Unix path with space fails

[chevdor]

Hello,

I could successfully use the plugin with a path without spaces. Using /Users/me/Desktop/joplin\ import1 however does not seem to trigger the import. it shows no error but nothing happens.

[JackGruber]

I have no Linux desktop to test, but the correct path sould be /Users/me/Desktop/joplin import1 without \ befor the space.

[chevdor]

That would be quite non standard. Space is a special character and should be escaped on all *nix patforms.

If you fancy testing, you may with Docker: docker run --rm -it ubuntu bash:

root@9f2d782bd248:/tmp# mkdir some\ space
root@9f2d782bd248:/tmp# ll
total 12
drwxrwxrwt 1 root root 4096 Mar 26 19:09  ./
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Mar 26 19:09  ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 26 19:09 'some space'/
root@9f2d782bd248:/tmp# cd some\ space/
root@9f2d782bd248:/tmp/some space# 

You may want to use https://nodejs.org/api/path.html#path_path_normalize_path to normalize the user's entry so all valid path strings such as the example I mentioned work anyway.

I can confirm after testing (and restarting Joplin, which seems to be mandatory), that using a non escaped path works: /Users/me/Desktop/joplin import1

[JackGruber]

The path.normalize() method normalizes the given path, resolving '..' and '.' segments.

fs.existsSync("/usr/src/app/joplin import"); // => True
fs.existsSync(path.normalize("/usr/src/app/joplin import")); //  => True
fs.existsSync("/usr/src/app/joplin\\ import"); //  => False
fs.existsSync(path.normalize("/usr/src/app/joplin\\ import")); // => False

I'm still waiting for the file selector as API in Joplin, then you can select the path directly.

[chevdor]

fs.existsSync("/usr/src/app/joplin\ import"); // => False

That's because you should not use \\ but \. Otherwise, you are not making a space but a back slash followed by breaking space... The \ is actually escaping the space.

fs.existsSync("some\ space.txt");                     // => true
fs.existsSync("some\\ space.txt");                    // => false
fs.existsSync(path.normalize("some space.txt"));      // => true
fs.existsSync(path.normalize("some\ space.txt"));     // => true

[JackGruber]

Yes because one \ is an escape caracter in a string, when you want a \ in a string you have to use twice. When you write test\test you get test<TAB>est because this is the tab char. But you can check it with an input and enter /usr/src/app/joplin\ import

rl.question('Test Path? ', (answer) => {
  check = `${answer}`;
    fs.existsSync(check); // => False
    fs.existsSync(path.normalize(check)); // => False
    rl.close();
});

The normalize function don't change anything on the \<space>