SyntaxError unexpected character after line continuation character

[Ryan-Rong-24]

Iteration: 8, Error: (SyntaxError) unexpected character after line continuation character (, line 1), target: MessageNode: (exception___code6:49, dtype=<class 'str'>, data=(SyntaxError) unexpected character after line continuation character (, line 1))

Trace runs into a Syntax error when the LLM generates code with the newline character \n
When interpreted in Python, the backslash serves as a line continuation character and the 'n' after the backslash causes a syntax error. When optimizing a code block, code generated in this format causes an error:

(code) __code6:def decide_shoot(self, obs):\n player = obs['Player']\n for key, obj in obs.items():\n if key.startswith('Alien'):\n # Check if alien is aligned with player (within 5 pixels)\n if abs(obj['x'] - player['x']) < 5:\n # Prioritize lower aliens (higher y value)\n if obj['y'] > 60: # Adjust this threshold as needed\n return True\n return False", "__code5": "def decide_movement(self, obs):\n player = obs['Player']\n move = 0\n threat_left = 0\n threat_right = 0\n aliens_left = 0\n aliens_right = 0\n \n for key, obj in obs.items():\n if key.startswith('Alien'):\n if obj['x'] < player['x']:\n aliens_left += 1\n else:\n aliens_right += 1\n elif key.startswith('Bullet') and obj['dy'] > 0: # Enemy bullet\n if obj['x'] < player['x']:\n threat_left += 1\n else:\n threat_right += 1\n \n # Move away from threats\n if threat_left > threat_right:\n move = 1\n elif threat_right > threat_left:\n move = -1\n # If no immediate threat, move towards more aliens\n elif aliens_left > aliens_right:\n move = -1\n elif aliens_right > aliens_left:\n move = 1\n \n return move

While code generated in this format works:

    player = obs['Player']
    for key, obj in obs.items():
        if key.startswith('Alien'):
            # Check if alien is aligned with player (within 5 pixels)
            if abs(obj['x'] - player['x']) < 5:
                # Prioritize lower aliens (higher y value)
                if obj['y'] > 60:  # Adjust this threshold as needed
                    return True
    return False

Is there a way to fix this internally like filtering out line continuation character?

[chinganc]

Is the first part showing \n copied from OptoPrime's prompt? I'm wondering if \n there is actually \\n in raw text.

[Ryan-Rong-24]

The first part is copied from my log output, which is written as:

logger.info(optimizer.problem_instance(optimizer.summarize()))

So yeah it likely is \\n in raw text... I'm adding an instruction for the LLM to not produce \\n and it seems to trigger this error less often so that might be the fix... Maybe a fix in the library is to filter \\n in the extract_llm_suggestion() in optoprime.py?

[chinganc]

Yeah, I will push a fix soon.

[chinganc]

@Ryan-Rong-24 I pushed a fix to resolve issues due to \\n in v0.1.3.7. We're still working on adding a few small patches in this update before we merge it into main. But for now, you can use it. Let me know if you run into this or similar issue anymore.

[rafaelkaufmann]

@chinganc I am running into this same issue even in v0.1.3.7. It consistently happens at the end of docstrings. I ended up having to subclass OptoPrime to prevent unrecoverable SyntaxErrors blowing up my optimization 👍 It would be nice, among other things, if Trace natively prevented malformed LLM code from being applied.

[allenanie]

@rafaelkaufmann This issue should be fixed now

[allenanie]

We added Black Python formatting library which will make sure the code format is correct. Please reopen this issue if you see any problem after upgrading to v0.1.3.8

[rafaelkaufmann]

Thank you, I upgraded and this looks solved 🙏