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

[The Defender]

Your Workflow URL

https://connect.pabbly.com/workflow/mapping/IjU3NjcwNTZkMDYzNTA0MzU1MjZmNTUzNzUxMzQi_pc

Your Task History ID

IjU3NjUwNTY0MDYzMzA0Mzc1MjZmNTUzMjUxMzA1MTYwNTQzMjBmMzEi_pc

Consent to Access & Modify

I authorize Pabbly Support to log in to my account and make changes to the specified workflow for troubleshooting.

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
Rate your support

 

[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.