fix: handle require edge case

[codefix-patchflow]

What failed

Search parameters with closing square bracket in nested property names are parsed incorrectly.

Here demonstrated with /?search[withbracket[]]=foobar:

var qs = require("qs");
undefined
input = { search: { "withbracket[]": "foobar" }}
{ search: { 'withbracket[]': 'foobar' } }
output = qs.stringify(input, { encode: false })
'search[withbracket[]]=foobar'
result = qs.parse(output)
{ 'search[withbracket': [ 'foobar' ] }
assert.deepEqual(input, result)
Uncaught AssertionError [ERR_ASSERTION]: Expected values to be loosely deep-equal:

{
search: {
'withbracket[]': 'foobar'
}
}

should loosely deep-equal

{
'search[withbracket': [
'foobar'
]
}
at REPL280:1:8
at Script.runInThisContext (node:vm:129:12)
at REPLServer.defaultEval (node:repl:572:29)
at bound (node:domain:433:15)
at REPLServer.runBound [as eval] (node:domain:444:12)
at REPLServer.onLine (node:repl:902:10)
at REPLServer.emit (node:events:525:35)
at REPLServer.emit (node:domain:489:12)
at [_onLine] [as _onLine] (node:internal/readline/interface:425:12)
at [_line] [as _line] (node:internal/readline/interface:886:18) {
generatedMessage: true,
code: 'ERR_ASSERTION',
actual: [Object],
expected: [Object],
operator: 'deepEqual'
}
For comparison the result with the native URL object:

url = new URL("http://example.com/?search[withbracket[]]=foobar")
URL {
href: 'http://example.com/?search[withbracket[]]=foobar',
origin: 'http://example.com',
protocol: 'http:',
username: '',
password: '',
host: 'example.com',
hostname: 'example.com',
port: '',
pathname: '/',
search: '?search[withbracket[]]=foobar',
searchParams: URLSearchParams { 'search[withbracket[]]' => 'foobar' },
hash: ''
}
[...url.searchParams.keys()]
[ 'search[withbracket[]]' ]
When parsing a query without braces, the result looks like:

qs.parse("search[okay]=baz")
{ search: { okay: 'baz' } }
So it should be a nested object.

Current Result
{ "search[withbracket": ["foobar"] }
Expected Result
{ "search": { "withbracket[]": ["foobar"] }}

What changed

Patchflow applied a minimal source change for the reported failure.

• lib/parse.js around line 227 (modified, +35/-6)

Why this works

The patch is scoped to the failing path and preserves existing behavior outside the touched code.

Expected result

A concise pull request is created with a clear review note

Patchflow did not run repository-local commands; the automated review gate checks the patch without assuming the project full runtime environment is available.

🔧 Fixed automatically by Patchflow — $1/fix · no fix, no fee

Automation details

• Job ID: 1a288cfd-91ce-46cc-8d33-20d1db9fef10
• Repository: CDEN190/qs
• Branch: codefix/1a288cfd-search-parameters-with-closing-square-bracket-in
• Base branch: patchflow-red-qs-493
• Reference command: None
• Review gate: automated static review; repository-local commands were not executed.