# Is there any way to allow a message to appear more than three times before General::stop shuts it off?

I have some Mathematica code that analyzes data in a database and uses Message to report when expected data is missing. By default, Mathematica will allow this message to appear only three times before it gets shut off, but I'd like this message to appear as often as the errors do.

The solutions I can think of are

Off[General::stop];


but this kills limits for all error messages, not just this one,

or just to switch to Print, which seems inelegant.

Is there some way to allow this one message to appear more than three times, while leaving behavior unchanged for the rest?

-
Perhaps Assert would be useful for this? –  Brett Champion Feb 29 '12 at 19:24

You can do something like this:

resetMessages[symbol_] :=
With[{mysymbol = symbol},
Unprotect[$MessageList];$MessageList =
DeleteCases[$MessageList, HoldForm[MessageName[mysymbol, _]]]; Protect[$MessageList];]


And you will have to call it after each function...

Sqrt[a, b, c, d]; Exp[a, b]; resetMessages[Exp]; Sqrt[a, b, c, d]; \
Exp[a, b]; resetMessages[Exp]; Sqrt[a, b, c, d]; Exp[a, b]; \
resetMessages[Exp]; Sqrt[a, b, c, d]; Exp[a, b]; resetMessages[Exp]; \
Sqrt[a, b, c, d]; Exp[a, b]; resetMessages[Exp]; Sqrt[a, b, c, d]; \
Exp[a, b]; resetMessages[Exp]; Sqrt[a, b, c, d]; Exp[a, b]; \
resetMessages[Exp];

Sqrt::argx: Sqrt called with 4 arguments; 1 argument is expected. >>

Exp::argx: Exp called with 2 arguments; 1 argument is expected. >>

Sqrt::argx: Sqrt called with 4 arguments; 1 argument is expected. >>

Exp::argx: Exp called with 2 arguments; 1 argument is expected. >>

Sqrt::argx: Sqrt called with 4 arguments; 1 argument is expected. >>

General::stop: Further output of Sqrt::argx will be suppressed during this calculation. >>

Exp::argx: Exp called with 2 arguments; 1 argument is expected. >>

Exp::argx: Exp called with 2 arguments; 1 argument is expected. >>

Exp::argx: Exp called with 2 arguments; 1 argument is expected. >>

Exp::argx: Exp called with 2 arguments; 1 argument is expected. >>

Exp::argx: Exp called with 2 arguments; 1 argument is expected. >>

-
I independently arrived at $MessageList as well, but I used it a little differently. See my answer below. Also, +1. – Mr.Wizard Feb 29 '12 at 19:34 add comment ### New Method FJRA pointed out that my original method will fail in certain cases. Here is what I hope is a more robust approach: Unprotect[Message,$MessageList]

Message[args___] /; ! TrueQ[$msgClear] := Block[{$msgClear = True},
$MessageList = DeleteCases[$MessageList, HoldForm[Power::infy]];
Message[args]
]


Now the specified message will print an infinite number of times:

Table[1/0, {7}]


You could use Alternatives in DeleteCases to make multiple messages infinite.

### Old Method

I also came up with tinkering with $MessageList as did FJRA, but my application is a little bit different: Unprotect[$MessageList];

$MessagePrePrint = ($MessageList = DeleteCases[$MessageList, HoldForm[Power::infy]]; #) &;  - This is more elegant, the only problem I see is that $MessagePrePrint is only used when the message has arguments like 1, 2. If the message is only a string it doesn't call \$MessagePrePrint. But in general it avoids the "manual" reset, which is cleaner. –  FJRA Feb 29 '12 at 20:02
@FJRA I didn't realize that; thank you. Please see up updated answer and tell me if you can see any specific problems with my new method. –  Mr.Wizard Feb 29 '12 at 20:19
I think that's the best way to clear the message list, because calling extra functions is not needed. –  FJRA Feb 29 '12 at 20:30

Why don't you use Check. You could combine it with Reap/Sow or Throw/Catch. Here's an example that counts divisions by zero.

SeedRandom[1];
list = RandomInteger[{-2, 2}, {100}];

Of course, since the second argument of Check can be anything, you could arrange for it to alert you any number of ways.