| 1 | ---
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| 2 | title: Errors (Oils Reference)
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| 3 | all_docs_url: ..
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| 4 | body_css_class: width40
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| 5 | default_highlighter: oils-sh
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| 6 | preserve_anchor_case: yes
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| 7 | ---
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| 8 | 
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| 9 | <div class="doc-ref-header">
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| 10 | 
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| 11 | [Oils Reference](index.html) —
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| 12 | Chapter **Errors**
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| 13 | 
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| 14 | </div>
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| 15 | 
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| 16 | This chapter describes **errors** for data languages.  An error checklist is
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| 17 | often a nice, concise way to describe a language.
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| 18 | 
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| 19 | Related: [Oils Error Catalog, With Hints](../error-catalog.html) describes
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| 20 | errors in code.
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| 21 | 
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| 22 | <span class="in-progress">(in progress)</span>
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| 23 | 
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| 24 | <div id="dense-toc">
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| 25 | </div>
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| 26 | 
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| 27 | ## UTF8
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| 28 | 
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| 29 | J8 Notation is built on UTF-8, so let's summarize UTF-8 errors.
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| 30 | 
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| 31 | ### err-utf8-encode
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| 32 | 
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| 33 | Oils stores strings as UTF-8 in memory, so it doesn't encode UTF-8 often.
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| 34 | 
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| 35 | But it may have a function to encode UTF-8 from a `List[Int]`.  These errors
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| 36 | would be handled:
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| 37 | 
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| 38 | 1. Integer greater than max code point
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| 39 | 1. Code point in the surrogate range
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| 40 | 
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| 41 | ### err-utf8-decode
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| 42 | 
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| 43 | A UTF-8 decoder should handle these errors:
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| 44 | 
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| 45 | 1. Overlong encoding.  In UTF-8, each code point should be represented with the
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| 46 |    fewest possible bytes. 
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| 47 |    - Overlong encodings are the equivalent of writing the integer `42` as
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| 48 |      `042`, `0042`, `00042`, etc.  This is not allowed.
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| 49 | 1. Surrogate code point.  The sequence decodes to a code point in the surrogate
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| 50 |    range, which is used only for the UTF-16 encoding, not for string data.
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| 51 | 1. Exceeds max code point.  The sequence decodes to an integer that's larger
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| 52 |    than the maximum code point.
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| 53 | 1. Bad encoding.  A byte is not encoded like a UTF-8 start byte or a
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| 54 |    continuation byte.
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| 55 | 1. Incomplete sequence.  Too few continuation bytes appeared after the start
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| 56 |    byte.
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| 57 | 
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| 58 | ## J8 String
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| 59 | 
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| 60 | J8 strings extend [JSON]($xref) strings, and are a primary building block of J8
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| 61 | Notation.
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| 62 | 
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| 63 | ### err-j8-str-encode
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| 64 | 
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| 65 | J8 strings can represent any string — bytes or unicode — so there
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| 66 | are **no encoding errors**.
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| 67 | 
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| 68 | ### err-j8-str-decode
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| 69 | 
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| 70 | 1. Escape sequence like `\u{dc00}` should not be in the surrogate range.
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| 71 |    - This means it doesn't represent a real character.  Byte escapes like
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| 72 |      `\yff` should be used instead.
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| 73 | 1. Escape sequence like `\u{110000}` is greater than the maximimum Unicode code
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| 74 |    point.
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| 75 | 1. Byte escapes like `\yff` should not be in `u''` string.
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| 76 |    - By design, they're only valid in `b''` strings.
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| 77 | 
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| 78 | ## J8 Lines
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| 79 | 
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| 80 | Roughly speaking, J8 Lines are an encoding for a stream of J8 strings.  In
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| 81 | [YSH]($xref), it's used by `@(split command sub)`.
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| 82 | 
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| 83 | ### err-j8-lines-encode
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| 84 | 
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| 85 | Like J8 strings, J8 Lines have no encoding errors by design.
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| 86 | 
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| 87 | ### err-j8-lines-decode
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| 88 | 
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| 89 | 1. Any error in a J8 quoted string.
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| 90 |    -  e.g. no closing quote, invalid UTF-8, invalid backslash escape, ...
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| 91 | 1. A line with a quoted string has extra text after it.
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| 92 |    - e.g. `"mystr" extra`.
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| 93 | 1. An unquoted line is not valid UTF-8.
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| 94 | 
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| 95 | ## JSON
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| 96 | 
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| 97 | ### err-json-encode
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| 98 | 
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| 99 | JSON encoding has these errors:
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| 100 | 
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| 101 | 1. Object of this type can't be serialized.
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| 102 |    - For example, `Str List Dict` are Oils objects can be serialized, but
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| 103 |      `Eggex Func Range` can't.
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| 104 | 1. Circular reference.
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| 105 |    - e.g. a Dict that points to itself, a List that points to itself, and other
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| 106 |      permutations
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| 107 | 1. Float values of NaN, Inf, and -Inf can't be encoded.
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| 108 |    - TODO: option to use `null` like JavaScript.
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| 109 | 
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| 110 | Note that invalid UTF-8 bytes like `0xfe` produce a Unicode replacement
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| 111 | character, not a hard error.
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| 112 | 
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| 113 | ### err-json-decode
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| 114 | 
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| 115 | 1. The encoded message itself is not valid UTF-8.
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| 116 |    - (Typically, you need to check the unescaped bytes in string literals
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| 117 |      `"abc\n"`).
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| 118 | 1. Lexical error, like
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| 119 |    - the message `+`
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| 120 |    - an invalid escape `"\z"` or a truncated escape `"\u1"`
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| 121 |    - A single quoted string like `u''`
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| 122 | 1. Grammatical error
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| 123 |    - like the message `}{`
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| 124 | 1. Unexpected trailing input
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| 125 |    - like the message `42]` or `{}]`
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| 126 | 
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| 127 | ## JSON8
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| 128 | 
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| 129 | ### err-json8-encode
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| 130 | 
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| 131 | JSON8 has the same encoding errors as JSON.
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| 132 | 
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| 133 | However, the encoding is lossless by design.  Instead of invalid UTF-8 being
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| 134 | turned into a Unicode replacment character, it can use J8 strings with byte
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| 135 | escapes like `b'byte \yfe\yff'`.
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| 136 | 
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| 137 | ### err-json8-decode
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| 138 | 
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| 139 | JSON8 has the same decoding errors as JSON, plus J8 string decoding errors.
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| 140 | 
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| 141 | See [err-j8-str-decode](#err-j8-str-decode).
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| 142 | 
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| 143 | <!--
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| 144 | 
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| 145 | ## Packle
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| 146 | 
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| 147 | TODO: Not implemented!
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| 148 | 
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| 149 | ### err-packle-encode
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| 150 | 
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| 151 | Packle has no encoding errors!
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| 152 | 
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| 153 | 1. TODO: Unserializable `Eggex Func Range` can be turned into "wire Tuple"
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| 154 |    `(type_name: Str, heap_id: Int)`.
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| 155 |    - When you read a packle into Python, you'll get a tuple.
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| 156 |    - When you read a packle back into YSH, you'll get a `value.Tombstone`?
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| 157 | 1. Circular references are allowed.  Packle data expresses a **graph**, not a
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| 158 |    tree.
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| 159 | 1. Float values NaN, Inf, and -Inf use their binary representations.
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| 160 | 1. Both Unicode and binary data are allowed.
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| 161 | 
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| 162 | ### err-packle-decode
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| 163 | 
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| 164 | TODO
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| 165 | 
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| 166 | -->
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| 167 | 
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