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Z501 — Placeholder

Z-Code: Z501 PLACEHOLDER · Engine: standalone · Exit: 0

The Fixture

The fixture lives in examples/z501-placeholder/ in the Zenzic repository. It contains documents demonstrating the Z501 violation.

Running the Example

# Clone the Zenzic repository — no extra installation required
cd examples/z501-placeholder
uvx zenzic check all

Expected output:

standalone - 1 file (1 docs, 0 assets) - 0.0s - 64 files/s

docs/index.md:4:9  !  [Z501]  Found placeholder text matching pattern:
'(?i)placeholder'

    2  │  <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 -->
    3  │
    4  ❱  # Z501 — Placeholder Content Gallery Example
       │           ^^^^^^^^^^^
    5  │
    6  │  This page demonstrates **Z501 PLACEHOLDER** detection.

docs/index.md:6:30  !  [Z501]  Found placeholder text matching pattern:
'(?i)placeholder'

    4  │  # Z501 — Placeholder Content Gallery Example
    5  │
    6  ❱  This page demonstrates **Z501 PLACEHOLDER** detection.
       │                                ^^^^^^^^^^^
    7  │
    8  │  ## Installation

docs/index.md:10  !  [Z501]  Found placeholder text matching pattern: '(?i)todo'

     8  │  ## Installation
     9  │
    10  ❱  TODO: content goes here
        │  ^^^^
    11  │
    12  │  ## Advanced Usage

docs/index.md:14  !  [Z501]  Found placeholder text matching pattern: '(?i)todo'

    12  │  ## Advanced Usage
    13  │
    14  ❱  TODO: Add advanced usage examples once the feature is complete.
        │  ^^^^
    15  │
    16  │  Coming soon!

docs/index.md:16  !  [Z501]  Found placeholder text matching pattern:
'(?i)coming\ soon'

    14  │  TODO: Add advanced usage examples once the feature is complete.
    15  │
    16  ❱  Coming soon!
        │  ^^^^^^^^^^^
    17  │
    18  │  ## What Zenzic Reports

docs/index.md:21:59  !  [Z501]  Found placeholder text matching pattern:
'(?i)todo'

    19  │
    20  │  ```text
    21  ❱  docs/index.md:10:  Z501  PLACEHOLDER  placeholder pattern 'TODO:'
matched
        │                                                             ^^^^
    22  │  docs/index.md:16:  Z501  PLACEHOLDER  placeholder pattern 'Coming
soon!' matched
    23  │  ```

docs/index.md:21:25  !  [Z501]  Found placeholder text matching pattern:
'(?i)placeholder'

    19  │
    20  │  ```text
    21  ❱  docs/index.md:10:  Z501  PLACEHOLDER  placeholder pattern 'TODO:'
matched
        │                           ^^^^^^^^^^^
    22  │  docs/index.md:16:  Z501  PLACEHOLDER  placeholder pattern 'Coming
soon!' matched
    23  │  ```

docs/index.md:22:59  !  [Z501]  Found placeholder text matching pattern:
'(?i)coming\ soon'

    20  │  ```text
    21  │  docs/index.md:10:  Z501  PLACEHOLDER  placeholder pattern 'TODO:'
matched
    22  ❱  docs/index.md:16:  Z501  PLACEHOLDER  placeholder pattern 'Coming
soon!' matched
        │
^^^^^^^^^^^
    23  │  ```
    24  │

docs/index.md:22:25  !  [Z501]  Found placeholder text matching pattern:
'(?i)placeholder'

    20  │  ```text
    21  │  docs/index.md:10:  Z501  PLACEHOLDER  placeholder pattern 'TODO:'
matched
    22  ❱  docs/index.md:16:  Z501  PLACEHOLDER  placeholder pattern 'Coming
soon!' matched
        │                           ^^^^^^^^^^^
    23  │  ```
    24  │

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Summary:  x 0 errors  ! 9 warnings  i 0 info  - 1 file with findings

* Analysis complete: All statically-detectable links, credentials, and
references verified.
Refer to ../../../reference/finding-codes.md for remediation · Try
'zenzic check --help' for options.
[ Suppression Audit: 0/30 (inline: 0, per-file: 0)

Exit code: 0

Interpreting the Output

The Z501 finding indicates a PLACEHOLDER issue.

This error or warning is raised by Zenzic when the document contains placeholder patterns like:

TODO
FIXME
LOREM IPSUM

or generic boilerplate strings. This checks if draft text leaked into production docs. By default, Zenzic is ultra-conservative: it uses explicit word boundaries to prevent the Scunthorpe Problem.

In this specific example:

  • Scan Type: Content Guard
  • Severity: Warning
  • Impact: Placeholder text indicates incomplete documentation and results in a DQS deduction of 2.0 points.

Resolve the Issue

Exit code 1. Complete the placeholder section with concrete technical content and remove the placeholder markers.

See Also