fix display of branch names with special characters

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Changes to % routines mapped to the current namespace may now be added to source control and committed (#944)
 - Edits to a decomposed production in VS Code fixed after changes to the VS Code ObjectScript extension (#949)
 - Configure prompt no longer quits out with an unhelpful error if existing boolean settings are null (#962)
+- Branch names are now constrained to a reasonable set of allowed characters, fixing an issue where branch names with special characters were hidden without explanation (#914)
 
 ## [2.16.0] - 2026-03-06
 

cls/SourceControl/Git/Utils.cls

@@ -457,12 +457,22 @@ ClassMethod TakeOwnership(InternalName As %String) As %Status
     quit sc
 }
 
+/// Validates that a branch name contains only supported characters.
+/// Supported: letters (a-z, A-Z), digits (0-9), hyphens (-), underscores (_), periods (.), and forward slashes (/).
+ClassMethod IsValidBranchName(branchName As %String) As %Boolean
+{
+    quit $match(branchName, "[a-zA-Z0-9._/-]+")
+}
+
 /// <p>This function performs <code>git checkout -b [newBranchName]</code> from the current commit.</p>
 /// <p>If the user is in "Basic Mode" AND there is a Default Merge Branch defined,
 /// then this method first checks out and pulls that default merge branch before creating the new branch. This is
 /// equivalent to <code>git checkout [defaultMergeBranch] && git pull</code>.</p>
 ClassMethod NewBranch(newBranchName As %String) As %Status
 {
+    if '..IsValidBranchName(newBranchName) {
+        quit $$$ERROR($$$GeneralError, "Invalid branch name. Branch names may only contain letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, periods, and forward slashes.")
+    }
     set settings = ##class(SourceControl.Git.Settings).%New()
     if (settings.basicMode) && (settings.defaultMergeBranch '= ""){
         set err = ..RunGitWithArgs(.errStream, .outStream, "checkout", settings.defaultMergeBranch)

git-webui/release/share/git-webui/webui/js/git-webui.js

@@ -85,6 +85,9 @@ webui.pageInfo = {
     isFileHistory: false
 };
 
+/// Regex for supported branch names: letters, numbers, . - _ /
+webui.branchNamePattern = /^[a-zA-Z0-9._\/-]+$/;
+
 webui.quotePath = function(path) {
     return '"' + path.replace(/"/g, '\\"') + '"';
 }
@@ -455,6 +458,7 @@ webui.SideBarView = function(mainView, noEventHandlers) {
             };
         }
 
+        var skippedCount = 0;
         for (var i = 0; i < refs.length && i < maxRefsCount; ++i) {
             var ref = refs[i] + ""; // Get a copy of it
             if (ref[2] == '(' && ref[ref.length - 1] == ')') {
@@ -469,8 +473,12 @@ webui.SideBarView = function(mainView, noEventHandlers) {
             var cardDiv = $('<div class="card custom-card branch-card">').appendTo(accordionDiv)[0];
             if (id.indexOf("local-branches") > -1) {
                 // parses the output of git branch --verbose --verbose
-                var matches = /^\*?\s*([\w-.@&_\/]+)\s+([^\s]+)\s+(\[.*\])?.*/.exec(ref);
+                // only match branch names with supported characters (see webui.branchNamePattern)
+                var reMatchGitBranchOutput = new RegExp("^\*?\s*("+ webui.branchNamePattern.source +")\s+([^\s]+)\s+(\[.*\])?.*")
+                var matches = reMatchGitBranchOutput.exec(ref);
                 if (!matches) {
+                    $(cardDiv).remove();
+                    skippedCount++;
                     continue;
                 }
                 var branchInfo = {
@@ -507,6 +515,12 @@ webui.SideBarView = function(mainView, noEventHandlers) {
                     }
                 }
             } else {
+                // filter remote branches with unsupported characters
+                if (!webui.branchNamePattern.test(ref)) {
+                    $(cardDiv).remove();
+                    skippedCount++;
+                    continue;
+                }
                 var refname = ref.replaceAll('/', '-');
                 var itemId = refname + idPostfix;
                 var cardHeader = $('<div class="card-header" id="heading-' + itemId +'">').appendTo(cardDiv);
@@ -527,6 +541,14 @@ webui.SideBarView = function(mainView, noEventHandlers) {
             });
         }
 
+        if (skippedCount > 0) {
+            var warningMsg = skippedCount + " branch" + (skippedCount > 1 ? "es" : "") +
+                " with unsupported characters hidden. Branch names may only contain letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, periods, and forward slashes.";
+            $('<div class="alert alert-warning mt-2 p-2" style="font-size: 0.8em;" role="alert">' +
+                warningMsg +
+            '</div>').appendTo(accordionDiv);
+        }
+
         if (id === "remote-branches" && idPostfix === "popup") {
             var remoteBranchBtns = $("#accordion-remote-branches-popup button").filter(function (i, span) {
                 return jQuery.inArray($(span).text(), refs) != -1;
@@ -562,9 +584,15 @@ webui.SideBarView = function(mainView, noEventHandlers) {
         }
 
         $("#btn_createList").click(function(e)
-        {   
+        {
             var refName = $('#newBranchName').val()
-
+
+            // Validate branch name: only allow a subset of characters.
+            if (!webui.branchNamePattern.test(refName)) {
+                alert("Invalid branch name. Branch names may only contain letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, periods, and forward slashes.");
+                return;
+            }
+
             var flag = 0;
             webui.git("status -u --porcelain", function(data) {
                 $.get("api/uncommitted", function (uncommitted) {

git-webui/src/share/git-webui/webui/js/git-webui.js

@@ -85,6 +85,9 @@ webui.pageInfo = {
     isFileHistory: false
 };
 
+/// Regex for supported branch names: letters, numbers, . - _ /
+webui.branchNamePattern = /^[a-zA-Z0-9._\/-]+$/;
+
 webui.quotePath = function(path) {
     return '"' + path.replace(/"/g, '\\"') + '"';
 }
@@ -455,6 +458,7 @@ webui.SideBarView = function(mainView, noEventHandlers) {
             };
         }
 
+        var skippedCount = 0;
         for (var i = 0; i < refs.length && i < maxRefsCount; ++i) {
             var ref = refs[i] + ""; // Get a copy of it
             if (ref[2] == '(' && ref[ref.length - 1] == ')') {
@@ -469,8 +473,12 @@ webui.SideBarView = function(mainView, noEventHandlers) {
             var cardDiv = $('<div class="card custom-card branch-card">').appendTo(accordionDiv)[0];
             if (id.indexOf("local-branches") > -1) {
                 // parses the output of git branch --verbose --verbose
-                var matches = /^\*?\s*([\w-.@&_\/]+)\s+([^\s]+)\s+(\[.*\])?.*/.exec(ref);
+                // only match branch names with supported characters (see webui.branchNamePattern)
+                var reMatchGitBranchOutput = new RegExp("^\*?\s*("+ webui.branchNamePattern.source +")\s+([^\s]+)\s+(\[.*\])?.*")
+                var matches = reMatchGitBranchOutput.exec(ref);
                 if (!matches) {
+                    $(cardDiv).remove();
+                    skippedCount++;
                     continue;
                 }
                 var branchInfo = {
@@ -507,6 +515,12 @@ webui.SideBarView = function(mainView, noEventHandlers) {
                     }
                 }
             } else {
+                // filter remote branches with unsupported characters
+                if (!webui.branchNamePattern.test(ref)) {
+                    $(cardDiv).remove();
+                    skippedCount++;
+                    continue;
+                }
                 var refname = ref.replaceAll('/', '-');
                 var itemId = refname + idPostfix;
                 var cardHeader = $('<div class="card-header" id="heading-' + itemId +'">').appendTo(cardDiv);
@@ -527,6 +541,14 @@ webui.SideBarView = function(mainView, noEventHandlers) {
             });
         }
 
+        if (skippedCount > 0) {
+            var warningMsg = skippedCount + " branch" + (skippedCount > 1 ? "es" : "") +
+                " with unsupported characters hidden. Branch names may only contain letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, periods, and forward slashes.";
+            $('<div class="alert alert-warning mt-2 p-2" style="font-size: 0.8em;" role="alert">' +
+                warningMsg +
+            '</div>').appendTo(accordionDiv);
+        }
+
         if (id === "remote-branches" && idPostfix === "popup") {
             var remoteBranchBtns = $("#accordion-remote-branches-popup button").filter(function (i, span) {
                 return jQuery.inArray($(span).text(), refs) != -1;
@@ -562,9 +584,15 @@ webui.SideBarView = function(mainView, noEventHandlers) {
         }
 
         $("#btn_createList").click(function(e)
-        {   
+        {
             var refName = $('#newBranchName').val()
-
+
+            // Validate branch name: only allow a subset of characters.
+            if (!webui.branchNamePattern.test(refName)) {
+                alert("Invalid branch name. Branch names may only contain letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, periods, and forward slashes.");
+                return;
+            }
+
             var flag = 0;
             webui.git("status -u --porcelain", function(data) {
                 $.get("api/uncommitted", function (uncommitted) {

test/UnitTest/SourceControl/Git/Utils/NewBranch.cls

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+Class UnitTest.SourceControl.Git.Utils.NewBranch Extends UnitTest.SourceControl.Git.AbstractTest
+{
+
+Method TestCreateSupportedBranchNames()
+{
+    $$$ThrowOnError(##class(SourceControl.Git.Utils).Init())
+    do $$$AssertStatusNotOK(##class(SourceControl.Git.Utils).NewBranch("not a good#branch name"))
+    do $$$AssertStatusOK(##class(SourceControl.Git.Utils).NewBranch("a-good/branch-name.2"))
+}
+
+}