Possible bug/regression in Pabbly Text Parser when extracting between HTML comment markers (<!-- Start ... --> / <!-- End ... -->)

[The Defender]

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Hi Pabbly Support Team,
I think I’ve found a possible bug (or recent behavior change) in Pabbly Connect → Text Formatter → Text Parser.

What I’m trying to do​

I’m parsing a long “entry text” that contains clearly defined section markers like:

• <!-- Start (SEO Title) -->
• <!-- End (SEO Title) -->

I use Text Parser to extract only the content between those markers (example section: SEO Title).

Text Parser setup (as shown in the video)​

In the Text Parser step:

• Text match: after → <!-- Start (SEO Title) -->
• Text match: before → <!-- End (SEO Title) -->
• Input text is mapped from the previous step (the long entry text that contains these markers)

Expected result​

Text Parser should return only the text between the Start/End markers (the SEO Title value).

Actual result​

This recently started behaving differently: the parsing no longer returns the expected value consistently. It appears the “before/end marker” match is not being applied correctly (failed match results includes all the text or content beyond the expected end marker, depending on the run).

This is how I noticed the issue: the same workflow/settings were working before, and the change happened recently without me changing the markers.

Steps to reproduce (high level)​

1. Trigger any workflow step that provides a long text containing:
   • <!-- Start (SEO Title) -->
   • SEO title line/value
   • <!-- End (SEO Title) -->
2. Add Text Formatter → Text Parser
3. Set:
   • Text match: after = <!-- Start (SEO Title) -->
   • Text match: before = <!-- End (SEO Title) -->
4. Run the step and review the output

If you review my history, my erroneous outputs are easily found by looking for SEO description, Article Body, etc.

Video proof / demo​

I’m including a short screen recording showing:

• the exact Text Parser configuration
• the input text containing the markers
• the output that demonstrates the issue

Video URL:

Request​

Can you please confirm whether:

1. there was a recent change to Text Parser behavior around parsing strings like <!-- ... -->, and/or
2. this is a known bug or regression, and/or
3. there’s a recommended workaround (escape characters, use Advanced mode/regex, different delimiter format, etc.)?

Thanks in advance!


Video file:

 

[ArshilAhmad]

Hi @The Defender,

Just to confirm, you want the Text Parser to output an empty value when there is no text between the text matches. Is that correct?

Thanks & Regards,
Arshil Ahmad
Customer Support Associate
Pabbly.com
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[The Defender]

Hi Arshil,

From my understanding of the documentation, an empty result should be the default when no text is matched for parsing.
- Yes, I'd like an empty value when no text found.

BTW: Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[ArshilAhmad]

You can submit a request to change the Text Parser’s behavior so that it returns an empty value when no data is extracted between the two values. Our development team will look into your request and if possible make the desired changes to Text Parser.

Connect: Core Feature Request | Pabbly

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Thanks & Regards,
Arshil Ahmad
Customer Support Associate
Pabbly.com
Rate your support