Markdown images break in Live preview mode when square brackets characters are used inside the link/alt text

[nicolas.lienart]

Steps to reproduce

Create a Markdown link to preview an image like presented here

![Image caption](https://i.imgur.com/8egv2Un.png)

Add any square bracket into the link text (i.e. [here](...)).
For instance, an internal link to another note as a reference.

![Image caption ([[Author et al, 2023]])](https://i.imgur.com/8egv2Un.png)

Or even a single square brackets

![Left square braket '[' ](http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.graphemica.com/glyphs/i500s/000/010/232/original/005B-500x500.png)

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? Y

Expected result

Live Preview and Reading View to render the image correctly when alt/link text contains square brackets (single, pair or double like for internal links).

Actual result

Image not rendering with only the link text being rendered in live preview mode

Use case

I use Image Captions plugin and this text is supposed to be shown like this.

Example screenshot of Image Caption in Reading View

Workarounds

If you want to enter a single braket (e.g. ‘[’), you would need to escape it using backslash \

![Left square braket '\['](http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.graphemica.com/glyphs/i500s/000/010/232/original/005B-500x500.png)

If you don’t escape, it works in Live Preview but it would break in Reading mode!

Example with screenshots

Test markdown:

Not escaped:
![Left square braket '['|100](http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.graphemica.com/glyphs/i500s/000/010/232/original/005B-500x500.png)

Escaped:
![Left square braket '\['|100](http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.graphemica.com/glyphs/i500s/000/010/232/original/005B-500x500.png)

Live Preview mode:

Reading View

For double brackets, escaping leads to the same behavior, so it’s not a workaround

Example with screenshots

Test markdown:

Not escaped:
![Pair of square brackets '[ ]'](https://www.thesaurus.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/202203111_squareBrackets_1000x700.png)

Escaped:
![Pair of square brackets '\[ \]'](https://www.thesaurus.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/202203111_squareBrackets_1000x700.png)

Live Preview mode:

Reading View

Environment (Sandbox vault)

Debug info

SYSTEM INFO:
	Obsidian version: v1.8.9
	Installer version: v1.8.4
	Operating system: Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26100
	Login status: logged in
	Language: en
	Catalyst license: supporter
	Insider build toggle: off
	Live preview: on
	Base theme: adapt to system
	Community theme: none
	Snippets enabled: 0
	Restricted mode: off
	Plugins installed: 0
	Plugins enabled: 0

RECOMMENDATIONS:
	none

Additional information

Screenshots

Other examples and screenshots

Live preview

Reading mode (all OK)

Linked bugs

(live preview) Extra bracket in external links when the link text has a bracket itself

Steps to reproduce In the live preview mode, add an external link and include a bracket in the link text: [test [2]](https://example.com) The preview link will include brackets outside the whole link: Source mode: [image] Live preview: [image] In the example above, the “test [2]” also is not clickable (clicking on the text doesn’t open the link). Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y/N] Y Expected result Actual result Environment SYSTEM INFO: Obsidian version: v1.6.3 Installe…

Don't treat square bracketed text as a link unless followed by parens

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)