The main error messages in CLI
If you make a mistake when entering a command in the CLI, or if the command is incomplete, you will get an error message like this
| error messages | meaning |
| % Ambiguous command. | Can’t uniquely identify the command. |
| % Incomplete command. | The command you entered is incomplete. |
| % Invalid input detected at “^” marker. | The “^” is incorrect. |
% Ambiguous command.
The error message “% Ambiguous command.” is displayed if the command cannot be uniquely identified. If you enter the command in an abbreviated form, you must enter it to the point where it is uniquely identified.
The following is an example of a “% Ambiguous command.” error message
R1#con t % Ambiguous command: "con t"
In this example, you would type “conf t” to enter global configuration mode, but you would type “con t” to enter global configuration mode. There are multiple commands that start with “con” and they cannot be uniquely identified. In such cases, the “% Ambiguous command.” will displayed
% Incomplete command.
The error message “% Incomplete command.” appears if you do not specify the required parameters for the command you entered. Make sure you know which parameters to provide.
The following is an example of a “% Incomplete command.” error message.
R1(config)#interface FastEthernet 0/0 R1(config-if)#ip address % Incomplete command. R1(config-if)#
The ip address command, which sets the IP address for an interface, requires you to specify the IP address and subnet mask. If you enter only the ip address, the parameters are incomplete. That’s why “% Incomplete command.” is displayed. To check the parameters you need, use the help.
% Invalid input detected at “^” marker.
The error message “% Invalid input detected at “^” marker.” is mainly shown when the command is misspelled. Make sure the command is spelled correctly.
The following is an example of “% Invalid input detected at “^” marker.
R1(config)#enable secrt cisco
^
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
In this example, the “enable secret” command to set the password for privileged EXCE mode is spelled incorrectly. The wrong part is indicated by the “^” sign. You have misspelled “secret” as “secrt”.
To avoid misspelling commands, make use of command completion.
For CLI help and completion, see the following articles
Cisco Basic
- Preparing for Cisco devices configuration
- Configuration files for Cisco devices
- The configuration steps for Cisco devices
- Basic knowledge of the Cisco CLI: Command types and modes
- Cisco device’s interface
- CLI help and completion
- The main error messages in CLI
- Cisco Deleting a configuration command
- default interface command -Initialize the interface settings-
- Entering commands in batches
- do command – Execute EXEC command from configuration mode –
- interface range command -Batch configuration of multiple interfaces-
- Filtering the display of the show command – displaying only the information you want to see –
- Cisco IOS Name Resolution Configuration
- terminal length command : configuration of the number of lines displayed in the command output
- debug command to verify real-time operation
- Automatically enter privileged EXEC mode upon CLI login
- Configure System Clock
- Saving and managing configuration files
- Version Management of Configuration Files ~archive command
- IOS File System Operations
- Managing Cisco Catalyst Switches :What it means to set an IP address on a switch.
- Remote management by VTY access (Telnet/SSH)
- terminal monitor command to display the log of Telnet/SSH login destination
- Multi-step Telnet Session Suspensions
- Set the minimum number of characters in the password [Cisco]
- Restrict login attempts : login block-for command
- Cisco Initial Configuration Example
- CDP – What are the connected devices? –
- Password recovery for Cisco routers
- Password Recovery for Catalyst Switches
