Issue with unsupported characters in symbol name?

Hi everybody.

I did some part creation in one of my symbol libraries. During the creation in KiCad (v6.0.5) there was never any warning or error message for unsupported characters in the symbol fields. I also could see the symbol just fine in the symbol editor.

When I wanted to add the symbol to my schematic I got an error message, that one of my libraries couldn’t be loaded. And now I get this message when trying to load the library again in the symbol editor:

On line 631 my new symbol starts:

  (symbol "S3G-E3/57T" (pin_numbers hide) (pin_names (offset 1.016) hide) (in_bom yes) (on_board yes)
    (property "Reference" "D" (id 0) (at 0 2.54 0)
      (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)))
    )
    (property "Value" "S3G-E3/57T" (id 1) (at 0 -2.54 0)
      (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)))
    )
    (property "Footprint" "Diode_SMD:D_SMC" (id 2) (at 0 0 0)
      (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) hide)
    )
    (property "Datasheet" "https://www.vishay.com/docs/88713/s3a.pdf" (id 3) (at 0 0 0)
      (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) hide)
    )
    (property "MPN" "S3G-E3/57T" (id 4) (at 0 0 0)
      (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) hide)
    )
    (property "Current" "3A" (id 5) (at 0 0 0)
      (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)))
    )
    (property "Voltage" "400V" (id 6) (at 0 0 0)
      (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)))
    )
    (property "ki_keywords" "diode smd automotive" (id 7) (at 0 0 0)
      (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) hide)
    )
    (property "ki_description" "Vishay, Surface-Mount Glass Passivated Rectifier, Reverse voltage 400V, Peak forward surge current 100A, AEC-Q101, SMC (DO-214AB)" (id 8) (at 0 0 0)
      (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) hide)
    )
    (property "ki_fp_filters" "TO-???* *_Diode_* *SingleDiode* D_*" (id 9) (at 0 0 0)
      (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) hide)
    )
    (symbol "S3G-E3/57T_0_1"
      (polyline
        (pts
          (xy -1.27 1.27)
          (xy -1.27 -1.27)
        )
        (stroke (width 0.254) (type default) (color 0 0 0 0))
        (fill (type none))
      )
      (polyline
        (pts
          (xy 1.27 0)
          (xy -1.27 0)
        )
        (stroke (width 0) (type default) (color 0 0 0 0))
        (fill (type none))
      )
      (polyline
        (pts
          (xy 1.27 1.27)
          (xy 1.27 -1.27)
          (xy -1.27 0)
          (xy 1.27 1.27)
        )
        (stroke (width 0.254) (type default) (color 0 0 0 0))
        (fill (type none))
      )
    )
    (symbol "S3G-E3/57T_1_1"
      (pin passive line (at -3.81 0 0) (length 2.54)
        (name "K" (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27))))
        (number "1" (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27))))
      )
      (pin passive line (at 3.81 0 180) (length 2.54)
        (name "A" (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27))))
        (number "2" (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27))))
      )
    )
  )

So, I tried replacing the ‘/’ with {slash}, ~{slash} or just an underscore. But I can’t get it working again without removing the symbol.

Any ideas, what I can do to get this symbol working? I know I can just remove it and create it again, but then I will run into the same issue eventually by not knowing why this is happening.

Thanks in advance.

The forward-slash “/” is posing problems here. It’s already reported as issue #11939: Forward slash in a symbol name corrupts symbol library. (#11939) · Issues · KiCad / KiCad Source Code / kicad · GitLab
As long as there is no fix available you should avoid “/” in the symbol-name.

2 Likes

I find it amusing that this type of bug hasn’t been eradicated in 50+ years…

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