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Z501-placeholder — 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 https://zenzic.dev/docs/reference/finding-codes 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 (\bTODO\b, \bFIXME\b) to prevent the Scunthorpe Problem (e.g., flagging the word "autodome" because it contains "todo").

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