Inline literal start-string without end-string

Symptoms

Sphinx build failed with the error similar to:

WARNING: Inline literal start-string without end-string.

Reasons

Inline literal is a text used usually for code examples. It must start and end with double backtick ``.

This error means you forgot to properly terminate inline literal with trailing ``.

Example 1

Name RetValue has missing trailing ``.

Exit code of a process is stored in the ``RetValue variable.

Solution to 1

Enclose name RetValue by leading and trailing ``.

Exit code of a process is stored in the ``RetValue`` variable.

Example 2

More tricky example that causes this error is if you don’t separate inline literal from surrounding text by whitespace.

Python ``list``s use square bracket syntax.

Solution to 2

Normally, inline elements must be separated from the each other by the whitespace(s).

Fortunately, two inline elements without no space in-between are possible with escaping mechanism using backslash character \. Previous example fixed:

Python ``list``\s use square bracket syntax.