From: David Peter <sharkdp@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2026 13:31:13 +0000 (+0100)
Subject: gh-144702: Use standard terminology in class pattern error message (#144703)
X-Git-Tag: v3.15.0a7~225
X-Git-Url: http://git.ipfire.org/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=1d099164bc0732debb9e93f32ad96a7d3d55a9ba;p=thirdparty%2FPython%2Fcpython.git

gh-144702: Use standard terminology in class pattern error message (#144703)
---

diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-02-11-11-28-25.gh-issue-144702.XjFumv.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-02-11-11-28-25.gh-issue-144702.XjFumv.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..01d2b6570ded
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-02-11-11-28-25.gh-issue-144702.XjFumv.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Clarify the error message raised when a class pattern is used to match on a
+non-class object.
diff --git a/Python/ceval.c b/Python/ceval.c
index ab2eef560370..8e905a5e689e 100644
--- a/Python/ceval.c
+++ b/Python/ceval.c
@@ -534,7 +534,7 @@ _PyEval_MatchClass(PyThreadState *tstate, PyObject *subject, PyObject *type,
                    Py_ssize_t nargs, PyObject *kwargs)
 {
     if (!PyType_Check(type)) {
-        const char *e = "called match pattern must be a class";
+        const char *e = "class pattern must refer to a class";
         _PyErr_Format(tstate, PyExc_TypeError, e);
         return NULL;
     }