re.error: bad escape \e

Hello,

I am using Windows 10 (version 19536.1000) and windows powershell 5.1. My database is in a docker container.

When writing \e in the prompt, I get the following error and get ejected from the database:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\runpy.py", line 193, in _run_module_as_main
    "__main__", mod_spec)
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\runpy.py", line 85, in _run_code
    exec(code, run_globals)
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\site-packages\mssqlcli\main.py", line 117, in <module>
    main()
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\site-packages\mssqlcli\main.py", line 110, in main
    run_cli_with(mssqlcli_options)
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\site-packages\mssqlcli\main.py", line 55, in run_cli_with
    mssqlcli.run()
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\site-packages\mssqlcli\mssql_cli.py", line 433, in run
    text = self.handle_editor_command(text)
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\site-packages\mssqlcli\mssql_cli.py", line 296, in handle_editor_command
    query = (special.get_editor_query(text) or
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\site-packages\mssqlcli\packages\special\commands.py", line 317, in get_editor_query
    pattern = re.compile(r'(^\\\e|\\\e$)')
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\re.py", line 234, in compile
    return _compile(pattern, flags)
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\re.py", line 286, in _compile
    p = sre_compile.compile(pattern, flags)
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\sre_compile.py", line 764, in compile
    p = sre_parse.parse(p, flags)
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\sre_parse.py", line 924, in parse
    p = _parse_sub(source, pattern, flags & SRE_FLAG_VERBOSE, 0)
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\sre_parse.py", line 420, in _parse_sub
    not nested and not items))
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\sre_parse.py", line 810, in _parse
    p = _parse_sub(source, state, sub_verbose, nested + 1)
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\sre_parse.py", line 420, in _parse_sub
    not nested and not items))
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\sre_parse.py", line 501, in _parse
    code = _escape(source, this, state)
  File "C:\Users\MTR\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\sre_parse.py", line 402, in _escape
    raise source.error("bad escape %s" % escape, len(escape))
re.error: bad escape \e at position 4

I tried setting the $EDITOR and $env:EDITOR variables, but it did not change the visible outcome.

Am I doing it wrong ? Is there a way I can use an external editor with mssql-cli ? Also, would the external editor benefit from the autocompletion capabilities of mssql-cli ?

[chrisg123]

This seems to have solved the issue for me.

diff --git a/mssqlcli/packages/special/commands.py b/mssqlcli/packages/special/commands.py
index d211242..f89eb3e 100644
--- a/mssqlcli/packages/special/commands.py
+++ b/mssqlcli/packages/special/commands.py
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ def get_editor_query(sql):
     # The reason we can't simply do .strip('\e') is that it strips characters,
     # not a substring. So it'll strip "e" in the end of the sql also!
     # Ex: "select * from style\e" -> "select * from styl".
-    pattern = re.compile(r'(^\\\e|\\\e$)')
+    pattern = re.compile(r'(^\\e|\\e$)')
     while pattern.search(sql):
         sql = pattern.sub('', sql)

Happy to submit a pull request if this is acceptable.

[ljurk]

Hey, any updates on this issue/PR? I can confirm that the changes in #479 solve the problem