From 75f9a329d3dc28082e7b05695394aa96e28700d4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Immanuel Haffner <haffner.immanuel@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:59:25 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix(tostring): recurse into nested inline elements inside
 bold/italic
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md_str.bold(), md_str.italic(), and md_str.bold_italic() stripped
their delimiter characters but returned the raw inner text without
further processing.  This meant nested inline constructs like links,
images, or code spans inside emphasis were never resolved.

For example, **[bold link](https://example.com)** produced the visual
string "[bold link](https://example.com)" (width 32) instead of the
correct "󰌷 bold link" (width 11), causing massive column width
miscalculations in rendered tables.

Pass the stripped inner text through md_str.tostring() so that nested
inline elements (hyperlinks, images, code spans, etc.) are properly
reduced to their visual representation.  This mirrors the established
pattern already used in the sibling module visual_text.lua, where
md_delims_star() calls visual.markdown(inner).
---
 lua/markview/renderers/markdown/tostring.lua |  7 +++--
 test/tostring_recursion.md                   | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 36 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 test/tostring_recursion.md

diff --git a/lua/markview/renderers/markdown/tostring.lua b/lua/markview/renderers/markdown/tostring.lua
index b51a6fa..fa9dece 100644
--- a/lua/markview/renderers/markdown/tostring.lua
+++ b/lua/markview/renderers/markdown/tostring.lua
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ md_str.bold = function (match)
 		removed = string.gsub(match, "^%_%_", ""):gsub("%_%_$", "");
 	end
 
-	return removed;
+	return md_str.tostring(md_str.buffer, removed, false);
 
 	---|fE
 end
@@ -192,7 +192,8 @@ md_str.bold_italic = function (match)
 		r = math.min(be and #be or 0, af and #af or 0);
 	end
 
-	return vim.fn.strpart(match, r, vim.fn.strchars(match) - (r + r));
+	local removed = vim.fn.strpart(match, r, vim.fn.strchars(match) - (r + r));
+	return md_str.tostring(md_str.buffer, removed, false);
 
 	---|fE
 end
@@ -339,7 +340,7 @@ md_str.italic = function (match)
 		removed = string.gsub(match, "^%_", ""):gsub("%_$", "");
 	end
 
-	return removed;
+	return md_str.tostring(md_str.buffer, removed, false);
 
 	---|fE
 end
diff --git a/test/tostring_recursion.md b/test/tostring_recursion.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69d521c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tostring_recursion.md
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+; Bold/italic wrapping inline elements — tostring recursion
+
+### Bold + link
+
+| Kind | Short | Long |
+|------|-------|------|
+| Bold + link | **[bold link](https://example.com)** | **[bold link with long URL](https://spec.commonmark.org/0.31.2/#emphasis-and-strong-emphasis-combined-with-links-and-images)** |
+| Italic + link | *[italic link](https://example.com)* | *[italic link with long URL](https://spec.commonmark.org/0.31.2/#emphasis-and-strong-emphasis-combined-with-links-and-images)* |
+| Bold-italic + link | ***[both](https://example.com)*** | ***[both with long URL](https://spec.commonmark.org/0.31.2/#emphasis-and-strong-emphasis-combined-with-links-and-images)*** |
+
+### Bold + image
+
+| Kind | Short | Long |
+|------|-------|------|
+| Bold + image | **![icon](https://example.com/i.svg)** | **![a]( https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvim-treesitter/playground/master/assets/screenshot.png)** |
+| Italic + image | *![icon](https://example.com/i.svg)* | *![a](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvim-treesitter/playground/master/assets/screenshot.png)* |
+
+### Bold + code
+
+| Kind | Short | Long |
+|------|-------|------|
+| Bold + code | **`short`** | **`vim.api.nvim_buf_set_extmark(buffer, ns, row, col, opts)`** |
+| Italic + code | *`short`* | *`vim.api.nvim_buf_set_extmark(buffer, ns, row, col, opts)`* |
+
+### Mixed nesting
+
+| Description | Content |
+|-------------|---------|
+| Bold wrapping link + code | **[link](https://example.com) and `code`** |
+| Plain bold (no nesting) | **just bold text** |
+| Plain italic | *just italic text* |
+| No emphasis | [link](https://example.com) then `code` |