I’ve encountered a strange behavior with shortcode escaping while inside another shortcode. My problem is that if I escape a shortcode while inside something like the details shortcode, the escaped shortcode is still processed and rendered. But double escaping the shortcode correctly prints a (singly) escaped shortcode. Neither of these options print the shortcode as un-escaped (what I want).
In some situations, it appears that double escaping can display an un-escaped shortcode, if there are other shortcodes are also being used/escaped elsewhere inside the details shortcode. I haven’t dug around enough to find all the edge cases.
Escaping short codes appears to work correctly when outside of the details shortcode.
It might be easier to explain with a screenshot and example code. Here’s some example markdown using the built-in highlight and details shortcodes.
{{< details summary="Shortcode escaping demo: Several in one `details`" open="true" >}}
No escape (Renders unexpectedly)
```go-text-template
Inline highlighted code → {{< highlight lua "hl_inline=true" >}}if true print("hello world!") end{{< /highlight >}}.
```
One escape (Renders as if not escaped)
```go-text-template
Inline highlighted code → {{</* highlight lua "hl_inline=true" */>}}if true print("hello world!") end{{</* /highlight */>}}.
```
Two escapes (At least does what I want)
```go-text-template
Inline highlighted code → {{</*/* highlight lua "hl_inline=true" */*/>}}if true print("hello world!") end{{</*/* /highlight */*/>}}.
```
{{< /details >}}
{{< details summary="Shortcode escaping demo: One escape on it's own" open="true" >}}
One escape on it's own (Renders as if not escaped)
```go-text-template
Inline highlighted code → {{</* highlight lua "hl_inline=true" */>}}if true print("hello world!") end{{</* /highlight */>}}.
```
{{< /details >}}
{{< details summary="Shortcode escaping demo: Two escapes on it's own" open="true" >}}
Two escapes on their own (Renders "as expected", but single escape didn't give me what I want.)
```go-text-template
Inline highlighted code → {{</*/* highlight lua "hl_inline=true" */*/>}}if true print("hello world!") end{{</*/* /highlight */*/>}}.
```
{{< /details >}}
### Examples outside of the shortcode
One escape outside of the `details` shortcode (Renders as expected)
```go-text-template
Inline highlighted code → {{</* highlight lua "hl_inline=true" */>}}if true print("hello world!") end{{</* /highlight */>}}.
```
Two escapes outside of the `details` shortcode (Renders as expected)
```go-text-template
Inline highlighted code → {{</*/* highlight lua "hl_inline=true" */*/>}}if true print("hello world!") end{{</*/* /highlight */*/>}}.
```
(I’ve got some CSS happening in this screenshot, but aside from a ::before adding the name of the language to the code block, I don’t have any other templates or Shortcodes that mess with the HTML.)
I tested this demo on Hugo 0.141.0 (hugo v0.141.0-e7bd51698e5c3778a86003018702b1a7dcb9559a linux/amd64 BuildDate=2025-01-16T13:11:18Z VendorInfo=gohugoio) and also 0.140.0 (hugo v0.140.2-aae02ca612a02e085c08366a9c9279f4abb39d94 linux/amd64 BuildDate=2024-12-30T15:01:53Z VendorInfo=gohugoio).
Is this a bug, or am I overlooking something?
(It’s also getting late out here. I figured I ought to post this while it’s fresh before I call it a day, but I probably wont be able to reply until tomorrow.)