FAILURE MAP
← Case archive

FA-026 / Text processing / Open access

Equivalent names create separate identities · case 01

Case and Unicode composition produce multiple identities for equivalent names.

Verified by executionVariant 1 · 3 checks per implementationDownload source bundle ↓JSON ↗

ROOT CAUSE

Identity comparison uses raw codepoints without a normalization contract.

VERIFIED REPAIR

Normalize to NFC and case-fold each name before comparing identities.

Unsuccessful approach: Normalization alone leaves case differences intact.

Case contract

Normalize to NFC and case-fold each name before comparing identities.

Why this case matters

A compact reasoning and repair task with executable evidence.

1 / The failure

Exit 1
"""Failure Map reference implementation. Python standard library only."""
import json
import unicodedata
N = 1
observations = []
def solve(names):
    return len(set(names))
def check(label, actual, expected):
    observations.append({"check": label, "actual": actual, "expected": expected, "passed": actual == expected})
check('composed variants', solve(['CAFÉ', 'Cafe\u0301', 'café'] * N), 1)
check('different names', solve(['north', 'south']), 2)
check('empty list', solve([]), 0)
print(json.dumps({"observations": observations, "passed": all(x["passed"] for x in observations)}, ensure_ascii=False))
raise SystemExit(0 if all(x["passed"] for x in observations) else 1)
Boundary fixtureActualExpectedOutcome
composed variants31Failed
different names22Passed
empty list00Passed

SHA-256 / c87705150b84b05830cdef8dd75077a0aac297472c8606561593d4b5aae4fb91

2 / The unsuccessful fix

Exit 1
"""Failure Map reference implementation. Python standard library only."""
import json
import unicodedata
N = 1
observations = []
def solve(names):
    return len({unicodedata.normalize('NFC', name) for name in names})
def check(label, actual, expected):
    observations.append({"check": label, "actual": actual, "expected": expected, "passed": actual == expected})
check('composed variants', solve(['CAFÉ', 'Cafe\u0301', 'café'] * N), 1)
check('different names', solve(['north', 'south']), 2)
check('empty list', solve([]), 0)
print(json.dumps({"observations": observations, "passed": all(x["passed"] for x in observations)}, ensure_ascii=False))
raise SystemExit(0 if all(x["passed"] for x in observations) else 1)
Boundary fixtureActualExpectedOutcome
composed variants31Failed
different names22Passed
empty list00Passed

SHA-256 / f01f5b6542143e79f65eb5a2b2494eea0dad346cfeb4dab1f2d61b7351d52069

3 / The verified repair

Exit 0
"""Failure Map reference implementation. Python standard library only."""
import json
import unicodedata
N = 1
observations = []
def solve(names):
    return len({unicodedata.normalize('NFC', name).casefold() for name in names})
def check(label, actual, expected):
    observations.append({"check": label, "actual": actual, "expected": expected, "passed": actual == expected})
check('composed variants', solve(['CAFÉ', 'Cafe\u0301', 'café'] * N), 1)
check('different names', solve(['north', 'south']), 2)
check('empty list', solve([]), 0)
print(json.dumps({"observations": observations, "passed": all(x["passed"] for x in observations)}, ensure_ascii=False))
raise SystemExit(0 if all(x["passed"] for x in observations) else 1)
Boundary fixtureActualExpectedOutcome
composed variants11Passed
different names22Passed
empty list00Passed

SHA-256 / 5dc18376990d0086c7af28f372b2ca1f2ef279341d6481b530197b73525a4ed8

Verification & scope

This reproducer isolates one failure mechanism. Results cover the supplied fixtures. Variants within a family share a test contract and should remain grouped when constructing evaluation splits. Related mechanisms with a shared evaluation_group must also remain together; these controlled models are not independent production incidents.

Observations recorded using Python 3.12.14 at 2026-09-29T14:36:49.872091+00:00.

Case digest / 1d485484ea1a1f0634d95a8d3cb8854a9d6ca356af9e3e002cb09b1dc1c29cc1