[JamBalaya56562]

src/cli/mod.rs carried the same rule three times: prefix an argument with TASK_ARG_ESCAPE_PREFIX
when it starts_with('-') && arg != "-", otherwise pass it through.

site	shape
escape_args_after_separator (466-476)	loop over a slice
escape_task_args, separator branch (621-629)	loop over a slice
the task-args loop (703-708)	one element

This came from review, not from me. CodeRabbit raised it on #12327 and again on #12314. Both
times it fell outside the diff — those PRs change one hunk each in this file, ~200 lines away — so I
declined and said it wanted its own PR. A finding that keeps landing on unrelated PRs is asking
for a home, and the second report is what turned up the third copy, which the first had not
mentioned.

No behaviour change is intended.

The shape

An iterator-returning helper covers the two slice sites but not the third, which applies the rule to
a single argument inside a larger while. A singular helper covers all three:

fn escape_flag_arg(arg: &str) -> String {
    if arg.starts_with('-') && arg != "-" {
        format!("{TASK_ARG_ESCAPE_PREFIX}{arg}")
    } else {
        arg.to_string()
    }
}

The separator branch then does not need it at all — it can delegate:

let mut result = escape_task_args(cmd, &args[..separator_idx]);
result.extend(escape_args_after_separator(&args[separator_idx..], 0));

One correction to the review note, which said escape_args_after_separator "cannot be reused
directly here". It can. separator_idx is found by matching "--", so for the slice beginning
there, escape_args_after_separator(.., 0) emits slice[..=0] — exactly ["--"] — and then runs
the same escape over the tail. That is what the branch built by hand, element for element.

The predicate now appears once. grep -c for it in the file returns 1.

Tests

Existing unit tests already reach all three sites, and they are in a #[cfg(test)] mod tests with
no #[cfg(unix)], so they run on Windows CI too:

• test_escape_task_args_preserves_task_separator_tail — run atask -q -- -- --help. Asserts the
  -q before the separator (the task-args loop) and both elements after it (the separator
  branch).
• test_escape_task_args_preserves_naked_task_separator_tail — the form with no run, which enters
  escape_args_after_separator directly.
• ..._splits_attached_short_option_values_before_task, ..._preserves_equals_attached_option_values
  and ..._keeps_hyphen_prefixed_attached_value_bound_to_option exercise the task-args loop.

One test is added, for the rule itself. The --is-not-a-flag exception was carried by all three
copies and asserted by none; now that it has one home, it is pinned there — including that a lone
- survives, which is what a task reading stdin depends on.

No e2e: nothing observable changes.

Verification

cargo fmt --all is clean. Nothing here has been compiled or run locally — cargo check does
not work on this machine (libz-ng-sys wants cmake, which is not installed), so for a refactor
this is thinner than I would like and CI is the first thing to type-check it. What stands in for it
is the existing coverage above, and the equivalence argument for the delegating branch, which is a
reading of args[separator_idx] == "--" rather than a run.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes

  • Improved command-line argument handling to correctly preserve standalone hyphens.
  • Ensured task flags and separator arguments are consistently escaped and restored.

• Tests

  • Added coverage for plain arguments, flag escaping, unescaping, and standalone hyphen behavior.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Repository YAML (base), Central YAML (inherited), Organization UI (inherited)

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: 019fabac-aea7-428c-b1fb-44930c2564f0

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 50f9b4b and c6411ed.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• src/cli/mod.rs

Included review availability: Your plan provides up to 10 included reviews per hour; 6 remain after this review.

---

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The CLI now uses a shared helper to escape task-side flags. Lone hyphens and ordinary arguments remain unchanged. Separator-tail handling uses the shared path. Unit tests cover escaping and unescaping behavior.

Changes

Task flag escaping

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Shared escaping and validation src/cli/mod.rs	The CLI centralizes task-side flag escaping, preserves lone hyphens, applies escaping after separators, and adds unit tests for escaping and unescaping.

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to c6411

This change centralizes an existing CLI argument-escaping rule without intended behavior changes; no actionable merge-blocking risk remains beyond normal checks and review.

Suggested reviewers: jdx, risu729

Poem

A rabbit guards the task flag gate,
Lone hyphens pass without a wait.
Flags gain a safe escape to wear,
Tests check each path with careful care.
Hop, hop—the CLI is clear!

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: centralizing the task-flag escape rule in one helper.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring check was indeterminate for this PR — some files could not be analyzed in time. Not blocking.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

---

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[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

The PR centralizes task-side flag escaping without changing its intended behavior.

• Extracts the repeated single-argument escaping predicate into escape_flag_arg.
• Reuses escape_args_after_separator when processing a task separator and its tail.
• Adds focused coverage for ordinary arguments, task flags, round-trip unescaping, and the standalone-hyphen exception.

Confidence Score: 5/5

The PR appears safe to merge.

No blocking failure remains.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
src/cli/mod.rs	Consolidates three equivalent task-argument escaping paths into one helper while preserving separator handling and adding direct unit coverage.

_{Reviews (2): Last reviewed commit: "refactor(cli): keep one copy of the task..." | Re-trigger Greptile}