fix: Multiline hyperlink is displayed as a single line hyperlink.

[Krishna2323]

Explanation

We updated the link label matcher (the [...] part) to disallow line breaks inside the brackets. Everything else (URL handling via UrlPatterns.MARKDOWN_URL_REGEX and the negative look-ahead to avoid <pre>/<code>) remains unchanged.

• Previous

const MARKDOWN_LINK_REGEX = new RegExp(`\\[([^\\][]*(?:\\[[^\\][]*][^\\][]*)*)]\\(${UrlPatterns.MARKDOWN_URL_REGEX}\\)(?![^<]*(<\\/pre>|<\\/code>))`, 'gi');

• Updated

const MARKDOWN_LINK_REGEX = new RegExp(`\\[((?:[^\\[\\]\\r\\n]*(?:\\[[^\\[\\]\\r\\n]*][^\\[\\]\\r\\n]*)*))]\\(${UrlPatterns.MARKDOWN_URL_REGEX}\\)(?![^<]*(<\\/pre>|<\\/code>))`, 'gi');

Fixed Issues

$ GH_LINK Expensify/App#65618

Tests

1. What unit/integration tests cover your change? What autoQA tests cover your change?
   • Remove existing unit tests which was written to validate the support of multiline links.
2. What tests did you perform that validates your changed worked?
   • Type [link without line break](https://github.com/Expensify/expensify-common) and send.
   • Verify markdown is converted to link.
   • 
   • Edit the message and add a line break in the square bracket
   • Verify the message is shown as plain text.
   • 
   • Type [link with line break](https://github.com/Expensify/expensify-common), add a line break in the [] bracket text and send
   • Verify only https://github.com/Expensify/expensify-common is converted to link.
   • 

QA

1. What does QA need to do to validate your changes?
2. What areas to they need to test for regressions?

• Same as tests

[thesahindia]

Testing!

[thesahindia]

Reviewer Checklist

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Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: HybridApp

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screen.Recording.2025-09-08.at.11.21.51.PM.mov

MacOS: Desktop

[thesahindia]

@Krishna2323, please add QA steps.

[Krishna2323]

I will provide updates tomorrow, I need some time to do proper testing as I recently found a issue when updating the single line link to multiple line link.

[thesahindia]

Any update @Krishna2323?

[Krishna2323]

@thesahindia

If we add a line break to existing link, the remaining part (direct link) will not be converted to link:

Monosnap.screencast.2025-09-15.21-12-14.mp4

[youssef-lr]

Is there still work to do here?

[Krishna2323]

@youssef-lr yes, could you please check this comment?

[thesahindia]

@thesahindia

If we add a line break to existing link, the remaining part (direct link) will not be converted to link:

Monosnap.screencast.2025-09-15.21-12-14.mp4

Did you find a fix for it?

[Krishna2323]

Did you find a fix for it?

I'm trying to understand the code below. This part is responsible for not returning the new link. For the past two days, I haven’t had time to work on this because one of my PR caused regressions, and I was busy resolving them. I’ll try to provide an update later today.

expensify-common/lib/ExpensiMark.ts

Lines 1338 to 1365 in ef17304

	/**
	* @returns array or undefined if exception occurs when executing regex matching
	*/
	extractLinksInMarkdownComment(comment: string): string[] | undefined {
	try {
	const htmlString = this.replace(comment, {filterRules: ['link']});
	// We use same anchor tag template as link and autolink rules to extract link
	const regex = new RegExp(`<a href="${UrlPatterns.MARKDOWN_URL_REGEX}" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">`, 'gi');
	const matches = [...htmlString.matchAll(regex)];
	// Element 1 from match is the regex group if it exists which contains the link URLs
	const sanitizeMatch = (match: RegExpExecArray) => Str.sanitizeURL(match[1]);
	const links = matches.map(sanitizeMatch);
	return links;
	} catch (e) {
	ExpensiMark.Log.alert('Error parsing url in ExpensiMark.extractLinksInMarkdownComment', {error: e});
	return undefined;
	}
	}
	/**
	* Compares two markdown comments and returns a list of the links removed in a new comment.
	*/
	getRemovedMarkdownLinks(oldComment: string, newComment: string): string[] {
	const linksInOld = this.extractLinksInMarkdownComment(oldComment);
	const linksInNew = this.extractLinksInMarkdownComment(newComment);
	return linksInOld === undefined || linksInNew === undefined ? [] : linksInOld.filter((link) => !linksInNew.includes(link));
	}

[Krishna2323]

Looking at this PR #585, I think this is expected. @thesahindia could you please check?

[Krishna2323]

@thesahindia @youssef-lr confirmed the expected behaviour here and updated the QA tests, we are good to merge this.

[Krishna2323]

@youssef-lr friendly bump for a final review and merge.

[youssef-lr]

@Krishna2323 can you merge main to fix this please Required workflow 'Validate Github Actions and Workflows, Validate Github Actions and Workflows' is not satisfied

[youssef-lr]

I'm not sure why the workflow is not running, do you mind merging main again?

[thesahindia]

Bump @Krishna2323

[os-botify]

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