Error when using `~` within `{{{...}}}`

[danny0838]

Example 1:

Code:

const Handlebars = require('handlebars');
var tpl = Handlebars.compile("123\n{{{~myvar}}}\n123");
tpl({myvar: '<myvar>'});

Result:

Uncaught Error: Parse error on line 2:
123{{{~myvar}}}123
------^
Expecting 'ID', 'STRING', 'NUMBER', 'BOOLEAN', 'UNDEFINED', 'NULL', 'DATA', got 'INVALID'

Example 2:

Code:

const Handlebars = require('handlebars');
var tpl = Handlebars.compile("123\n{{{myvar~}}}\n123");
tpl({myvar: '<myvar>'});

Result:

Uncaught Error: Parse error on line 2:
123{{{myvar~}}}123
-----------^
Expecting 'CLOSE_UNESCAPED', 'OPEN_SEXPR', 'ID', 'STRING', 'NUMBER', 'BOOLEAN', 'UNDEFINED', 'NULL', 'DATA', got 'CLOSE'

---

Node.js: v21.6.2
handlebars: v4.7.8

[jaylinski]

The following works:

const Handlebars = require('handlebars');
var tpl = Handlebars.compile("123\n{{~{myvar}}}\n123");
tpl({myvar: '<myvar>'});

I guess we should document this. I'm also not sure if this is in a specification.

[danny0838]

Similar issue:

<script type="text/handlebars">
{{{{raw}}}}
{{something}}
{{{{/raw~}}}}
</script>

This causes an error, and {{{{/raw}}~}} doesn't work either.

[jaylinski]

Similar issue:

<script type="text/handlebars">
{{{{raw}}}}
{{something}}
{{{{/raw~}}}}
</script>

This causes an error, and {{{{/raw}}~}} doesn't work either.

@danny0838 What is your expected output here?

[danny0838]

Shouldn't it work normally to trim white spaces at the side? Or is there an alternative way to do this?

[jaylinski]

All I can say is it doesn't work (there are also no tests for whitespace-control in raw blocks). I'm not sure if it should work or if the user should just use a helper that trims the raw string accordingly:

Handlebars.registerHelper('raw', function(options) {
    return options.fn().trim()
});

https://handlebarsjs.com/playground.html#format=1&currentExample=%7B%22template%22%3A%22%7B%7B%7B%7Braw%7D%7D%7D%7D%5Cn%20%20%7B%7Bbar%7D%7D%20%20%5Cn%7B%7B%7B%7B%2Fraw%7D%7D%7D%7D%5Cnfoo%22%2C%22partials%22%3A%5B%5D%2C%22input%22%3A%22null%5Cn%22%2C%22output%22%3A%22%7B%7Bbar%7D%7Dfoo%22%2C%22preparationScript%22%3A%22Handlebars.registerHelper('raw'%2C%20function(options)%20%7B%5Cn%20%20%20%20return%20options.fn().trim()%5Cn%7D)%3B%5Cn%22%2C%22handlebarsVersion%22%3A%224.7.8%22%7D

[danny0838]

trim doesn't work for such case as it removes white spaces between {{something}} and {{{{/raw~}}}}, while the intension of {{{{/raw~}}}} is to temove spaces between {{{{/raw~}}}} and </script>.

This issue is raised as such behavior seems like a bug (or at least inconsistent and counterintuitive). Is there any rationale to not implement {{{~...~}}} and {{{{~...~}}}} just like {{~...~}}? I think this is the most intuitive and what most users/developers would expect.