From 276058ca6452e3c5872d85da8440f997a31dbe27 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ramesh Padmanabhaiah <22363102+codeforester@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2026 17:58:40 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Fix literal backslashes in file-section processing

---
 lib/bash/file/lib_file.sh         | 26 ++++++++++++++++++++++----
 lib/bash/file/tests/lib_file.bats | 13 +++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/bash/file/lib_file.sh b/lib/bash/file/lib_file.sh
index 031b154..6db24c5 100644
--- a/lib/bash/file/lib_file.sh
+++ b/lib/bash/file/lib_file.sh
@@ -114,8 +114,12 @@ __file_make_target_temp__() {
 __file_section_markers_ordered__() {
     local target_file="$1" beginning_marker="$2" end_marker="$3"
 
-    awk -v START_M="$beginning_marker" -v END_M="$end_marker" '
+    BASE_BASH_FILE_START_MARKER="$beginning_marker" \
+    BASE_BASH_FILE_END_MARKER="$end_marker" \
+    awk '
     BEGIN {
+        START_M = ENVIRON["BASE_BASH_FILE_START_MARKER"]
+        END_M = ENVIRON["BASE_BASH_FILE_END_MARKER"]
         in_section = 0
         invalid = 0
     }
@@ -243,8 +247,12 @@ file_section_needs_update() {
         return 2
     fi
 
-    if ! awk -v START_M="$beginning_marker" -v END_M="$end_marker" '
+    if ! BASE_BASH_FILE_START_MARKER="$beginning_marker" \
+        BASE_BASH_FILE_END_MARKER="$end_marker" \
+        awk '
     BEGIN {
+        START_M = ENVIRON["BASE_BASH_FILE_START_MARKER"]
+        END_M = ENVIRON["BASE_BASH_FILE_END_MARKER"]
         in_section = 0
         processed = 0
     }
@@ -444,8 +452,12 @@ update_file_section() {
 
     if [[ "$section_exists" == true ]]; then
         if [[ "$remove_section" == true ]]; then
-            if awk -v START_M="$beginning_marker" -v END_M="$end_marker" '
+            if BASE_BASH_FILE_START_MARKER="$beginning_marker" \
+                BASE_BASH_FILE_END_MARKER="$end_marker" \
+                awk '
             BEGIN {
+                START_M = ENVIRON["BASE_BASH_FILE_START_MARKER"]
+                END_M = ENVIRON["BASE_BASH_FILE_END_MARKER"]
                 in_section = 0
                 processed = 0
             }
@@ -466,8 +478,14 @@ update_file_section() {
                 return 0
             fi
         else
-            if awk -v START_M="$beginning_marker" -v END_M="$end_marker" -v NEW_TEXT_FILE="$new_content_file" '
+            if BASE_BASH_FILE_START_MARKER="$beginning_marker" \
+                BASE_BASH_FILE_END_MARKER="$end_marker" \
+                BASE_BASH_FILE_NEW_CONTENT_FILE="$new_content_file" \
+                awk '
             BEGIN {
+                START_M = ENVIRON["BASE_BASH_FILE_START_MARKER"]
+                END_M = ENVIRON["BASE_BASH_FILE_END_MARKER"]
+                NEW_TEXT_FILE = ENVIRON["BASE_BASH_FILE_NEW_CONTENT_FILE"]
                 processed = 0 # 0 = not yet processed, 1 = processing, 2 = done
             }
             $0 == START_M && processed == 0 {
diff --git a/lib/bash/file/tests/lib_file.bats b/lib/bash/file/tests/lib_file.bats
index 0a8d5f8..85e9edb 100644
--- a/lib/bash/file/tests/lib_file.bats
+++ b/lib/bash/file/tests/lib_file.bats
@@ -105,6 +105,19 @@ EOF
     [ "$(cat "$target")" = $'line-one\n-n\nvalue\n-e' ]
 }
 
+@test "update_file_section preserves literal backslashes in markers and content" {
+    local target="$TEST_TMPDIR/config.txt"
+    local beginning='\t'
+    local ending='\e'
+    local replacement='replacement\t'
+    printf '%s\nold\n%s\nafter\n' "$beginning" "$ending" > "$target"
+
+    update_file_section "$target" "$beginning" "$ending" "$replacement"
+
+    printf -v expected '%s\n%s\n%s\nafter' "$beginning" "$replacement" "$ending"
+    [ "$(cat "$target")" = "$expected" ]
+}
+
 @test "update_file_section preserves symlinks while updating their targets" {
     local target="$TEST_TMPDIR/config.txt"
     local link="$TEST_TMPDIR/config-link"