conditional format strings broken in 2024-04-25

[emtiu]

The situation

I've been using a set of highly complex conditional format strings since 2017. After setting them up, I never touched them again, so I've completely forgotten how to read them and how they work (sorry).

These are the format strings in question:

set index_format=" %<[y?%<[w?%<[d?%10[%H:%M]&%10[!%a %H:%M]>&%10[%d.%m. %Hh]>&%-10[%d.%m.%Y]> %18.18F %S %?M?◢ ?%s%* %?X? <%X>?%?M? [%M]?"
set sidebar_format="%B%*  %<n?\<%N\\>&%<N?[%N]&>>"

Changes in 2024-04-16

When updating to 2024-04-16, there was just one minor hitch with sidebar_format when showing a folder with 1 new message:

• Until 2024-03-29, the sidebar displayed <1>.
• In 2024-04-16, it displayed <1\> instead.

To fix this, i removed the double backslash from sidebar_format, meaning that I changed

set sidebar_format="%B%*  %<n?\<%N\\>&%<N?[%N]&>>"

into

set sidebar_format="%B%*  %<n?\<%N\>&%<N?[%N]&>>"

which fixed the issue.

Changes in 2024-04-25

When launching 2024-04-25 with the format strings quoted above, I see the following error message:

/[…]/neomuttrc:114: Option index_format: Conditional expando is missing '&' or '?'
source: errors in /[…]/neomuttrc

(Line 114 in neomuttrc contains the index_format quoted above.)

After hitting a key, neomutt starts, but the format strings are all broken, both in the sidebar and in the index.

In the sidebar:

• all folders with no unread/new messages show &> after the name (before, there would be nothing there)
• folders with 1 unread message show &[1]> (before, it would display [1])
• folders with 1 new message show <1&[1]> (before, it would display <1>, see above)

In the index, I don't even recognize the format anymore – maybe it reverts to the default?

Here's an example line from the index with 2024-04-25:
3 r + Apr 25 [email protected] (395K) The Message Subject

Here's the same line with 2024-04-16 (displayed correctly):
25.04. 21h [email protected] r ◢ The Message Subject [2]

What's happening?

As explained above, I have no idea (sorry).

Looking through the recent Issues in this repo, I might be experiencing #4259, #4278, or both.

Maybe there's some other useful thing for you to find here.

[ragu-manjegowda]

I am running into same issue, refraining from upgrading for now.

This is what I have and it works fine with NeoMutt 20240329

folder-hook Inbox 'set index_format=" %4C %zc %zs %zt  | %-35.35L   %@attachment_info@  %?M10?~(%1M) ?%-30.50s %> %?Y?%Y ? %(!%a %d %h %H:%M)"'

index-format-hook attachment_info '~M text/calendar ~X > 0' ' '
index-format-hook attachment_info '~M text/calendar' "  "
index-format-hook attachment_info '~X > 0' "  "
index-format-hook attachment_info '~A' "   "

set attach_format = "%u%D  %T%-75.75d %<T?&   > %5s · %m/%M"

Similar to op, I have this since 3 years and no idea how they work.

[flatcap]

@emtiu
Sorry about that.
Thanks for the detailed bug report.
I'm working on it and I'll make a release as I can.

[emtiu]

Sure, don't worry and take your time, these things happen :) Let me know if I can help further.

[flatcap]

@ragu-manjegowda
Hmm... I'm surprised that ever worked :-)

There's a 10 (one zero) in the middle of your set index_format... that shouldn't be there.
If I remove that, it works correctly in 2024-04-25, 2024-04-16 and 2024-03-29
(I've also upgrade the %M and %Y conditions to use the modern %<X?Y&Z> format.

folder-hook Inbox 'set index_format=" %4C %zc %zs %zt  | %-35.35L   %@attachment_info@  %<M?~(%1M) >%-30.50s %> %<Y?%Y > %(!%a %d %h %H:%M)"'

index-format-hook attachment_info '~M text/calendar ~X > 0' ' '
index-format-hook attachment_info '~M text/calendar' "  "
index-format-hook attachment_info '~X > 0' "  "
index-format-hook attachment_info '~A' "   "

set attach_format = "%u%D  %T%-75.75d %<T?&   > %5s · %m/%M"

[ragu-manjegowda]

@ragu-manjegowda Hmm... I'm surprised that ever worked :-)

There's a 10 (one zero) in the middle of your set index_format... that shouldn't be there. If I remove that, it works correctly in 2024-04-25, 2024-04-16 and 2024-03-29 (I've also upgrade the %M and %Y conditions to use the modern %<X?Y&Z> format.

folder-hook Inbox 'set index_format=" %4C %zc %zs %zt  | %-35.35L   %@attachment_info@  %<M?~(%1M) >%-30.50s %> %<Y?%Y > %(!%a %d %h %H:%M)"'

index-format-hook attachment_info '~M text/calendar ~X > 0' ' '
index-format-hook attachment_info '~M text/calendar' "  "
index-format-hook attachment_info '~X > 0' "  "
index-format-hook attachment_info '~A' "   "

set attach_format = "%u%D  %T%-75.75d %<T?&   > %5s · %m/%M"

Thank you so much :) You are the best!

[Tonus1]

Just hitted something similar.

This worked since several years and broke in last 2024-04-25 version :

set index_format="%4C|%=11y| %<[y?%<[m?%<[d?%-10.10[%H:%M]&%-10.10[%d %a]>&%-10.10[%d %b]>&%-10.10[%b %Y]> | %-25.25L|%?X?A&-?| %Z |%?M?#%-2.2M >>>&? %s%> |%=8c"

The >>> seems to be the culprit as changed with ··· like this worked :

set index_format="%4C|%=11y| %<[y?%<[m?%<[d?%-10.10[%H:%M]&%-10.10[%d %a]>&%-10.10[%d %b]>&%-10.10[%b %Y]> | %-25.25L|%?X?A&-?| %Z |%?M?#%-2.2M ···&? %s%>  |%=8c"

If that can help...

[flatcap]

@Tonus1
Yes, that's the same problem.
The parser is working on a conditional %<X?... then finds some plain text > that looks like its end marker.

[anufrievroman]

I have the same error message but for this line:

set status_format = " %f • %l • %m messages%?n? • %n new ?%?d? • %d to delete ?%?t?"