Fix: Correct Parsing of Final Shortcode Attribute Without Trailing Space

[sahil-gidwani]

Trac Ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57790

Fix: Correct Parsing of Final Shortcode Attribute Without Trailing Space

Issue Summary

The shortcode_parse_atts() function, which uses get_shortcode_atts_regex(), fails to correctly parse the last attribute of a shortcode when there is no space between the final attribute’s closing quote and the closing bracket ].

Steps to Reproduce

Current Behavior (Bug)

shortcode_parse_atts('[shortcode-name category="banana-stand" money="yes"]'); // No space

Output:

Array(
    [0] => [shortcode-name
    [category] => banana-stand
    [1] => money="yes"]
)

The last attribute (money="yes") is incorrectly treated as a separate entry instead of being parsed as a key-value pair.

Expected Behavior

When a space is included before the closing ], the function behaves correctly:

shortcode_parse_atts('[shortcode-name category="banana-stand" money="yes" ]'); // Has space

Output:

Array(
    [0] => [shortcode-name
    [category] => banana-stand
    [money] => yes
    [1] => ]
)

Root Cause

The issue stems from the get_shortcode_atts_regex() pattern, where the final attribute pair is not properly matched if there is no space before ]. The previous regex enforced a space (\s) or end-of-string ($) after an attribute, causing the last attribute to be misinterpreted.

Proposed Fix

The updated regex removes unnecessary lookaheads and ensures correct parsing regardless of whether a space exists before ].

Old Code:

return '/([\w-]+)\s*=\s*"([^"]*)"(?:\s|$)|([\w-]+)\s*=\s*\'([^\']*)\'(?:\s|$)|([\w-]+)\s*=\s*([^\s\'"]+)(?:\s|$)|"([^"]*)"(?:\s|$)|\'([^\']*)\'(?:\s|$)|(\S+)(?:\s|$)/';

New Code:

return '/([\w-]+)\s*=\s*"([^"]*)"|([\w-]+)\s*=\s*\'([^\']*)\'|([\w-]+)\s*=\s*([^\s\'"\]]+)|"([^"]*)"|\'([^\']*)\'|(\S+)/';

Test Results

After applying the fix, both cases now produce the expected output:

Array(
    [0] => [shortcode-name
    [category] => banana-stand
    [money] => yes
    [1] => ]
)

Ensuring that the last attribute is parsed correctly, regardless of spacing.

Impact & Compatibility

• This fix improves accuracy without affecting existing correctly formatted shortcodes.
• Fully backward-compatible with previous WordPress versions.
• Ensures shortcode_parse_atts() is more robust when handling shortcode attributes.

[github-actions]

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[github-actions]

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