VCard: Parse Error with multiline list-type notes

[minthemiddle]

I categorize my contacts via VCard's notes field. I enter them as lists, such as:

- List1
- List2
- List3

When I enter such a VCard, it will fail to parse:

VCARD:

s = """
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
PRODID:-//Apple Inc.//Mac OS X 10.11.3//EN
N:XXX;;;
FN:XX XX
EMAIL;type=INTERNET;type=HOME;type=pref:xxx@gmail.com
TEL;type=CELL;type=VOICE;type=pref:+4915773321986
ADR;type=HOME;type=pref:;;;Berlin;Berlin;;Germany
BDAY:1986-11-17
UID:e0355606-117f-4388-bb6d-eda3a1f6449d
X-ABUID:E0355606-117F-4388-BB6D-EDA3A1F6449D:ABPerson
NOTE:- List1\n- List2 \n- List3
END:VCARD
"""

COMMAND:

from vobject import vCard, readOne
v = readOne(s)

ERROR:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ParseError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-21-61222ae13dcb> in <module>()
----> 1 v = readOne(s)

/usr/local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/vobject/base.py in readOne(stream, validate, transform, ignoreUnreadable, allowQP)
   1096     """
   1097     return next(readComponents(stream, validate, transform, ignoreUnreadable,
-> 1098                                allowQP))
   1099 
   1100 

/usr/local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/vobject/base.py in readComponents(streamOrString, validate, transform, ignoreUnreadable, allowQP)
   1040                     continue
   1041             else:
-> 1042                 vline = textLineToContentLine(line, n)
   1043             if vline.name == "VERSION":
   1044                 versionLine = vline

/usr/local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/vobject/base.py in textLineToContentLine(text, n)
    880 
    881 def textLineToContentLine(text, n=None):
--> 882     return ContentLine(*parseLine(text, n), **{'encoded':True,
    883                                                'lineNumber' : n})
    884 

/usr/local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/vobject/base.py in parseLine(line, lineNumber)
    769     match = line_re.match(line)
    770     if match is None:
--> 771         raise ParseError("Failed to parse line: {0!s}".format(line), lineNumber)
    772     # Underscores are replaced with dash to work around Lotus Notes
    773     return (match.group('name').replace('_','-'),

ParseError: At line 14: Failed to parse line: - List2 

[minthemiddle]

It's got to do with \n-, newline and dash. The regex fails. When I enter an additional whitespace in between, it works. But I think it should be possible to start a line in notes with -.

[wpercy]

This is actually happening because of how docstrings (multi-line strings) work with newlines. If I read that same vCard in from a file, it works just fine. What happens is that the newlines get interpreted before vObject has a chance to read in the lines, so your vCard looks like this:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
PRODID:-//Apple Inc.//Mac OS X 10.11.3//EN
N:XXX;;;
FN:XX XX
EMAIL;type=INTERNET;type=HOME;type=pref:xxx@gmail.com
TEL;type=CELL;type=VOICE;type=pref:+4915773321986
ADR;type=HOME;type=pref:;;;Berlin;Berlin;;Germany
BDAY:1986-11-17
UID:e0355606-117f-4388-bb6d-eda3a1f6449d
X-ABUID:E0355606-117F-4388-BB6D-EDA3A1F6449D:ABPerson
NOTE:- List1
- List2      # THIS LINE IS INVALID
- List3
END:VCARD

which is obviously invalid due to the line I pointed out.

If you want to perform the operation like you do above (using a multi-line string), you need to escape all of your newlines in your NOTE property with an extra backslash so they look like \\n.