nushell / nushell/nushell

`detect type`: errors on whitespace-prefixed numbers

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#16,872 6 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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status:needs-triage
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Bug report form
  • I have done a basic search of the issue tracker to find any existing issues that are similar.
  • I have checked that my version is at least the latest stable release available via my installation method.
Describe the bug

detect type errors out if the input contains a number with whitespace prefix.

Image
How to reproduce

" 42" | detect type

Expected behavior

The input should be inferred as string without error.
The inference as string would be consistent with the behaviour of e.g. "42 " | detect type.

Configuration
key value
version 0.108.0
major 0
minor 108
patch 0
branch
commit_hash
build_os linux-x86_64
build_target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
rust_version rustc 1.90.0 (1159e78c4 2025-09-14)
rust_channel stable-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
cargo_version cargo 1.90.0 (840b83a10 2025-07-30)
build_time 2025-10-15 19:22:41 +02:00
build_rust_channel release
allocator standard
features default, network, plugin, rustls-tls, sqlite, trash-support
installed_plugins
experimental_options example=false, reorder-cell-paths=true, pipefail=false, enforce-runtime-annotations=false

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by running the reported " 42" | detect type reproduction and compare it with "42 " | detect type to trace the type-inference path. Done means the whitespace-prefixed input completes without an error and is inferred as a string, with regression coverage for both cases if the existing tests are found.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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