Plus sign is stripped from a variable value (both from a variables file and cmd arguments)

[OpossumPetya]

What is the current bug behavior?

When I try to supply a variable with a value that contains one leading plus sign (+), the plus char is being stripped from the value.

• Options section -- NOT STRIPPED
• Env variable "quoted" -- NOT STRIPPED
• Env variable not quoted -- stripped
• --variable cmd line options (quoted or not, cmd, powershell, wsl2/ubuntu)-- stripped
• --variables-file -- stripped

Steps to reproduce

Hurl file:

POST https://domain.com/service
Content-Type: application/soap+xml; charset=utf-8
SOAPAction: ""
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
    <soap:Body>
        ...
            <data>
                <phonenum>{{phonenum}}</phonenum>
                <var1>{{var1}}</var1>
                ...
            </data>
        ...
    </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

HTTP 200

Try 1

hurl api-call.hurl --variable phonenum="+491702001122" --variable var2="FOO" --variable var3="BAR" --very-verbose
* Options:
*     fail fast: true
*     follow redirect: false
*     insecure: false
*     max redirect: 50
*     retry: 0
* Variables:
*     var2: FOO
*     phonenum: 491702001122
*     var3: BAR
* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Executing entry 1
*

I tried with and without quotes.

Try 2:

Variables file:

phonenum: +491702001122
var2: FOO
var3: BAR

Output:

hurl api-call.hurl --variables-file=api-call.vars --verbose
* Options:
*     fail fast: true
*     follow redirect: false
*     insecure: false
*     max redirect: 50
*     retry: 0
* Variables:
*     var3: BAR
*     phonenum: 491702001122
*     var2: FOO
* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Executing entry 1
*

In both tries API call wasn't successful. But if I hardcode phonenum value -- it succeeds every time.

What is the expected correct behavior?

Expected plus sign not to be striped, and show in Variables: debug output exactly as I pass it in (and also interpolate in the XML body).

Execution context

• Hurl Version: 4.0.0
• Operating system and version: Win11
• Tried in windows' Command Prompt and Windows PowerShell and from WSL2/Ubuntu

Notes

• I couldn't get [Options] section to work: Options section doesn't work with XML body #1851
  NOT A PROBLEM when using the [Options] section!

• I tried with environment variable: when I did not use quote, plus was stripped in the Variables verbose output; and plus wasn't stripped if I used quotes! but the call still didn't work :( and I wonder if it's another bug. Looking for a way to see the complete raw body that Hurl sends :-/

> set HURL_phonenum="+491702001122"

> set | find /i "HURL"
HURL_phonenum="+491702001122"

> hurl api-call.hurl --variable var2="FOO" --variable var3="BAR" --very-verbose
* Options:
*     fail fast: true
*     follow redirect: false
*     insecure: false
*     max redirect: 50
*     retry: 0
* Variables:
*     var3: BAR
*     phonenum: +491702001122
*     var2: FOO
* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Executing entry 1
*

[OpossumPetya]

Hm, this may still be a problem in general, but it's not the reason my api calls fail. When I hardcode the value without a plus it still accepts it, and succeeds. Maybe variables in XML body are not supported?

[fabricereix]

exactly, the variable are not yet supported in an XML body.
as a workaround , you can use a multi-line string.

```
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
    <soap:Body>
        <data>
            <phonenum>{{phonenum}}</phonenum>
            <var1>{{var1}}</var1>
        </data>
    </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
```

[OpossumPetya]

yep, this works, thanks!

[OpossumPetya]

back to the original bug report... I played with this with one of the free online mocking service, to see what is actually received. it appears that only leading plus sign is stripped, and only when there's no other plus sign is present. I didn't explore which other characters could be stripped.

• options section -- NOT STRIPPED!
• --variable cmd line options -- stripped
• --variables-file -- stripped

Additionally tried from WSL2/Ubuntu -- same issue. Tried escaping the leading plus (with ^ on Win cmd) -- still an issue.

Examples:

• +12345 -> 12345
• 12345+ -> 12345+
• ++12345 -> ++12345
• +123+45 -> +123+45

[OpossumPetya]

found related issue: #1314

I guess, in some cases, Hurl interprets values as numbers, in others as strings.