FAILURE MAP
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A direct-child query misses nested elements · case 01

A direct-child query misses nested elements.

Verified by executionVariant 1 · 4 checks per implementationDownload source bundle ↓JSON ↗

ROOT CAUSE

The implementation applies an operation whose text or grammar semantics violate this contract: Count every descendant item element excluding the root itself.

VERIFIED REPAIR

Implement the complete stated contract, including the boundary fixtures: Count every descendant item element excluding the root itself.

Unsuccessful approach: The attempted repair handles the primary example but still violates a separate boundary of the same contract.

Case contract

Count every descendant item element excluding the root itself.

Why this case matters

A local executable model for consumers of structured text; oracle values are authored literals, not outputs copied from the repaired implementation.

1 / The failure

Exit 1
"""Failure Map reference implementation. Python standard library only."""
import json
import re, unicodedata, json, csv, io, html, base64, binascii, codecs, struct
from urllib.parse import quote, unquote, unquote_to_bytes, urlencode, parse_qsl, urlsplit, urlunsplit
from email.header import decode_header, make_header
from email.utils import getaddresses
from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
import shlex, string, textwrap

N = 1
observations = []
def solve(x):
    try:
        return len(ET.fromstring(x).findall('item'))
    except Exception as exc:
        return {"error": type(exc).__name__}
def check(label, actual, expected):
    observations.append({"check": label, "actual": actual, "expected": expected, "passed": actual == expected})
check('boundary 1', solve('<r><a><item/></a></r>'), 1)
check('boundary 2', solve('<item><item/></item>'), 1)
check('boundary 3', solve('<r/>'), 0)
check('boundary 4', solve('<r><item/><item/></r>'), 2)
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
boundary 101Failed
boundary 211Passed
boundary 300Passed
boundary 422Passed

SHA-256 / 9a6ee01e684d998fd2b039ae162d09aa859db69e82a5942f4f767a221f04c0db

2 / The unsuccessful fix

Exit 1
"""Failure Map reference implementation. Python standard library only."""
import json
import re, unicodedata, json, csv, io, html, base64, binascii, codecs, struct
from urllib.parse import quote, unquote, unquote_to_bytes, urlencode, parse_qsl, urlsplit, urlunsplit
from email.header import decode_header, make_header
from email.utils import getaddresses
from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
import shlex, string, textwrap

N = 1
observations = []
def solve(x):
    try:
        return len(list(ET.fromstring(x).iter('item')))
    except Exception as exc:
        return {"error": type(exc).__name__}
def check(label, actual, expected):
    observations.append({"check": label, "actual": actual, "expected": expected, "passed": actual == expected})
check('boundary 1', solve('<r><a><item/></a></r>'), 1)
check('boundary 2', solve('<item><item/></item>'), 1)
check('boundary 3', solve('<r/>'), 0)
check('boundary 4', solve('<r><item/><item/></r>'), 2)
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
boundary 111Passed
boundary 221Failed
boundary 300Passed
boundary 422Passed

SHA-256 / e36f3805af38507ca77af16b864fe06647946afc7bbdf6f0f77714905263ecf9

3 / The verified repair

Exit 0
"""Failure Map reference implementation. Python standard library only."""
import json
import re, unicodedata, json, csv, io, html, base64, binascii, codecs, struct
from urllib.parse import quote, unquote, unquote_to_bytes, urlencode, parse_qsl, urlsplit, urlunsplit
from email.header import decode_header, make_header
from email.utils import getaddresses
from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
import shlex, string, textwrap

N = 1
observations = []
def solve(x):
    try:
        return len(ET.fromstring(x).findall('.//item'))
    except Exception as exc:
        return {"error": type(exc).__name__}
def check(label, actual, expected):
    observations.append({"check": label, "actual": actual, "expected": expected, "passed": actual == expected})
check('boundary 1', solve('<r><a><item/></a></r>'), 1)
check('boundary 2', solve('<item><item/></item>'), 1)
check('boundary 3', solve('<r/>'), 0)
check('boundary 4', solve('<r><item/><item/></r>'), 2)
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
boundary 111Passed
boundary 211Passed
boundary 300Passed
boundary 422Passed

SHA-256 / 64f677b9276f38e869f6e6b5b7b3bf846a8c081ebe95963c00230013854dcf38

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 2026-09-29T14:37:23.227711+00:00.

Case digest / 3e904c01dc5f7164bb6c78051378bbec1c425e42ca4b968cc9de029d6b01c62c