Show path separator error regardless of directory existence

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 
 ## Bugfixes
 
+- Show the "pattern contains path separator" error consistently, even when the pattern is not an existing directory, see #1873 (@bejaratommy)
+
 - Fix Windows hyperlink generation for paths with spaces. (#1872)
 
 - `--print0` combined with `--exec` will now print a `\0` between the output of each entry. Note that if there are multiple instances

src/main.rs

@@ -147,20 +147,27 @@ fn set_working_dir(opts: &Opts) -> Result<()> {
 
 /// Detect if the user accidentally supplied a path instead of a search pattern
 fn ensure_search_pattern_is_not_a_path(opts: &Opts) -> Result<()> {
-    if !opts.full_path
-        && opts.pattern.contains(std::path::MAIN_SEPARATOR)
-        && Path::new(&opts.pattern).is_dir()
-    {
-        Err(anyhow!(
-            "The search pattern '{pattern}' contains a path-separation character ('{sep}') \
-             and will not lead to any search results.\n\n\
-             If you want to search for all files inside the '{pattern}' directory, use a match-all pattern:\n\n  \
-             fd . '{pattern}'\n\n\
-             Instead, if you want your pattern to match the full file path, use:\n\n  \
-             fd --full-path '{pattern}'",
-            pattern = &opts.pattern,
-            sep = std::path::MAIN_SEPARATOR,
-        ))
+    if !opts.full_path && opts.pattern.contains(std::path::MAIN_SEPARATOR) {
+        let pattern = &opts.pattern;
+        let sep = std::path::MAIN_SEPARATOR;
+
+        if Path::new(pattern).is_dir() {
+            Err(anyhow!(
+                "The search pattern '{pattern}' contains a path-separation character ('{sep}') \
+                 and will not lead to any search results.\n\n\
+                 If you want to search for all files inside the '{pattern}' directory, use a match-all pattern:\n\n  \
+                 fd . '{pattern}'\n\n\
+                 Instead, if you want your pattern to match the full file path, use:\n\n  \
+                 fd --full-path '{pattern}'",
+            ))
+        } else {
+            Err(anyhow!(
+                "The search pattern '{pattern}' contains a path-separation character ('{sep}') \
+                 and will not lead to any search results.\n\n\
+                 If you want your pattern to match the full file path, use:\n\n  \
+                 fd --full-path '{pattern}'",
+            ))
+        }
     } else {
         Ok(())
     }

tests/tests.rs

@@ -2758,3 +2758,29 @@ fn test_ignore_contain_precedence_over_root_check() {
     let expected = "";
     te.assert_output(&["--ignore-contain=CACHEDIR.TAG", "."], expected);
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn test_path_separator_in_pattern_not_a_directory() {
+    let te = TestEnv::new(&["one"], &["one/a.txt"]);
+
+    // A pattern with a path separator that is NOT an existing directory should
+    // still produce an error, see #1873
+    te.assert_failure(&["nonexistent/path"]);
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_path_separator_in_pattern_is_a_directory() {
+    let te = TestEnv::new(&["one/two"], &["one/two/a.txt"]);
+
+    // A pattern with a path separator that IS an existing directory should
+    // also produce an error
+    te.assert_failure(&["one/two"]);
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_path_separator_in_pattern_full_path() {
+    let te = TestEnv::new(&["one"], &["one/a.txt"]);
+
+    // With --full-path, patterns with path separators should work fine
+    te.assert_output(&["--full-path", "one/a"], "one/a.txt");
+}