Natvis: strip address prefix from string pointer DisplayStrings"#1573
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WardenGnaw
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…ings GDB and LLDB prefix string pointer results with the pointer address when evaluating ,sub, ,su or ,sb format specifiers. This causes the address to appear inline in the display value. Add StripFormatSpecifier() and ExtractFormatSpecifier() to parse format specifiers from NatVis expressions. Add CleanUtf16StringValue() to strip the address and surrounding u"..." quotes for ,sub / ,su, and CleanAsciiStringValue() to strip the address for ,sb. Call each in FormatValue for the corresponding specifier. All new functions include unit tests.
…iStringValue
Remove StripFormatSpecifier and its tests: the method is dead code.
Format specifiers are already handled by ProcessFormatSpecifiers in
VariableInformation, which transforms them into valid C++ casts before
evaluation by GDB/LLDB.
Fix CleanAsciiStringValue to also strip the surrounding "..." quotes,
matching CleanUtf16StringValue's behaviour. VS evaluates {ptr,sb} to
bare text without quotes; leaving the GDB/LLDB-returned quotes in place
caused QByteArray to display as ""Hello World!"" instead of "Hello World!".
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WardenGnaw
approved these changes
Jun 8, 2026
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GDB and LLDB prefix string pointer results with the pointer address when evaluating ,sub, ,su or ,sb format specifiers. This causes the address to appear inline in the display value.
Add StripFormatSpecifier() and ExtractFormatSpecifier() to parse format specifiers from NatVis expressions. Add CleanUtf16StringValue() to strip the address and surrounding u"..." quotes for ,sub / ,su, and CleanAsciiStringValue() to strip the address for ,sb. Call each in FormatValue for the corresponding specifier. All new functions include unit tests.