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?
2. What tests did you perform that validates your changed worked?

QA

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

[thesahindia]

Testing!

[thesahindia]

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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));
	}