.
See L<perlfunc/pack>.
-=item # must follow a numeric type
+=item / must follow a numeric type
(F) You had an unpack template that contained a '#',
but this did not follow some numeric unpack specification.
=item /%s/: Unrecognized escape \\%c passed through
-(W) You used a backslash-character combination which is not recognized
+(W regexp) You used a backslash-character combination which is not recognized
by Perl. This combination appears in an interpolated variable or a
-C<'>-delimited regular expression.
+C<'>-delimited regular expression. The character was understood literally.
+
+=item /%s/: Unrecognized escape \\%c in character class passed through
+
+(W regexp) You used a backslash-character combination which is not recognized
+by Perl inside character classes. The character was understood literally.
+
+=item /%s/ should probably be written as "%s"
+
+(W syntax) You have used a pattern where Perl expected to find a string,
+as in the first argument to C<join>. Perl will treat the true
+or false result of matching the pattern against $_ as the string,
+which is probably not what you had in mind.
=item %s (...) interpreted as function
-(W) You've run afoul of the rule that says that any list operator followed
+(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 L<perlop/Terms and List Operators (Leftward)>.
=item %s() called too early to check prototype
-(W) You've called a function that has a prototype before the parser saw a
+(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 question, or move the subroutine
if you are certain that you're calling the function correctly, you may put
an ampersand before the name to avoid the warning. See L<perlsub>.
-=item %s argument is not a HASH element
+=item %s argument is not a HASH or ARRAY element
-(F) The argument to exists() must be a hash element, such as
+(F) The argument to exists() must be a hash or array element, such as:
$foo{$bar}
- $ref->[12]->{"susie"}
+ $ref->[12]->["susie"]
-=item %s argument is not a HASH element or slice
+=item %s argument is not a HASH or ARRAY element or slice
-(F) The argument to delete() must be either a hash element, such as
+(F) The argument to delete() must be either a hash or array element, such as:
$foo{$bar}
- $ref->[12]->{"susie"}
+ $ref->[12]->["susie"]
-or a hash slice, such as
+or a hash or array slice, such as:
- @foo{$bar, $baz, $xyzzy}
+ @foo[$bar, $baz, $xyzzy]
@{$ref->[12]}{"susie", "queue"}
+=item %s argument is not a subroutine name
+
+(F) The argument to exists() for C<exists &sub> must be a subroutine
+name, and not a subroutine call. C<exists &sub()> will generate this error.
+
=item %s did not return a true value
(F) A required (or used) file must return a true value to indicate that
=item %s matches null string many times
-(W) The pattern you've specified would be an infinite loop if the
+(W regexp) The pattern you've specified would be an infinite loop if the
regular expression engine didn't specifically check for that. See L<perlre>.
=item %s never introduced
-(S) The symbol in question was declared but somehow went out of scope
+(S internal) The symbol in question was declared but somehow went out of scope
before it could possibly have been used.
+=item %s package attribute may clash with future reserved word: %s
+
+(W reserved) A lowercase attribute name was used that had a package-specific handler.
+That name might have a meaning to Perl itself some day, even though it
+doesn't yet. Perhaps you should use a mixed-case attribute name, instead.
+See L<attributes>.
+
=item %s syntax OK
(F) The final summary message when a C<perl -c> succeeds.
=item (in cleanup) %s
-(W) This prefix usually indicates that a DESTROY() method raised
+(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
=item <> should be quotes
-(F) You wrote C<require E<lt>fileE<gt>> when you should have written
+(F) You wrote C<< require <file> >> when you should have written
C<require 'file'>.
-=item accept() on closed fd
+=item accept() on closed socket %s
-(W) You tried to do an accept on a closed socket. Did you forget to check
+(W closed) You tried to do an accept on a closed socket. Did you forget to check
the return value of your socket() call? See L<perlfunc/accept>.
=item Allocation too large: %lx
=item Applying %s to %s will act on scalar(%s)
-(W) The pattern match (//), substitution (s///), and transliteration (tr///)
+(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 population info of a hash -- and then work on
=item Ambiguous use of %s resolved as %s
-(W)(S) You said something that may not be interpreted the way
+(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 declaration.
=item Ambiguous call resolved as CORE::%s(), qualify as such or use &
-(W) A subroutine you have declared has the same name as a Perl keyword,
+(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 silently interpret it as the Perl operator, use the C<CORE::> prefix
on the operator (e.g. C<CORE::log($x)>) or by declaring the subroutine
-to be an object method (see L<attrs>).
+to be an object method (see L<perlsub/"Subroutine Attributes">
+or L<attributes>).
=item Args must match #! line
=item Argument "%s" isn't numeric%s
-(W) The indicated string was fed as an argument to an operator that
+(W numeric) The indicated string was fed as an argument to an operator that
expected a numeric value instead. If you're fortunate the message
will identify which operator was so unfortunate.
=item Array @%s missing the @ in argument %d of %s()
-(D) Really old Perl let you omit the @ on array names in some spots. This
+(D deprecated) Really old Perl let you omit the @ on array names in some spots. This
is now heavily deprecated.
=item assertion botched: %s
=item Attempt to free non-arena SV: 0x%lx
-(P) All SV objects are supposed to be allocated from arenas that will
+(P internal) All SV objects are supposed to be allocated from arenas that will
be garbage collected on exit. An SV was discovered to be outside any
of those arenas.
=item Attempt to free nonexistent shared string
-(P) Perl maintains a reference counted internal table of strings to
+(P internal) Perl maintains a reference counted internal table of strings to
optimize the storage and access of hash keys and other strings. This
indicates someone tried to decrement the reference count of a string
that can no longer be found in the table.
=item Attempt to free temp prematurely
-(W) Mortalized values are supposed to be freed by the free_tmps()
+(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 a chance, which means that the free_tmps()
routine will be freeing an unreferenced scalar when it does try to free
=item Attempt to free unreferenced glob pointers
-(P) The reference counts got screwed up on symbol aliases.
+(P internal) The reference counts got screwed up on symbol aliases.
=item Attempt to free unreferenced scalar
-(W) Perl went to decrement the reference count of a scalar to see if it
+(W internal) Perl went to decrement the reference count of a scalar to see if it
would go to 0, and discovered that it had already gone to 0 earlier,
and should have been freed, and in fact, probably was freed. This
could indicate that SvREFCNT_dec() was called too many times, or that
=item Attempt to pack pointer to temporary value
-(W) You tried to pass a temporary value (like the result of a
+(W pack) You tried to pass a temporary value (like the result of a
function, or a computed expression) to the "p" pack() template. This
means the result contains a pointer to a location that could become
invalid anytime, even before the end of the current statement. Use
=item Attempt to use reference as lvalue in substr
-(W) You supplied a reference as the first argument to substr() used
+(W substr) You supplied a reference as the first argument to substr() used
as an lvalue, which is pretty strange. Perhaps you forgot to
dereference it first. See L<perlfunc/substr>.
=item Bad free() ignored
-(S) An internal routine called free() on something that had never been
+(S malloc) An internal routine called free() on something that had never been
malloc()ed in the first place. Mandatory, but can be disabled by
setting environment variable C<PERL_BADFREE> to 1.
$var = 'myvar';
$sym = "mypack::$var";
+=item Bad realloc() ignored
+
+(S malloc) An internal routine called realloc() on something that had never been
+malloc()ed in the first place. Mandatory, but can be disabled by
+setting environment variable C<PERL_BADFREE> to 1.
+
=item Bad symbol for array
(P) An internal request asked to add an array entry to something that
=item Bareword "%s" refers to nonexistent package
-(W) You used a qualified bareword of the form C<Foo::>, but
+(W bareword) You used a qualified bareword of the form C<Foo::>, but
the compiler saw no other uses of that namespace before that point.
Perhaps you need to predeclare a package?
+=item Bareword found in conditional
+
+(W bareword) The compiler found a bareword where it expected a conditional,
+which often indicates that an || or && was parsed as part of the
+last argument of the previous construct, for example:
+
+ open FOO || die;
+
+It may also indicate a misspelled constant that has been interpreted
+as a bareword:
+
+ use constant TYPO => 1;
+ if (TYOP) { print "foo" }
+
+The C<strict> pragma is useful in avoiding such errors.
+
=item BEGIN failed--compilation aborted
(F) An untrapped exception was raised while executing a BEGIN subroutine.
=item Binary number > 0b11111111111111111111111111111111 non-portable
-(W) The binary number you specified is larger than 2**32-1
+(W portable) The binary number you specified is larger than 2**32-1
(4294967295) and therefore non-portable between systems. See
L<perlport> for more on portability concerns.
-=item bind() on closed fd
+=item bind() on closed socket %s
-(W) You tried to do a bind on a closed socket. Did you forget to check
+(W closed) You tried to do a bind on a closed socket. Did you forget to check
the return value of your socket() call? See L<perlfunc/bind>.
+=item Bit vector size > 32 non-portable
+
+(W portable) Using bit vector sizes larger than 32 is non-portable.
+
=item Bizarre copy of %s in %s
(P) Perl detected an attempt to copy an internal value that is not copiable.
=item Buffer overflow in prime_env_iter: %s
-(W) A warning peculiar to VMS. While Perl was preparing to iterate over
+(W internal) A warning peculiar to VMS. While Perl was preparing to iterate over
%ENV, it encountered a logical name or symbol definition which was too long,
so it was truncated to the string shown.
=item Callback called exit
-(F) A subroutine invoked from an external package via perl_call_sv()
+(F) A subroutine invoked from an external package via call_sv()
exited by calling exit.
-=item Can't "goto" outside a block
+=item Can't "goto" out of a pseudo block
(F) A "goto" statement was executed to jump out of what might look
like a block, except that it isn't a proper block. This usually
(F) A "goto" statement was executed to jump into the middle of a
foreach loop. You can't get there from here. See L<perlfunc/goto>.
-=item Can't "last" outside a block
+=item 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" or "else" block doesn't count as a
-"loopish" block, as doesn't a block given to sort(). 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 L<perlfunc/last>.
+"loopish" block, as doesn't a block given to sort(), 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 L<perlfunc/last>.
-=item Can't "next" outside a block
+=item 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" or "else" block doesn't
-count as a "loopish" block, as doesn't a block given to sort(). 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 L<perlfunc/next>.
+count as a "loopish" block, as doesn't a block given to sort(), 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 L<perlfunc/next>.
=item Can't read CRTL environ
missing. You need to figure out where your CRTL misplaced its environ
or define F<PERL_ENV_TABLES> (see L<perlvms>) so that environ is not searched.
-=item Can't "redo" outside a block
+=item 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" or "else" block doesn't
-count as a "loopish" block, as doesn't a block given to sort(). 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 L<perlfunc/redo>.
+count as a "loopish" block, as doesn't a block given to sort(), 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 L<perlfunc/redo>.
=item Can't bless non-reference value
=item Can't break at that line
-(S) A warning intended to only be printed while running within the debugger, indicating
+(S internal) A warning intended to only be printed while running within the debugger, indicating
the line number specified wasn't the location of a statement that could
be stopped at.
(F) You called C<perl -x/foo/bar>, but C</foo/bar> is not a directory
that you can chdir to, possibly because it doesn't exist.
-=item Can't check filesystem of script "%s"
+=item Can't check filesystem of script "%s" for nosuid
(P) For some reason you can't check the filesystem of the script for nosuid.
(P) An error peculiar to VMS. The process is suffering from exhausted quotas
or other plumbing problems.
-=item Can't declare %s in my
+=item Can't declare class for non-scalar %s in "%s"
+
+(S) Currently, only scalar variables can declared with a specific class
+qualifier in a "my" or "our" declaration. The semantics may be extended
+for other types of variables in future.
-(F) Only scalar, array, and hash variables may be declared as lexical variables.
-They must have ordinary identifiers as names.
+=item Can't declare %s in "%s"
+
+(F) Only scalar, array, and hash variables may be declared as "my" or
+"our" variables. They must have ordinary identifiers as names.
=item Can't do inplace edit on %s: %s
-(S) The creation of the new file failed for the indicated reason.
+(S inplace) The creation of the new file failed for the indicated reason.
=item Can't do inplace edit without backup
from a deleted (but still opened) file. You have to say C<-i.bak>, or some
such.
-=item Can't do inplace edit: %s E<gt> 14 characters
+=item Can't do inplace edit: %s would not be unique
-(S) There isn't enough room in the filename to make a backup name for the file.
+(S inplace) Your filesystem does not support filenames longer than 14
+characters and Perl was unable to create a unique filename during
+inplace editing with the B<-i> switch. The file was ignored.
=item Can't do inplace edit: %s is not a regular file
-(S) You tried to use the B<-i> switch on a special file, such as a file in
+(S inplace) You tried to use the B<-i> switch on a special file, such as a file in
/dev, or a FIFO. The file was ignored.
=item Can't do setegid!
(F) This machine doesn't have either waitpid() or wait4(), so only waitpid()
without flags is emulated.
-=item Can't do {n,m} with n E<gt> m
+=item Can't do {n,m} with n > m
(F) Minima must be less than or equal to maxima. If you really want
your regexp to match something 0 times, just put {0}. See L<perlre>.
=item Can't exec "%s": %s
-(W) An system(), exec(), or piped open call could not execute the named
+(W exec) An system(), exec(), or piped open call could not execute the named
program for the indicated reason. Typical reasons include: the permissions
were wrong on the file, the file wasn't found in C<$ENV{PATH}>, the
executable in question was compiled for another architecture, or the
(F) The "goto subroutine" call can't be used to jump out of an eval "string".
(You can use it to jump out of an eval {BLOCK}, but you probably don't want to.)
+=item Can't ignore signal CHLD, forcing to default
+
+(W signal) Perl has detected that it is being run with the SIGCHLD signal
+(sometimes known as SIGCLD) disabled. Since disabling this signal
+will interfere with proper determination of exit status of child
+processes, Perl has reset the signal 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.
+
=item Can't localize through a reference
(F) You said something like C<local $$ref>, which Perl can't currently
=item Can't localize pseudo-hash element
-(F) You said something like C<local $ar-E<gt>{'key'}>, where $ar is
+(F) You said something like C<< 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 -- C<local $ar-E<gt>[$ar-E<gt>[0]{'key'}]>.
+element directly -- C<< local $ar->[$ar->[0]{'key'}] >>.
=item Can't locate auto/%s.al in @INC
=item Can't locate package %s for @%s::ISA
-(W) The @ISA array contained the name of another package that doesn't seem
+(W syntax) The @ISA array contained the name of another package that doesn't seem
to exist.
=item Can't make list assignment to \%ENV on this system
(F) You aren't allowed to assign to the item indicated, or otherwise try to
change it, such as with an auto-increment.
+=item Can't modify non-lvalue subroutine call
+
+(F) Subroutines meant to be used in lvalue context should be declared as
+such, see L<perlsub/"Lvalue subroutines">.
+
=item Can't modify nonexistent substring
(P) The internal routine that does assignment to a substr() was handed
=item Can't open %s: %s
-(S) The implicit opening of a file through use of the C<E<lt>E<gt>>
+(S inplace) The implicit opening of a file through use of the C<< <> >>
filehandle, either implicitly under the C<-n> or C<-p> command-line
switches, or explicitly, failed for the indicated reason. Usually this
is because you don't have read permission for a file which you named
=item Can't open bidirectional pipe
-(W) You tried to say C<open(CMD, "|cmd|")>, which is not supported. You can
+(W pipe) You tried to say C<open(CMD, "|cmd|")>, which is not supported. You can
try any of several modules in the Perl library to do this, such as
-IPC::Open2. Alternately, direct the pipe's output to a file using "E<gt>",
+IPC::Open2. Alternately, direct the pipe's output to a file using ">",
and then read it in under a different file handle.
=item Can't open error file %s as stderr
(F) An error peculiar to VMS. Perl does its own command line redirection, and
-couldn't open the file specified after '2E<gt>' or '2E<gt>E<gt>' on the
+couldn't open the file specified after '2>' or '2>>' on the
command line for writing.
=item Can't open input file %s as stdin
(F) An error peculiar to VMS. Perl does its own command line redirection, and
-couldn't open the file specified after 'E<lt>' on the command line for reading.
+couldn't open the file specified after '<' on the command line for reading.
=item Can't open output file %s as stdout
(F) An error peculiar to VMS. Perl does its own command line redirection, and
-couldn't open the file specified after 'E<gt>' or 'E<gt>E<gt>' on the command
+couldn't open the file specified after '>' or '>>' on the command
line for writing.
=item Can't open output pipe (name: %s)
was currently active, which is not allowed. If you really want to do
this, you should write C<sort { &func } @x> instead of C<sort func @x>.
+=item Can't remove %s: %s, skipping file
+
+(S inplace) You requested an inplace edit without creating a backup file. Perl
+was unable to remove the original file to replace it with the modified
+file. The file was left unmodified.
+
=item Can't rename %s to %s: %s, skipping file
-(S) The rename done by the B<-i> switch failed for some reason, probably because
-you don't have write permission to the directory.
+(S inplace) The rename done by the B<-i> switch failed for some reason,
+probably because you don't have write permission to the directory.
=item Can't reopen input pipe (name: %s) in binary mode
(F) The return statement was executed in mainline code, that is, where
there was no subroutine call to return out of. See L<perlsub>.
+=item 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.
+
=item Can't stat script "%s"
(P) For some reason you can't fstat() the script even though you have
=item Can't use "my %s" in sort comparison
(F) The global variables $a and $b are reserved for sort comparisons.
-You mentioned $a or $b in the same line as the E<lt>=E<gt> or cmp operator,
+You mentioned $a or $b in the same line as the <=> or cmp operator,
and the variable had earlier been declared as a lexical variable.
Either qualify the sort variable with the package name, or rename the
lexical variable.
reference of the type needed. You can use the ref() function to
test the type of the reference, if need be.
-=item Can't use \1 to mean $1 in expression
+=item Can't use \%c to mean $%c in expression
-(W) In an ordinary expression, backslash is a unary operator that creates
+(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 ordinary Perl code produces a value that prints
out looking like SCALAR(0xdecaf). Use the $1 form instead.
-=item Can't use bareword ("%s") as %s ref while \"strict refs\" in use
+=item Can't use bareword ("%s") as %s ref while "strict refs" in use
(F) Only hard references are allowed by "strict refs". Symbolic references
are disallowed. See L<perlref>.
=item Character class [:%s:] unknown
(F) The class in the character class [: :] syntax is unknown.
+See L<perlre>.
=item Character class syntax [%s] belongs inside character classes
-(W) The character class constructs [: :], [= =], and [. .] go
+(W unsafe) The character class constructs [: :], [= =], and [. .] go
I<inside> character classes, the [] are part of the construct,
-for example: /[012[:alpha:]345]/. Note that the last two constructs
-are not currently implemented, they are placeholders for future extensions.
+for example: /[012[:alpha:]345]/. Note that [= =] and [. .]
+are not currently implemented; they are simply placeholders for
+future extensions.
=item Character class syntax [. .] is reserved for future extensions
-(W) Within regular expression character classes ([]) the syntax beginning
+(W regexp) Within regular expression character classes ([]) the syntax beginning
with "[." and ending with ".]" is reserved for future extensions.
If you need to represent those character sequences inside a regular
expression character class, just quote the square brackets with the
=item Character class syntax [= =] is reserved for future extensions
-(W) Within regular expression character classes ([]) the syntax
+(W regexp) Within regular expression character classes ([]) the syntax
beginning with "[=" and ending with "=]" is reserved for future extensions.
If you need to represent those character sequences inside a regular
expression character class, just quote the square brackets with the
backslash: "\[=" and "=\]".
-=item chmod: mode argument is missing initial 0
+=item chmod() mode argument is missing initial 0
-(W) A novice will sometimes say
+(W chmod) A novice will sometimes say
chmod 777, $filename
not realizing that 777 will be interpreted as a decimal number, equivalent
to 01411. Octal constants are introduced with a leading 0 in Perl, as in C.
-=item Close on unopened file E<lt>%sE<gt>
+=item Close on unopened file <%s>
-(W) You tried to close a filehandle that was never opened.
+(W unopened) You tried to close a filehandle that was never opened.
=item Compilation failed in require
=item Complex regular subexpression recursion limit (%d) exceeded
-(W) The regular expression engine uses recursion in complex situations
+(W regexp) The regular expression engine uses recursion in complex situations
where back-tracking is required. Recursion depth is limited to 32766,
or perhaps less in architectures where the stack cannot grow
arbitrarily. ("Simple" and "medium" situations are handled without
expression so that it is simpler or backtracks less. (See L<perlbook>
for information on I<Mastering Regular Expressions>.)
-=item connect() on closed fd
+=item connect() on closed socket %s
-(W) You tried to do a connect on a closed socket. Did you forget to check
+(W closed) You tried to do a connect on a closed socket. Did you forget to check
the return value of your socket() call? See L<perlfunc/connect>.
=item Constant is not %s reference
=item Constant subroutine %s redefined
-(S) You redefined a subroutine which had previously been eligible for
+(S|W redefine) You redefined a subroutine which had previously been eligible for
inlining. See L<perlsub/"Constant Functions"> for commentary and
workarounds.
=item Constant subroutine %s undefined
-(S) You undefined a subroutine which had previously been eligible for
+(W misc) You undefined a subroutine which had previously been eligible for
inlining. See L<perlsub/"Constant Functions"> for commentary and
workarounds.
(F) The method which overloads "=" is buggy. See L<overload/Copy Constructor>.
+=item CORE::%s is not a keyword
+
+(F) The CORE:: namespace is reserved for Perl keywords.
+
=item Corrupt malloc ptr 0x%lx at 0x%lx
(P) The malloc package that comes with Perl had an internal failure.
=item Deep recursion on subroutine "%s"
-(W) This subroutine has called itself (directly or indirectly) 100
+(W recursion) This subroutine has called itself (directly or indirectly) 100
times more than it has returned. This probably indicates an infinite
recursion, unless you're writing strange benchmark programs, in which
case it indicates something else.
=item defined(@array) is deprecated
-(D) defined() is not usually useful on arrays because it checks for an
+(D deprecated) defined() is not usually useful on arrays because it checks for an
undefined I<scalar> value. If you want to see if the array is empty,
just use C<if (@array) { # not empty }> for example.
=item defined(%hash) is deprecated
-(D) defined() is not usually useful on hashes because it checks for an
+(D deprecated) defined() is not usually useful on hashes because it checks for an
undefined I<scalar> value. If you want to see if the hash is empty,
just use C<if (%hash) { # not empty }> for example.
=item Delimiter for here document is too long
-(F) In a here document construct like C<E<lt>E<lt>FOO>, the label
+(F) In a here document construct like C<<<FOO>, the label
C<FOO> is too long for Perl to handle. You have to be seriously
twisted to write code that triggers this error.
+=item Did not produce a valid header
+
+See Server error.
+
=item Did you mean &%s instead?
(W) You probably referred to an imported subroutine &FOO as $FOO or some such.
+=item 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 the same lexical scope, which seems superfluous.
+
=item Did you mean $ or @ instead of %?
(W) You probably said %hash{$key} when you meant $hash{$key} or @hash{@keys}.
can use an empty "sub foo;" or "package FOO;" to enter a "forward"
declaration.
+=item Document contains no data
+
+See Server error.
+
=item Don't know how to handle magic of type '%s'
(P) The internal handling of magical variables has been cursed.
=item Duplicate free() ignored
-(S) An internal routine called free() on something that had already
+(S malloc) An internal routine called free() on something that had already
been freed.
=item elseif should be elsif
named "elseif" for the class returned by the following block. This is
unlikely to be what you want.
-=item END failed--cleanup aborted
+=item %s failed--call queue aborted
-(F) An untrapped exception was raised while executing an END subroutine.
-The interpreter is immediately exited.
+(F) An untrapped exception was raised while executing a CHECK, INIT, or
+END subroutine. Processing of the remainder of the queue of such
+routines has been prematurely ended.
=item entering effective %s failed
=item Exiting eval via %s
-(W) You are exiting an eval by unconventional means, such as
+(W exiting) You are exiting an eval by unconventional means, such as
+a goto, or a loop control statement.
+
+=item Exiting format via %s
+
+(W exiting) You are exiting an eval by unconventional means, such as
a goto, or a loop control statement.
=item Exiting pseudo-block via %s
-(W) You are exiting a rather special block construct (like a sort block or
+(W exiting) You are exiting a rather special block construct (like a sort block or
subroutine) by unconventional means, such as a goto, or a loop control
statement. See L<perlfunc/sort>.
=item Exiting subroutine via %s
-(W) You are exiting a subroutine by unconventional means, such as
+(W exiting) You are exiting a subroutine by unconventional means, such as
a goto, or a loop control statement.
=item Exiting substitution via %s
-(W) You are exiting a substitution by unconventional means, such as
+(W exiting) You are exiting a substitution by unconventional means, such as
a return, a goto, or a loop control statement.
=item Explicit blessing to '' (assuming package main)
-(W) You are blessing a reference to a zero length string. This has
+(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');
+=item false [] range "%s" in regexp
+
+(W regexp) A character class range must start and end at a literal character, not
+another character class like C<\d> or C<[:alpha:]>. The "-" in your false
+range is interpreted as a literal "-". Consider quoting the "-", "\-".
+See L<perlre>.
+
=item Fatal VMS error at %s, line %d
(P) An error peculiar to VMS. Something untoward happened in a VMS system
=item Filehandle %s never opened
-(W) An I/O operation was attempted on a filehandle that was never initialized.
+(W unopened) An I/O operation was attempted on a filehandle that was never initialized.
You need to do an open() or a socket() call, or call a constructor from
the FileHandle package.
=item Filehandle %s opened only for input
-(W) You tried to write on a read-only filehandle. If you
+(W io) You tried to write on a read-only filehandle. If you
intended it to be a read-write filehandle, you needed to open it with
-"+E<lt>" or "+E<gt>" or "+E<gt>E<gt>" instead of with "E<lt>" or nothing. If
-you intended only to write the file, use "E<gt>" or "E<gt>E<gt>". See
+"+<" or "+>" or "+>>" instead of with "<" or nothing. If
+you intended only to write the file, use ">" or ">>". See
L<perlfunc/open>.
=item Filehandle %s opened only for output
-(W) You tried to read from a filehandle opened only for writing. If you
-intended it to be a read-write filehandle, you needed to open it with
-"+E<lt>" or "+E<gt>" or "+E<gt>E<gt>" instead of with "E<lt>" or nothing. If
-you intended only to read from the file, use "E<lt>". See
+(W io) You tried to read from a filehandle opened only for writing. If you
+intended it to be a read/write filehandle, you needed to open it with
+"+<" or "+>" or "+>>" instead of with "<" or nothing. If
+you intended only to read from the file, use "<". See
L<perlfunc/open>.
=item Final $ should be \$ or $name
that happens to be missing. So you have to put either the backslash or
the name.
+=item flock() on closed filehandle %s
+
+(W closed) The filehandle you're attempting to flock() got itself closed some
+time before now. Check your logic flow. flock() operates on filehandles.
+Are you attempting to call flock() on a dirhandle by the same name?
+
=item Format %s redefined
-(W) You redefined a format. To suppress this warning, say
+(W redefine) You redefined a format. To suppress this warning, say
{
- no warning;
+ no warnings;
eval "format NAME =...";
}
=item Found = in conditional, should be ==
-(W) You said
+(W syntax) You said
if ($foo = 123)
because if it did, it'd feel morally obligated to return every hostname
on the Internet.
-=item get{sock,peer}name() on closed fd
+=item get%sname() on closed socket %s
-(W) You tried to get a socket or peer socket name on a closed socket.
+(W closed) You tried to get a socket or peer socket name on a closed socket.
Did you forget to check the return value of your socket() call?
=item getpwnam returned invalid UIC %#o for user "%s"
(S) A warning peculiar to VMS. The call to C<sys$getuai> underlying the
C<getpwnam> operator returned an invalid UIC.
+=item glob failed (%s)
+
+(W glob) Something went wrong with the external program(s) used for C<glob>
+and C<< <*.c> >>. Usually, this means that you supplied a C<glob>
+pattern that caused the external program to fail and exit with a nonzero
+status. If the message indicates that the abnormal exit resulted in a
+coredump, this may also mean that your csh (C shell) is broken. If so,
+you should change all of the csh-related variables in config.sh: If you
+have tcsh, make the variables refer to it as if it were csh (e.g.
+C<full_csh='/usr/bin/tcsh'>); otherwise, make them all empty (except that
+C<d_csh> should be C<'undef'>) so that Perl will think csh is missing.
+In either case, after editing config.sh, run C<./Configure -S> and
+rebuild Perl.
+
=item Glob not terminated
(F) The lexer saw a left angle bracket in a place where it was expecting
=item Global symbol "%s" requires explicit package name
(F) You've said "use strict vars", which indicates that all variables
-must either be lexically scoped (using "my"), or explicitly qualified to
-say which package the global variable is in (using "::").
+must either be lexically scoped (using "my"), declared beforehand using
+"our", or explicitly qualified to say which package the global variable
+is in (using "::").
=item goto must have label
=item Had to create %s unexpectedly
-(S) A routine asked for a symbol from a symbol table that ought to have
+(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.
=item Hash %%s missing the % in argument %d of %s()
-(D) Really old Perl let you omit the % on hash names in some spots. This
+(D deprecated) Really old Perl let you omit the % on hash names in some spots. This
is now heavily deprecated.
=item Hexadecimal number > 0xffffffff non-portable
-(W) The hexadecimal number you specified is larger than 2**32-1
+(W portable) The hexadecimal number you specified is larger than 2**32-1
(4294967295) and therefore non-portable between systems. See
L<perlport> for more on portability concerns.
=item Ill-formed CRTL environ value "%s"
-(W) A warning peculiar to VMS. Perl tried to read the CRTL's internal
+(W internal) A warning peculiar to VMS. Perl tried to read the CRTL's internal
environ array, and encountered an element without the C<=> delimiter
used to spearate keys from values. The element is ignored.
=item Ill-formed message in prime_env_iter: |%s|
-(W) A warning peculiar to VMS. Perl tried to read a logical name
+(W internal) A warning peculiar to VMS. Perl tried to read a logical 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.
=item Illegal character %s (carriage return)
-(F) A carriage return character was found in the input. This is an
-error, and not a warning, because carriage return characters can break
-multi-line strings, including here documents (e.g., C<print E<lt>E<lt>EOF;>).
-
-Under Unix, this error is usually caused by executing Perl code --
-either the main program, a module, or an eval'd string -- that was
-transferred over a network connection from a non-Unix system without
-properly converting the text file format.
-
-Under systems that use something other than '\n' to delimit lines of
-text, this error can also be caused by reading Perl code from a file
-handle that is in binary mode (as set by the C<binmode> operator).
-
-In either case, the Perl code in question will probably need to be
-converted with something like C<s/\x0D\x0A?/\n/g> before it can be
-executed.
+(F) Perl normally treats carriage returns in the program text as it
+would any other whitespace, which means you should never see this
+error when Perl was built using standard options. For some reason,
+your version of Perl appears to have been built without this support.
+Talk to your Perl administrator.
=item Illegal division by zero
=item Illegal binary digit %s
-(F) You used a digit other than 0 and 1 in a binary number.
+(F) You used a digit other than 0 or 1 in a binary number.
=item Illegal octal digit %s
=item Illegal binary digit %s ignored
-(W) You may have tried to use a digit other than 0 or 1 in a binary number.
+(W digit) You may have tried to use a digit other than 0 or 1 in a binary number.
Interpretation of the binary number stopped before the offending digit.
=item Illegal octal digit %s ignored
-(W) You may have tried to use an 8 or 9 in a octal number. Interpretation
+(W digit) You may have tried to use an 8 or 9 in a octal number. Interpretation
of the octal number stopped before the 8 or 9.
=item Illegal hexadecimal digit %s ignored
-(W) You may have tried to use a character other than 0 - 9 or A - F, a - f
+(W digit) You may have tried to use a character other than 0 - 9 or A - F, a - f
in a hexadecimal number. Interpretation of the hexadecimal number stopped
before the illegal character.
=item Illegal number of bits in vec
-(F) The number of bits in vec() (the third argument) must be from 1 to 8
-(inclusive), or 16, or 32.
-
+(F) The number of bits in vec() (the third argument) must be a power of
+two from 1 to 32 (or 64, if your platform supports that).
+
=item Illegal switch in PERL5OPT: %s
(X) The PERL5OPT environment variable may only be used to set the
=item Integer overflow in %s number
-(W) The hexadecimal, octal or binary number you have specified either
-as a literal in your code or as a scalar is too big for your
+(W overflow) The hexadecimal, octal or binary number you have specified 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
(P) Something went badly wrong in the regular expression parser.
-=item glob failed (%s)
-
-(W) Something went wrong with the external program(s) used for C<glob>
-and C<E<lt>*.cE<gt>>. Usually, this means that you supplied a C<glob>
-pattern that caused the external program to fail and exit with a nonzero
-status. If the message indicates that the abnormal exit resulted in a
-coredump, this may also mean that your csh (C shell) is broken. If so,
-you should change all of the csh-related variables in config.sh: If you
-have tcsh, make the variables refer to it as if it were csh (e.g.
-C<full_csh='/usr/bin/tcsh'>); otherwise, make them all empty (except that
-C<d_csh> should be C<'undef'>) so that Perl will think csh is missing.
-In either case, after editing config.sh, run C<./Configure -S> and
-rebuild Perl.
-
=item internal urp in regexp at /%s/
(P) Something went badly awry in the regular expression parser.
-=item invalid [] range in regexp
+=item Invalid %s attribute: %s
+
+The indicated attribute for a subroutine or variable was not recognized
+by Perl or by a user-supplied handler. See L<attributes>.
+
+=item Invalid %s attributes: %s
+
+The indicated attributes for a subroutine or variable were not recognized
+by Perl or by a user-supplied handler. See L<attributes>.
+
+=item invalid [] range "%s" in regexp
(F) The range specified in a character class had a minimum character
-greater than the maximum character, or the range didn't start/end with
-a literal character. See L<perlre>.
+greater than the maximum character. See L<perlre>.
=item Invalid conversion in %s: "%s"
-(W) Perl does not understand the given format conversion.
+(W printf) Perl does not understand the given format conversion.
See L<perlfunc/sprintf>.
+=item Invalid separator character %s in attribute list
+
+(F) Something other than a colon or whitespace was seen between the
+elements of an attribute list. If the previous attribute
+had a parenthesised parameter list, perhaps that list was terminated
+too soon. See L<attributes>.
+
=item Invalid type in pack: '%s'
(F) The given character is not a valid pack type. See L<perlfunc/pack>.
-(W) The given character is not a valid pack type but used to be silently
+(W pack) The given character is not a valid pack type but used to be silently
ignored.
=item Invalid type in unpack: '%s'
(F) The given character is not a valid unpack type. See L<perlfunc/unpack>.
-(W) The given character is not a valid unpack type but used to be silently
+(W unpack) The given character is not a valid unpack type but used to be silently
ignored.
=item ioctl is not implemented
(F) While under the C<use filetest> pragma, switching the real and
effective uids or gids failed.
-=item listen() on closed fd
+=item listen() on closed socket %s
-(W) You tried to do a listen on a closed socket. Did you forget to check
+(W closed) You tried to do a listen on a closed socket. Did you forget to check
the return value of your socket() call? See L<perlfunc/listen>.
+=item Lvalue subs returning %s not implemented yet
+
+(F) Due to limitations in the current implementation, array and hash
+values cannot be returned in subroutines used in lvalue context.
+See L<perlsub/"Lvalue subroutines">.
+
=item Method for operation %s not found in package %s during blessing
(F) An attempt was made to specify an entry in an overloading table that
doesn't resolve to a valid subroutine. See L<overload>.
+=item Method %s not permitted
+
+See Server error.
+
=item Might be a runaway multi-line %s string starting on line %d
(S) An advisory indicating that the previous error may have been caused
=item Misplaced _ in number
-(W) An underline in a decimal constant wasn't on a 3-digit boundary.
+(W syntax) An underline in a decimal constant wasn't on a 3-digit boundary.
=item Missing $ on loop variable
mentioned with the $ in Perl, unlike in the shells, where it can vary from
one line to the next.
-=item Missing %sbrace%s on \C{}
+=item Missing %sbrace%s on \N{}
-(F) Wrong syntax of character name literal C<\C{charname}> within
+(F) Wrong syntax of character name literal C<\N{charname}> within
double-quotish context.
=item Missing comma after first argument to %s function
=item Missing command in piped open
-(W) You used the C<open(FH, "| command")> or C<open(FH, "command |")>
+(W pipe) You used the C<open(FH, "| command")> or C<open(FH, "command |")>
construction, but the command was missing or blank.
=item Missing operator before %s?
=item Multidimensional syntax %s not supported
-(W) Multidimensional arrays aren't written like C<$foo[1,2,3]>. They're written
+(W syntax) Multidimensional arrays aren't written like C<$foo[1,2,3]>. They're written
like C<$foo[1][2][3]>, as in C.
+=item Missing name in "my sub"
+
+(F) The reserved syntax for lexically scoped subroutines requires that they
+have a name with which they can be found.
+
=item Name "%s::%s" used only once: possible typo
-(W) Typographical errors often show up as unique variable names.
+(W once) Typographical errors often show up as unique variable names.
If you had a good reason for having a unique name, then just mention
-it again somehow to suppress the message. The C<use vars> pragma is
-provided for just this purpose.
+it again somehow to suppress the message. The C<our> declaration is
+provided for this purpose.
=item Negative length
(F) A setuid script can't be specified by the user.
+=item No %s specified for -%c
+
+(F) The indicated command line switch needs a mandatory argument, but
+you haven't specified one.
+
=item No comma allowed after %s
(F) A list operator that has a filehandle or "indirect object" is not
didn't define a DB::sub routine to be called at the beginning of each
ordinary subroutine call.
-=item No error file after 2E<gt> or 2E<gt>E<gt> on command line
+=item No error file after 2> or 2>> on command line
(F) An error peculiar to VMS. Perl handles its own command line redirection,
-and found a '2E<gt>' or a '2E<gt>E<gt>' on the command line, but can't find
+and found a '2>' or a '2>>' on the command line, but can't find
the name of the file to which to write data destined for stderr.
-=item No input file after E<lt> on command line
+=item No input file after < on command line
(F) An error peculiar to VMS. Perl handles its own command line redirection,
-and found a 'E<lt>' on the command line, but can't find the name of the file
+and found a '<' on the command line, but can't find the name of the file
from which to read data for stdin.
-=item No output file after E<gt> on command line
+=item No output file after > on command line
(F) An error peculiar to VMS. Perl handles its own command line redirection,
-and found a lone 'E<gt>' at the end of the command line, so it doesn't know
+and found a lone '>' at the end of the command line, so it doesn't know
where you wanted to redirect stdout.
-=item No output file after E<gt> or E<gt>E<gt> on command line
+=item No output file after > or >> on command line
(F) An error peculiar to VMS. Perl handles its own command line redirection,
-and found a 'E<gt>' or a 'E<gt>E<gt>' on the command line, but can't find the
+and found a '>' or a '>>' on the command line, but can't find the
name of the file to which to write data destined for stdout.
+=item No package name allowed for variable %s in "our"
+
+(F) Fully qualified variable names are not allowed in "our" declarations,
+because that doesn't make much sense under existing semantics. Such
+syntax is reserved for future extensions.
+
=item No Perl script found in input
(F) You called C<perl -x>, but no line was found in the file beginning
(F) Configure didn't find anything resembling the setreuid() call for
your system.
-=item No space allowed after B<-I>
+=item No space allowed after -%c
-(F) The argument to B<-I> must follow the B<-I> immediately with no
-intervening space.
+(F) The argument to the indicated command line switch must follow immediately
+after the switch, without intervening spaces.
-=item No such array field
+=item No such pseudo-hash field "%s"
(F) You tried to access an array as a hash, but the field name used is
not defined. The hash at index 0 should map all valid field names to
array indices for that to work.
-=item No such field "%s" in variable %s of type %s
+=item No such pseudo-hash field "%s" in variable %s of type %s
(F) You tried to access a field of a typed variable where the type
does not know about the field name. The field names are looked up in
=item No such signal: SIG%s
-(W) You specified a signal name as a subscript to %SIG that was not recognized.
+(W signal) You specified a signal name as a subscript to %SIG that was not recognized.
Say C<kill -l> in your shell to see the valid signal names on your system.
=item no UTC offset information; assuming local time is UTC
=item Not enough format arguments
-(W) A format specified more picture fields than the next line supplied.
+(W syntax) A format specified more picture fields than the next line supplied.
See L<perlform>.
=item Null filename used
=item NULL OP IN RUN
-(P) Some internal routine called run() with a null opcode pointer.
+(P debugging) Some internal routine called run() with a null opcode pointer.
=item Null realloc
=item Octal number > 037777777777 non-portable
-(W) The octal number you specified is larger than 2**32-1 (4294967295)
+(W portable) The octal number you specified is larger than 2**32-1 (4294967295)
and therefore non-portable between systems. See L<perlport> for more
on portability concerns.
See also L<perlport> for writing portable code.
+=item Octal number in vector unsupported
+
+(F) Numbers with a leading C<0> are not currently allowed in vectors. The
+octal number interpretation of such numbers may be supported in a future
+version.
+
=item Odd number of elements in hash assignment
-(S) You specified an odd number of elements to initialize a hash, which
+(W misc) You specified an odd number of elements to initialize a hash, which
is odd, because hashes come in key/value pairs.
=item Offset outside string
=item oops: oopsAV
-(S) An internal warning that the grammar is screwed up.
+(S internal) An internal warning that the grammar is screwed up.
=item oops: oopsHV
-(S) An internal warning that the grammar is screwed up.
+(S internal) An internal warning that the grammar is screwed up.
=item Operation `%s': no method found, %s
=item Operator or semicolon missing before %s
-(S) You used a variable or subroutine call where the parser was
+(S ambiguous) You used a variable or subroutine call where the parser was
expecting an operator. The parser has assumed you really meant
to use an operator, but this is highly likely to be incorrect.
For example, if you say "*foo *foo" it will be interpreted as
if you said "*foo * 'foo'".
+=item Out of memory!
+
+(X) The malloc() function returned 0, indicating there was insufficient
+remaining memory (or virtual memory) to satisfy the request. Perl
+has no option but to exit immediately.
+
=item Out of memory for yacc stack
(F) The yacc parser wanted to grow its stack so it could continue parsing,
=item page overflow
-(W) A single call to write() produced more lines than can fit on a page.
+(W io) A single call to write() produced more lines than can fit on a page.
See L<perlform>.
=item panic: ck_grep
(P) The lexer got into a bad state while processing a case modifier.
+=item panic: %s
+
+(P) An internal error.
+
=item Parentheses missing around "%s" list
-(W) You said something like
+(W parenthesis) You said something like
my $foo, $bar = @_;
my ($foo, $bar) = @_;
-Remember that "my" and "local" bind closer than comma.
+Remember that "my", "our", and "local" bind tighter than comma.
=item Perl %3.3f required--this is only version %s, stopped
=item pid %x not a child
-(W) A warning peculiar to VMS. Waitpid() was asked to wait for a process which
+(W exec) A warning peculiar to VMS. Waitpid() was asked to wait for a process which
isn't a subprocess of the current process. While this is fine from VMS'
perspective, it's probably not what you intended.
=item POSIX getpgrp can't take an argument
-(F) Your C compiler uses POSIX getpgrp(), which takes no argument, unlike
+(F) Your system has POSIX getpgrp(), which takes no argument, unlike
the BSD version, which takes a pid.
+=item Possible Y2K bug: %s
+
+(W y2k) You are concatenating the number 19 with another number, which
+could be a potential Year 2000 problem.
+
=item Possible attempt to put comments in qw() list
-(W) qw() lists contain items separated by whitespace; as with literal
+(W qw) qw() lists contain items separated by whitespace; as with literal
strings, comment characters are not ignored, but are instead treated
as literal data. (You may have used different delimiters than the
parentheses shown here; braces are also frequently used.)
=item Possible attempt to separate words with commas
-(W) qw() lists contain items separated by whitespace; therefore commas
+(W qw) qw() lists contain items separated by whitespace; therefore commas
aren't needed to separate the items. (You may have used different
delimiters than the parentheses shown here; braces are also frequently
used.)
=item Precedence problem: open %s should be open(%s)
-(S) The old irregular construct
+(S precedence) The old irregular construct
open FOO || die;
put parentheses around the filehandle, or use the new "or" operator
instead of "||".
-=item print on closed filehandle %s
+=item Premature end of script headers
-(W) The filehandle you're printing on got itself closed sometime before now.
-Check your logic flow.
+See Server error.
-=item printf on closed filehandle %s
+=item print() on closed filehandle %s
-(W) The filehandle you're writing to got itself closed sometime before now.
+(W closed) The filehandle you're printing on got itself closed sometime before now.
Check your logic flow.
-=item Probable precedence problem on %s
+=item printf() on closed filehandle %s
-(W) The compiler found a bareword where it expected a conditional,
-which often indicates that an || or && was parsed as part of the
-last argument of the previous construct, for example:
-
- open FOO || die;
+(W closed) The filehandle you're writing to got itself closed sometime before now.
+Check your logic flow.
=item Prototype mismatch: %s vs %s
-(S) The subroutine being declared or defined had previously been declared
+(S unsafe) The subroutine being declared or defined had previously been declared
or defined with a different function prototype.
=item Range iterator outside integer range
One possible workaround is to force Perl to use magical string
increment by prepending "0" to your numbers.
-=item Read on closed filehandle %s
+=item readline() on closed filehandle %s
-(W) The filehandle you're reading from got itself closed sometime before now.
+(W closed) The filehandle you're reading from got itself closed sometime before now.
Check your logic flow.
+=item realloc() of freed memory ignored
+
+(S malloc) An internal routine called realloc() on something that had already
+been freed.
+
=item Reallocation too large: %lx
(F) You can't allocate more than 64K on an MS-DOS machine.
=item Recompile perl with B<-D>DEBUGGING to use B<-D> switch
-(F) You can't use the B<-D> option unless the code to produce the
+(F debugging) You can't use the B<-D> option unless the code to produce the
desired output is compiled into Perl, which entails some overhead,
which is why it's currently left out of your copy.
=item Reference found where even-sized list expected
-(W) You gave a single reference where Perl was expecting a list with
+(W misc) You gave a single reference where Perl was expecting a list with
an even number of elements (for assignment to a hash). This
usually means that you used the anon hash constructor when you meant
to use parens. In any case, a hash requires key/value B<pairs>.
=item Reference is already weak
-(W) You have attempted to weaken a reference that is already weak.
+(W misc) You have attempted to weaken a reference that is already weak.
Doing so has no effect.
=item Reference miscount in sv_replace()
-(W) The internal sv_replace() function was handed a new SV with a
+(W internal) The internal sv_replace() function was handed a new SV with a
reference count of other than 1.
=item regexp *+ operand could be empty
=item Reversed %s= operator
-(W) You wrote your assignment operator backwards. The = must always
+(W syntax) You wrote your assignment operator backwards. The = must always
comes last, to avoid ambiguity with subsequent unary operators.
=item Runaway format
=item Scalar value @%s[%s] better written as $%s[%s]
-(W) You've used an array slice (indicated by @) to select a single element of
+(W syntax) You've used an array slice (indicated by @) to select a single element of
an array. Generally it's better to ask for a scalar value (indicated by $).
The difference is that C<$foo[&bar]> always behaves like a scalar, both when
assigning to it and when evaluating its argument, while C<@foo[&bar]> behaves
=item Scalar value @%s{%s} better written as $%s{%s}
-(W) You've used a hash slice (indicated by @) to select a single element of
+(W syntax) You've used a hash slice (indicated by @) to select a single element of
a hash. Generally it's better to ask for a scalar value (indicated by $).
The difference is that C<$foo{&bar}> always behaves like a scalar, both when
assigning to it and when evaluating its argument, while C<@foo{&bar}> behaves
=item %sseek() on unopened file
-(W) You tried to use the seek() or sysseek() function on a filehandle that
+(W unopened) You tried to use the seek() or sysseek() function on a filehandle that
was either never opened or has since been closed.
=item select not implemented
=item semi-panic: attempt to dup freed string
-(S) The internal newSVsv() routine was called to duplicate a scalar
+(S internal) The internal newSVsv() routine was called to duplicate a scalar
that had previously been marked as free.
=item Semicolon seems to be missing
-(W) A nearby syntax error was probably caused by a missing semicolon,
+(W semicolon) A nearby syntax error was probably caused by a missing semicolon,
or possibly some other missing operator, such as a comma.
-=item Send on closed socket
+=item send() on closed socket %s
-(W) The filehandle you're sending to got itself closed sometime before now.
+(W closed) The socket you're sending to got itself closed sometime before now.
Check your logic flow.
=item Sequence (? incomplete
=item Server error
-Also known as "500 Server error".
+This is the error message generally seen in a browser window when trying
+to run a CGI program (including SSI) over the web. The actual error
+text varies widely from server to server. The most frequently-seen
+variants are "500 Server error", "Method (something) not permitted",
+"Document contains no data", "Premature end of script headers", and
+"Did not produce a valid header".
B<This is a CGI error, not a Perl error>.
=item seteuid() not implemented
-(F) You tried to assign to C<$E<gt>>, and your operating system doesn't support
+(F) You tried to assign to C<< $> >>, and your operating system doesn't support
the seteuid() system call (or equivalent), or at least Configure didn't
think so.
+=item setpgrp can't take arguments
+
+(F) Your system has the setpgrp() from BSD 4.2, which takes no arguments,
+unlike POSIX setpgid(), which takes a process ID and process group ID.
+
=item setrgid() not implemented
(F) You tried to assign to C<$(>, and your operating system doesn't support
=item setruid() not implemented
-(F) You tried to assign to C<$E<lt>>, and your operating system doesn't support
+(F) You tried to assign to C<$<>, and your operating system doesn't support
the setruid() system call (or equivalent), or at least Configure didn't
think so.
(F) You don't have System V shared memory IPC on your system.
-=item shutdown() on closed fd
+=item shutdown() on closed socket %s
-(W) You tried to do a shutdown on a closed socket. Seems a bit superfluous.
+(W closed) You tried to do a shutdown on a closed socket. Seems a bit superfluous.
=item SIG%s handler "%s" not defined
-(W) The signal handler named in %SIG doesn't, in fact, exist. Perhaps you
+(W signal) The signal handler named in %SIG doesn't, in fact, exist. Perhaps you
put it into the wrong package?
=item sort is now a reserved word
=item Sort subroutine didn't return a numeric value
(F) A sort comparison routine must return a number. You probably blew
-it by not using C<E<lt>=E<gt>> or C<cmp>, or by not using them correctly.
+it by not using C<< <=> >> or C<cmp>, or by not using them correctly.
See L<perlfunc/sort>.
=item Sort subroutine didn't return single value
(F) A sort comparison subroutine may not return a list value with more
or less than one element. See L<perlfunc/sort>.
-=item split /^/ better written as split /^/m
-
-(W) Implicit translation of /^/ to mean /^/m in split is deprecated.
-
=item Split loop
(P) The split was looping infinitely. (Obviously, a split shouldn't iterate
more times than there are characters of input, which is what happened.)
See L<perlfunc/split>.
-=item Stat on unopened file E<lt>%sE<gt>
+=item Stat on unopened file <%s>
-(W) You tried to use the stat() function (or an equivalent file test)
+(W unopened) You tried to use the stat() function (or an equivalent file test)
on a filehandle that was either never opened or has since been closed.
=item Statement unlikely to be reached
-(W) You did an exec() with some statement after it other than a die().
+(W exec) You did an exec() with some statement after it other than a die().
This is almost always an error, because exec() never returns unless
there was a failure. You probably wanted to use system() instead,
which does return. To suppress this warning, put the exec() in a block
=item Strange *+?{} on zero-length expression
-(W) You applied a regular expression quantifier in a place where it
+(W regexp) You applied a regular expression quantifier in a place where it
makes no sense, such as on a zero-width assertion.
Try putting the quantifier inside the assertion instead. For example,
the way to match "abc" provided that it is followed by three
=item Subroutine %s redefined
-(W) You redefined a subroutine. To suppress this warning, say
+(W redefine) You redefined a subroutine. To suppress this warning, say
{
- no warning;
+ no warnings;
eval "sub name { ... }";
}
=item substr outside of string
-(S),(W) You tried to reference a substr() that pointed outside of a
+(W substr),(F) You tried to reference a substr() that pointed outside of a
string. That is, the absolute value of the offset was larger than the
length of the string. See L<perlfunc/substr>. This warning is
-mandatory if substr is used in an lvalue context (as the left hand side
+fatal if substr is used in an lvalue context (as the left hand side
of an assignment or as a subroutine argument for example).
=item suidperl is no longer needed since %s
machine. In some machines the functionality can exist but be
unconfigured. Consult your system support.
-=item Syswrite on closed filehandle
+=item syswrite() on closed filehandle %s
-(W) The filehandle you're writing to got itself closed sometime before now.
+(W closed) The filehandle you're writing to got itself closed sometime before now.
Check your logic flow.
=item Target of goto is too deeply nested
=item tell() on unopened file
-(W) You tried to use the tell() function on a filehandle that was either
+(W unopened) You tried to use the tell() function on a filehandle that was either
never opened or has since been closed.
-=item Test on unopened file E<lt>%sE<gt>
+=item Test on unopened file <%s>
-(W) You tried to invoke a file test operator on a filehandle that isn't
+(W unopened) You tried to invoke a file test operator on a filehandle that isn't
open. Check your logic. See also L<perlfunc/-X>.
=item That use of $[ is unsupported
if the last stat that wrote to the stat buffer already went past
the symlink to get to the real file. Use an actual filename instead.
-=item This Perl can't reset CRTL eviron elements (%s)
+=item This Perl can't reset CRTL environ elements (%s)
=item This Perl can't set CRTL environ elements (%s=%s)
-(W) Warnings peculiar to VMS. You tried to change or delete an element
+(W internal) Warnings peculiar to VMS. You tried to change or delete an element
of the CRTL's internal environ array, but your copy of Perl wasn't
built with a CRTL that contained the setenv() function. You'll need to
rebuild Perl with a CRTL that does, or redefine F<PERL_ENV_TABLES> (see
=item umask: argument is missing initial 0
-(W) A umask of 222 is incorrect. It should be 0222, because octal
+(W umask) A umask of 222 is incorrect. It should be 0222, because octal
literals always start with 0 in Perl, as in C.
=item umask not implemented
=item Unbalanced context: %d more PUSHes than POPs
-(W) The exit code detected an internal inconsistency in how many execution
+(W internal) The exit code detected an internal inconsistency in how many execution
contexts were entered and left.
=item Unbalanced saves: %d more saves than restores
-(W) The exit code detected an internal inconsistency in how many
+(W internal) The exit code detected an internal inconsistency in how many
values were temporarily localized.
=item Unbalanced scopes: %d more ENTERs than LEAVEs
-(W) The exit code detected an internal inconsistency in how many blocks
+(W internal) The exit code detected an internal inconsistency in how many blocks
were entered and left.
=item Unbalanced tmps: %d more allocs than frees
-(W) The exit code detected an internal inconsistency in how many mortal
+(W internal) The exit code detected an internal inconsistency in how many mortal
scalars were allocated and freed.
=item Undefined format "%s" called
=item Undefined value assigned to typeglob
-(W) An undefined value was assigned to a typeglob, a la C<*foo = undef>.
+(W misc) An undefined value was assigned to a typeglob, a la C<*foo = undef>.
This does nothing. It's possible that you really mean C<undef *foo>.
=item unexec of %s into %s failed!
=item Unknown open() mode '%s'
-(F) The second argument of 3-arguments open is not one from the list
-of C<L<lt>>, C<L<gt>>, C<E<gt>E<gt>>, C<+L<lt>>, C<+L<gt>>,
-C<+E<gt>E<gt>>, C<-|>, C<|-> of possible open() modes.
+(F) The second argument of 3-argument open() is not among the list
+of valid modes: C<< < >>, C<< > >>, C<<< >> >>>, C<< +< >>,
+C<< +> >>, C<<< +>> >>>, C<-|>, C<|->.
=item Unknown process %x sent message to prime_env_iter: %s
=item Unquoted string "%s" may clash with future reserved word
-(W) You used a bareword that might someday be claimed as a reserved word.
+(W reserved) You used a bareword that might someday be claimed as a reserved word.
It's best to put such a word in quotes, or capitalize it somehow, or insert
an underbar into it. You might also declare it as a subroutine.
=item Unrecognized escape \\%c passed through
-(W) You used a backslash-character combination which is not recognized
+(W misc) You used a backslash-character combination which is not recognized
by Perl.
=item Unrecognized signal name "%s"
=item Unsuccessful %s on filename containing newline
-(W) A file operation was attempted on a filename, and that operation
+(W newline) A file operation was attempted on a filename, and that operation
failed, PROBABLY because the filename contained a newline, PROBABLY
because you forgot to chop() or chomp() it off. See L<perlfunc/chomp>.
(F) Your machine doesn't support the Berkeley socket mechanism, or at
least that's what Configure thought.
-=item Unterminated E<lt>E<gt> operator
+=item Unterminated <> operator
(F) The lexer saw a left angle bracket in a place where it was expecting
a term, so it's looking for the corresponding right angle bracket, and not
finding it. Chances are you left some needed parentheses out earlier in
the line, and you really meant a "less than".
+=item Unterminated attribute parameter in attribute list
+
+(F) The lexer saw an opening (left) parenthesis character while parsing an
+attribute list, but the matching closing (right) parenthesis
+character was not found. You may need to add (or remove) a backslash
+character to get your parentheses to balance. See L<attributes>.
+
+=item Unterminated attribute list
+
+(F) The lexer found something other than a simple identifier at the start
+of an attribute, and it wasn't a semicolon or the start of a
+block. Perhaps you terminated the parameter list of the previous attribute
+too soon. See L<attributes>.
+
=item Use of $# is deprecated
-(D) This was an ill-advised attempt to emulate a poorly defined B<awk> feature.
+(D
deprecated) This was an ill-advised attempt to emulate a poorly defined B<awk> feature.
Use an explicit printf() or sprintf() instead.
=item Use of $* is deprecated
-(D) This variable magically turned on multi-line pattern matching, both for
+(D deprecated) This variable magically turned on multi-line pattern matching, both for
you and for any luckless subroutine that you happen to call. You should
use the new C<//m> and C<//s> modifiers now to do that without the dangerous
action-at-a-distance effects of C<$*>.
(F) You attempted to use a feature of printf that is accessible from
only C. This usually means there's a better way to do it in Perl.
-=item Use of bare E<lt>E<lt> to mean E<lt>E<lt>"" is deprecated
+=item Use of bare << to mean <<"" is deprecated
-(D) You are now encouraged to use the explicitly quoted form if you
+(D deprecated) You are now encouraged to use the explicitly quoted form if you
wish to use an empty line as the terminator of the here-document.
=item Use of implicit split to @_ is deprecated
-(D) It makes a lot of work for the compiler when you clobber a
+(D deprecated) It makes a lot of work for the compiler when you clobber a
subroutine's argument list, so it's better if you assign the results of
a split() explicitly to an array (or list).
=item Use of inherited AUTOLOAD for non-method %s() is deprecated
-(D) As an (ahem) accidental feature, C<AUTOLOAD> subroutines are looked
-up as methods (using the C<@ISA> hierarchy) even when the subroutines to
-be autoloaded were called as plain functions (e.g. C<Foo::bar()>), not
-as methods (e.g. C<Foo-E<gt>bar()> or C<$obj-E<gt>bar()>).
+(D deprecated) As an (ahem) accidental feature, C<AUTOLOAD> subroutines are
+looked up as methods (using the C<@ISA> hierarchy) even when the subroutines
+to be autoloaded were called as plain functions (e.g. C<Foo::bar()>),
+not as methods (e.g. C<< Foo->bar() >> or C<< $obj->bar() >>).
This bug will be rectified in Perl 5.005, which will use method lookup
only for methods' C<AUTOLOAD>s. However, there is a significant base
=item Use of reserved word "%s" is deprecated
-(D) The indicated bareword is a reserved word. Future versions of perl
+(D deprecated) The indicated bareword is a reserved word. Future versions of perl
may use it as a keyword, so you're better off either explicitly quoting
the word in a manner appropriate for its context of use, or using a
different name altogether. The warning can be suppressed for subroutine
=item Use of %s is deprecated
-(D) The construct indicated is no longer recommended for use, generally
+(D deprecated) The construct indicated is no longer recommended for use, generally
because there's a better way to do it, and also because the old way has
bad side effects.
-=item Use of uninitialized value
+=item Use of uninitialized value%s
-(W) An undefined value was used as if it were already defined. It was
+(W uninitialized) An undefined value was used as if it were already defined. It was
interpreted as a "" or a 0, but maybe it was a mistake. To suppress this
warning assign a defined value to your variables.
=item Useless use of %s in void context
-(W) You did something without a side effect in a context that does nothing
+(W void) You did something without a side effect in a context that does nothing
with the return value, such as a statement that doesn't return a value
from a block, or the left side of a scalar comma operator. Very often
this points not to stupidity on your part, but a failure of Perl to parse
=item untie attempted while %d inner references still exist
-(W) A copy of the object returned from C<tie> (or C<tied>) was still
+(W untie) A copy of the object returned from C<tie> (or C<tied>) was still
valid when C<untie> was called.
=item Value of %s can be "0"; test with defined()
-(W) In a conditional expression, you used <HANDLE>, <*> (glob), C<each()>,
+(W misc) In a conditional expression, you used <HANDLE>, <*> (glob), C<each()>,
or C<readdir()> as a boolean value. Each of these constructs can return a
value of "0"; that would make the conditional expression false, which is
probably not what you intended. When using these constructs in conditional
=item Value of CLI symbol "%s" too long
-(W) A warning peculiar to VMS. Perl tried to read the value of an %ENV
+(W misc) A warning peculiar to VMS. Perl tried to read the value of an %ENV
element from a CLI symbol table, and found a resultant string longer
than 1024 characters. The return value has been truncated to 1024
characters.
=item Variable "%s" may be unavailable
-(W) An inner (nested) I<anonymous> subroutine is inside a I<named>
+(W
closure) An inner (nested) I<anonymous> subroutine is inside a I<named>
subroutine, and outside that is another subroutine; and the anonymous
(innermost) subroutine is referencing a lexical variable defined in
the outermost subroutine. For example:
=item Variable "%s" will not stay shared
-(W) An inner (nested) I<named> subroutine is referencing a lexical
+(W closure) An inner (nested) I<named> subroutine is referencing a lexical
variable defined in an outer subroutine.
When the inner subroutine is called, it will probably see the value of
of Perl. Check the #! line, or manually feed your script into
Perl yourself.
+=item Version number must be a constant number
+
+(P) The attempt to translate a C<use Module n.n LIST> statement into
+its equivalent C<BEGIN> block found an internal inconsistency with
+the version number.
+
=item perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
(S) The whole warning message will look something like:
=item Warning: Use of "%s" without parentheses is ambiguous
-(S) You wrote a unary operator followed by something that looks like a
+(S ambiguous) You wrote a unary operator followed by something that looks like a
binary operator that could also have been interpreted as a term or
unary operator. For instance, if you know that the rand function
has a default argument of 1.0, and you write
So put in parentheses to say what you really mean.
-=item Write on closed filehandle %s
+=item write() on closed filehandle %s
-(W) The filehandle you're writing to got itself closed sometime before now.
+(W closed) The filehandle you're writing to got itself closed sometime before now.
Check your logic flow.
=item X outside of string
=item You need to quote "%s"
-(W) You assigned a bareword as a signal handler name. Unfortunately, you
+(W syntax) You assigned a bareword as a signal handler name. Unfortunately, you
already have a subroutine of that name declared, which means that Perl 5
will try to call the subroutine when the assignment is executed, which is
probably not what you want. (If it IS what you want, put an & in front.)
-=item [gs]etsockopt() on closed fd
+=item %cetsockopt() on closed socket %s
-(W) You tried to get or set a socket option on a closed socket.
+(W closed) You tried to get or set a socket option on a closed socket.
Did you forget to check the return value of your socket() call?
-See L<perlfunc/getsockopt>.
+See L<perlfunc/getsockopt> and L<perlfunc/setsockopt>.
=item \1 better written as $1
-(W) Outside of patterns, backreferences live on as variables. The use
+(W syntax) Outside of patterns, backreferences live on as variables. 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 there are more than 9 backreferences.
-=item '|' and 'E<lt>' may not both be specified on command line
+=item '|' and '<' may not both be specified on command line
(F) An error peculiar to VMS. Perl does its own command line redirection, and
found that STDIN was a pipe, and that you also tried to redirect STDIN using
-'E<lt>'. Only one STDIN stream to a customer, please.
+'<'. Only one STDIN stream to a customer, please.
-=item '|' and 'E<gt>' may not both be specified on command line
+=item '|' and '>' may not both be specified on command line
(F) An error peculiar to VMS. Perl does its own command line redirection, and
thinks you tried to redirect stdout both to a file and into a pipe to another
=back
+=cut
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff