AbstractThe trichotomy between regular, semiregular, and strongly irregular boundary points for $$p$$
p
-harmonic functions is obtained for unbounded open sets in complete metric spaces with a doubling measure supporting a $$p$$
p
-Poincaré inequality, $$1<p<\infty $$
1
<
p
<
∞
. We show that these are local properties. We also deduce several characterizations of semiregular points and strongly irregular points. In particular, semiregular points are characterized by means of capacity, $$p$$
p
-harmonic measures, removability, and semibarriers.