Bug: Custom padding with zero-width space breaks the status bar

[luftaquila]

Describe the bug

Customizable padding feature added by #352 makes the status bar break when using zero-width space as a padding.

To Reproduce

1. Add following lines to .tmux.conf, which are from #352

set -g @dracula-left-pad '​'  # THERE IS A ZERO WIDTH SPACE HERE
set -g @dracula-right-pad '​'  # USING '' WITHOUT A PADDING CHARACTER WON'T WORK

Note that this is not a empty string. There is a U+200B ZERO WIDTH SPACE between the quotes.

2. tmux kill-server && tmux

Expected behavior

Plugins without paddings to be appeared.

Screenshots

Status bar is stacked every time it's refreshed. It seems like that the last amount of used ZWSP characters are wrapped to the next line.

System

• OS: macOS 26.1
• Tmux Version: 3.6a

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🔗 Similar Issues

Related Issues

• https://github.com/dracula/tmux/issues/366
• https://github.com/dracula/tmux/issues/351
• https://github.com/dracula/powerlevel10k/issues/14
• https://github.com/dracula/tmux/issues/364

🔗 Related PRs

dracula/tmux#352 - feat/making plugin padding customizable [merged] dracula/tmux#367 - Fix status bar rendering in tmux 3.6 [merged]

👤 Suggested Assignees

• b1ackviking
• PengfeiM
• jby
• viiniciusbonfim
• Theoreticallyhugo

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[luftaquila]

I think it would be better to make no-padding when there is a specific word, instead of using an U+200B character.

For example, following change fixes the issue:

set -g @dracula-left-pad false
set -g @dracula-right-pad false

diff --git a/scripts/dracula.sh b/scripts/dracula.sh
index 47b7a1f..e647aa5 100755
--- a/scripts/dracula.sh
+++ b/scripts/dracula.sh
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ main() {
   left_pad=$(get_tmux_option "@dracula-left-pad" " ")
   right_pad=$(get_tmux_option "@dracula-right-pad" " ")
 
+  if [ "$left_pad" = false ]; then left_pad=""; fi
+  if [ "$right_pad" = false ]; then right_pad=""; fi
+
   narrow_mode=$(get_tmux_option "@dracula-narrow-mode" false)
   if $narrow_mode; then
     IFS=' ' read -r -a plugins <<< $(get_tmux_option "@dracula-narrow-plugins" "compact-alt battery network weather")

If any maintainer agree with this idea, I'll write a PR for this. Thank you!

[Theoreticallyhugo]

I have followed your instructions on

macos 26.2
tmux 3.6a
alacritty

as well as

fedora 43
tmux 3.5a
alacritty

and i could not reproduce.

I would nevertheless be open to testing and merging your pr. it should not break any old configs after all

[luftaquila]

Thank you. I've suspected my custom plugin rainbarf and removed it, but issue was still. I'm not sure what causes the ui to break, but I believe it is better to use a typeable word instead of unicode character. I'll write a PR soon.