Use case or problem I want to use square brackets as normal without having to escape them. Markdown should only treat square bracket text as a link IF it is followed by (). Proposed solution Fix it. Current workaround (optional) .cm-s-obsidian span.cm-link, .cm-s-obsidian span.cm-link:hover { color: var(–text-normal); text-decoration: none; } This removes highlighting for actual links as well. Related feature requests (optional)

There’s an older comment here: [image] Single square brackets highlighted like links in edit mode Bug graveyard single braket pairs have other uses in markdown, so it is good as it is. The issue in the editor (there’s no issue in Reading view) is that single square brackets are in a state of limbo until you do something with them. They could become a [markdown](link.md), a [reference]: link, a [^footnote], and so on. The CSS assigned to [something] is cm-hmd-barelink, so you could try this for the time being: .cm-s-obsidian { & .cm-link.cm-hmd-barelink { color: var(--text-normal); } & .cm-link.cm-hmd-barelink:hover { color: var(--text-normal); text-decoration: none; } } or non-nested: .cm-s-obsidian .cm-link.cm-hmd-barelink { color: var(--text-normal); } .cm-s-obsidian .cm-link.cm-hmd-barelink:hover { color: var(--text-normal); text-decoration: none; }

Yeah, this is a quirk of Live Preview’s syntax highlighting — it’s highlighting too eagerly. WhiteNoise’s comment doesn’t make sense to me. Fortunately we can work around it with CSS snippets (I use the non-nested one that trainbuffer posted).

+1 Personally, having to deal a lot with them as I copy text from literature that has extensive use of square brackets for mentioning references. Example: The global biobased PA market is assumed to comprise around 200 × 10^3 t/a [94] It is even more problematic if there are multiple occurrences: The global biobased PA market is assumed to comprise around 200 × 10^3 t/a [94] [110] [114] [116] In Live Preview mode: one every two occurrences is not even shown, see screenshot below. [image]

[image] ariehen: The CSS assigned to [something] is cm-hmd-barelink, so you could try this for the time being: It seems not to be the case on my end, see screenshot below. [image]

What’s the markdown in that note? It looks as if 94 and 114 are internal links and have double brackets[[94]] [[114]]? If they were single brackets, you would see the brackets themselves. This topic is about single [square] brackets on their own and how Live Preview treats them. Both shots from Live Preview: [Screenshot 2025-03-12 at 5.05.06] [Screenshot 2025-03-12 at 5.05.30]

[image] ariehen: What’s the markdown in that note? See previous comment, I provided the markdown and it’s single brackets, not internal links.

Apologies! I saw the notification post on my phone and quickly replied on the laptop without scrolling up. Yeah, something is odd about how Live Preview is handling the consecutive single brackets. source mode | live preview | reading view [Screenshot 2025-03-12 072953] There’s a bug report here: [image] Markdown parser is too greedy when parsing text wrapped in single brackets Bug reports I know there have been a lot of posts about this, but they all seem to be locked. Some are even bug reports where the only response is “not a bug” with no explanation about why it’s not considered a bug. https://forum.obsidian.md/search?q=Single%20bracket Because of the way the parser works, you can even end up in situations where the next word is not rendered. For example, the following will render “[Foo]” as a link, but “[Bar]” will not be rendered at all in the live editor. I really think … and there may be a few more involving single bracketed content in Live Preview.

Too bad, I didn’t know this bug. Usually I avoid brackets if not for internal/external links. The only solution here is to put your formula between backtiks: The global biobased PA market is assumed to comprise around `200 × 10^3 t/a [94] [110] [114] [116]`

[image] Jopp: The only solution here is to put your formula between backtiks I really don’t want to add extra formatting like this because it’s time-consuming and not good if I need to export notes in the future. My other important use of square brackets is when I add additional details not coming directly from the original source like this: When to Use Square Brackets [ ] in English | The Editor’s Manual Example MD Text: [La choucroute est une] [[Lacto-fermentation|Fermentations lactiques]] des [[Fructoses]] et [[Glucoses]] par les [[Bactéries]] La baisse pH du aux [[Acides lactiques (LA)]] évite la production de [[Micro-organismes|microorganismes]] pathogènes Source : INRAE, 2023 - Ressources #3 In Live preview mode: [image] One internal link is not visible, and it breaks the sentence (in French). Furthermore, as previously identified, the text inside single square brackets is erroneously displayed as a link.

[image] nicolas.lienart: I really don’t want to add extra formatting like this because it’s time-consuming Backtiks are easy to add, just select a word/sentence and type ` once to enclose the whole. The point here is, to not lose multiple strings in brackets, if they appear in a sequence. I understand, Backtiks are more in use by developers, still, you may try it too; anyway that’s just my suggestion. [image] nicolas.lienart: I add additional details not coming directly agreed!

(Live Preview) Don't color square bracketed text as a link unless it's part of a link

Feature requests

ariehen July 12, 2024, 8:15pm 16