Just tell me why this error happens
Coding
Give the error and the environment, and get only the cause in two lines, with no fixing code.
Fill the blanks and it copies as you filled it
Just tell me why this error happens. I don't need the fix yet. - Environment: - The error: [paste it] - The relevant lines, if any: [paste — delete this line if you have none] - The cause only, in two lines or fewer. Don't write fixing code
0 of 1 blanks filled · anything left blank copies with its brackets
What this prompt does
Compared with asking the same thing without the length and format lines.estimate
Estimated output tokens
700
Asked loosely
180
This prompt
Energy (Wh)
1.215
Asked loosely
0.423
This prompt
Tokens estimated from characters; energy measured by Jegham et al. 2025.
What that saves
15.8 Wh · 5.54 gCO₂e · 74 mL — assuming 20 uses a day — the global average is 3.7 (Chatterji et al. 2025)
Tap a card for how the conversion was done.
Reported backfire — Specifying output lengthSpecifying a length longer than needed backfires (a 34% increase in 11% of scenarios)
Where these figures come from
Published figures for the rule itself — not what this prompt saves.
Specifying output length
38.7%mean reduction · 95% CI 29.7–47.7%
Podder et al. 2026 BP#5 · 18 use cases / 57 prompts
by modelGPT-4o 35%Command R+ 49%Mistral-7B 32%
Reduced in every scenario. No backfire reported