matryer/xbar · error

malformed xbar.var format (empty select options)

Error message

malformed xbar.var format (empty select options)

What it means

Even when a '[' section exists in a select var's description, parsePluginVar requires at least one non-empty option after trimming and splitting on commas. If every entry between the brackets is blank, the select has no choices and this errParse is returned.

Solutions

1. Put at least one real option inside the brackets: [fast,slow]
2. Remove stray commas/whitespace-only entries from the bracket list
3. Include the default value among the options (a later check also requires default ∈ options)
4. Re-run Parse to confirm the var now parses

Example fix

// before
// <xbar.var>select(VAR_REGION): Region. []</xbar.var>
// after
// <xbar.var>select(VAR_REGION): Region. [us-east-1,eu-west-1]</xbar.var>

func bracketOptionsNonEmpty(line string) bool {
	i := strings.Index(line, "[")
	j := strings.Index(line, "]")
	if i < 0 || j <= i {
		return false
	}
	inner := line[i+1 : j]
	for _, o := range strings.Split(inner, ",") {
		if strings.TrimSpace(o) != "" {
			return true
		}
	}
	return false
}

func hasPopulatedOptions(line string) bool {
	return bracketOptionsNonEmpty(line)
}

v, err := metadata.Parse(src)
if err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "empty select options") {
		return fmt.Errorf("select var bracket list must contain at least one option: %w", err)
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: parsePluginVar on a select var whose bracket section is empty or whitespace/comma-only, e.g. '<xbar.var>select(VAR_MODE): Mode. []</xbar.var>' or '[ , , ]' — strings.Split yields only empty strings which are skipped, leaving len(v.Options) == 0.

Common situations: Author left '[]' as a placeholder intending to fill options later; options deleted during editing leaving only separators; template-generated select with no options; copy-paste losing the option text between brackets.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

Related errors

• malformed xbar.var format (missing select options)
• malformed xbar.var format
• metadata.Parse
• bad interval value
• color

AI-assisted analysis of matryer/xbar@d624239058 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1cc2309e71b46ded. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at pkg/metadata/plugin_metadata.go:427

		if len(listSegs) < 2 {
			return v, errParse{
				src: s,
				err: errors.New("malformed xbar.var format (missing select options)"),
			}
		}
		v.Desc = strings.TrimSpace(listSegs[0])
		optionsStr := strings.TrimSuffix(listSegs[1], `]`)
		for _, option := range strings.Split(optionsStr, ",") {
			cleanStr := strings.TrimSpace(option)
			if cleanStr == "" {
				continue // skip empty lines
			}
			v.Options = append(v.Options, cleanStr)
		}
		if len(v.Options) == 0 {
			return v, errParse{
				src: s,
				err: errors.New("malformed xbar.var format (empty select options)"),
			}
		}
		defaultFound := false
		for _, val := range v.Options {
			if val == v.Default {
				defaultFound = true
				break
			}
		}
		if !defaultFound {
			return v, errParse{
				src: s,
				err: errors.New("malformed xbar.var format (default not in select options)"),
			}
		}
	default: // invalid type
		return v, errors.Errorf("unknown xbar.var type: %s", v.Type)
	}

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