bug: show_hidden causes an error

[kekscode]

Did you check the docs and existing issues?

• I have read the docs
• I have searched the existing issues

Neovim version (nvim -v)

NVIM v0.10.3

Operating system/version

MacOS 15.2 (24C101)

Describe the bug

The show_hidden configuration is set to true in my configuration and this worked before, but stopped working recently throwing an error message.

What is the severity of this bug?

tolerable (can work around it)

Steps To Reproduce

When using this configuration, my oil.nvim configuration does not work anymore with the most recent version (but worked before). It likely is an issue with hidden file handling or a side-effect occuring somewhere in this part of the code, but i am guessing. Here are the details:

My configuration which stopped working recently:

	{
		"stevearc/oil.nvim", -- an awesome file manager
		enabled = true,
		config = function()
			local oil = require("oil")
			require("oil").setup({
				-- Oil will take over directory buffers (e.g. `vim .` or `:e src/`)
				-- Set to false if you still want to use netrw.
				default_file_explorer = true,
				watch_for_changes = true,
				-- Buffer-local options to use for oil buffers
				buf_options = {
					buflisted = false,
					bufhidden = "hide",
				},
				columns = {
					-- "type",
					"icon",
					"permissions",
					-- { "atime",     format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M" },
					-- { "ctime",     format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M" },
					-- { "birthtime", format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M" },
					{ "mtime", format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M" },
					-- "size",
				},
				-- Window-local options to use for oil buffers
				win_options = {
					wrap = false,
					signcolumn = "no",
					cursorcolumn = false,
					foldcolumn = "0",
					spell = false,
					list = false,
					conceallevel = 3,
					concealcursor = "nvic",
					number = false,
				},
				-- Restore window options to previous values when leaving an oil buffer
				restore_win_options = true,
				-- Skip the confirmation popup for simple operations
				skip_confirm_for_simple_edits = true,
				use_default_keymaps = false,
				view_options = {
					-- Show files and directories that start with "."
					show_hidden = false,
					natural_order = false,
					sort = {
						-- sort order can be "asc" or "desc"
						-- see :help oil-columns to see which columns are sortable
						{ "type", "asc" },
						{ "name", "asc" },
					},
				},
				-- Configuration for the floating window in oil.open_float
				float = {
					-- Padding around the floating window
					padding = 2,
					max_width = 0,
					max_height = 0,
					border = "none",
					win_options = {
						winblend = 10, -- transparency
					},
				},
				-- Id is automatically added at the beginning, and name at the end
				-- See :help oil-columns
				keymaps = {
					-- Keymaps in oil buffer. Can be any value that `vim.keymap.set` accepts OR a table of keymap
					-- options with a `callback` (e.g. { callback = function() ... end, desc = "", nowait = true })
					-- Additionally, if it is a string that matches "actions.<name>",
					-- it will use the mapping at require("oil.actions").<name>
					-- Set to `false` to remove a keymap
					-- See :help oil-actions for a list of all available actions
					-- Template:
					-- [""] = { callback = "actions.", mode = "n" },

					-- get out
					["q"] = { callback = "actions.close", mode = "n" },
					["<ESC>"] = { callback = "actions.close", mode = "n" },

					-- refresh
					["<C-r>"] = { callback = "actions.refresh", mode = "n" },

					-- interact
					["<CR>"] = { callback = "actions.select", mode = "n" },
					["L"] = { callback = "actions.select", mode = "n" },

					["<BS>"] = { callback = "actions.parent", mode = "n" },
					["-"] = { callback = "actions.parent", mode = "n" },
					["H"] = { callback = "actions.parent", mode = "n" },

					-- preview
					["<C-p>"] = { callback = "actions.preview", mode = "n" },

					-- splits and tabs
					["<leader>v"] = {
						"actions.select",
						opts = { vertical = true },
						desc = "Open the entry in a vertical split",
					},
					["<leader>s"] = {
						"actions.select",
						opts = { horizontal = true },
						desc = "Open the entry in a horizontal split",
					},
					[",t"] = { "actions.select", opts = { tab = true }, desc = "Open the entry in new tab" },

					-- set things
					["`"] = { callback = "actions.cd", mode = "n" },
					["~"] = { callback = "actions.tcd", mode = "n" },

					-- open external programm
					["go"] = "actions.open_external",
					["gx"] = "actions.open_external",

					-- more stuff
					["g."] = "actions.toggle_hidden",
					["gs"] = "actions.change_sort",
					["g?"] = { callback = "actions.show_help", mode = "n" },
				},
			})
		end,
	},

I get this error message:

Error executing vim.schedule lua callback: ...ocal/share/nvim/lazy/oil.nvim/lua/oil/adapters/files.lua:96: attempt to index local 'meta' (a nil value)
stack traceback:
	...ocal/share/nvim/lazy/oil.nvim/lua/oil/adapters/files.lua:96: in function 'render'
	.../user/.local/share/nvim/lazy/oil.nvim/lua/oil/columns.lua:72: in function 'render_col'
	.../user/.local/share/nvim/lazy/oil.nvim/lua/oil/view.lua:746: in function 'format_entry_cols'
	.../user/.local/share/nvim/lazy/oil.nvim/lua/oil/view.lua:647: in function 'render_buffer'
	.../user/.local/share/nvim/lazy/oil.nvim/lua/oil/view.lua:890: in function ''
	vim/_editor.lua: in function <vim/_editor.lua:0>

I did some digging in the code and based on that some try-and-error config changes and this works:

Using this configuration diff works:

                                view_options = {
                                        -- Show files and directories that start with "."
-                                       show_hidden = false,
+                                       show_hidden = true,
                                        natural_order = false,
                                        sort = {
                                                -- sort order can be "asc" or "desc"

Is this a bug or a side effect of my custom configuration (or both?)

Expected Behavior

I expected my config to keep working with recent releases. I didn't catch a configuration options deprecation in the docs, but I may overlook something?

Directory structure

./init.lua/lua/plugins/init.lua
./init.lua/lua/plugins/config/init.lua [...]

Repro

-- save as repro.lua
-- run with nvim -u repro.lua
-- DO NOT change the paths
local root = vim.fn.fnamemodify("./.repro", ":p")

-- set stdpaths to use .repro
for _, name in ipairs({ "config", "data", "state", "runtime", "cache" }) do
	vim.env[("XDG_%s_HOME"):format(name:upper())] = root .. "/" .. name
end

-- bootstrap lazy
local lazypath = root .. "/plugins/lazy.nvim"
if not vim.loop.fs_stat(lazypath) then
	vim.fn.system({
		"git",
		"clone",
		"--filter=blob:none",
		"--single-branch",
		"https://github.com/folke/lazy.nvim.git",
		lazypath,
	})
end
vim.opt.runtimepath:prepend(lazypath)

-- install plugins
local plugins = {
	"folke/tokyonight.nvim",
	{
		"stevearc/oil.nvim",
		config = function()
			require("oil").setup({
				-- Oil will take over directory buffers (e.g. `vim .` or `:e src/`)
				-- Set to false if you still want to use netrw.
				default_file_explorer = true,
				watch_for_changes = true,
				-- Buffer-local options to use for oil buffers
				buf_options = {
					buflisted = false,
					bufhidden = "hide",
				},
				columns = {
					-- "type",
					"icon",
					"permissions",
					-- { "atime",     format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M" },
					-- { "ctime",     format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M" },
					-- { "birthtime", format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M" },
					{ "mtime", format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M" },
					-- "size",
				},
				-- Window-local options to use for oil buffers
				win_options = {
					wrap = false,
					signcolumn = "no",
					cursorcolumn = false,
					foldcolumn = "0",
					spell = false,
					list = false,
					conceallevel = 3,
					concealcursor = "nvic",
					number = false,
				},
				-- Restore window options to previous values when leaving an oil buffer
				restore_win_options = true,
				-- Skip the confirmation popup for simple operations
				skip_confirm_for_simple_edits = true,
				use_default_keymaps = false,
				view_options = {
					-- Show files and directories that start with "."
					show_hidden = true,
					natural_order = false,
					sort = {
						-- sort order can be "asc" or "desc"
						-- see :help oil-columns to see which columns are sortable
						{ "type", "asc" },
						{ "name", "asc" },
					},
				},
				-- Configuration for the floating window in oil.open_float
				float = {
					-- Padding around the floating window
					padding = 2,
					max_width = 0,
					max_height = 0,
					border = "none",
					win_options = {
						winblend = 10, -- transparency
					},
				},
				-- Id is automatically added at the beginning, and name at the end
				-- See :help oil-columns
				keymaps = {
					-- Keymaps in oil buffer. Can be any value that `vim.keymap.set` accepts OR a table of keymap
					-- options with a `callback` (e.g. { callback = function() ... end, desc = "", nowait = true })
					-- Additionally, if it is a string that matches "actions.<name>",
					-- it will use the mapping at require("oil.actions").<name>
					-- Set to `false` to remove a keymap
					-- See :help oil-actions for a list of all available actions
					-- Template:
					-- [""] = { callback = "actions.", mode = "n" },

					-- get out
					["q"] = { callback = "actions.close", mode = "n" },
					["<ESC>"] = { callback = "actions.close", mode = "n" },

					-- refresh
					["<C-r>"] = { callback = "actions.refresh", mode = "n" },

					-- interact
					["<CR>"] = { callback = "actions.select", mode = "n" },
					["L"] = { callback = "actions.select", mode = "n" },

					["<BS>"] = { callback = "actions.parent", mode = "n" },
					["-"] = { callback = "actions.parent", mode = "n" },
					["H"] = { callback = "actions.parent", mode = "n" },

					-- preview
					["<C-p>"] = { callback = "actions.preview", mode = "n" },

					-- splits and tabs
					["<leader>v"] = {
						"actions.select",
						opts = { vertical = true },
						desc = "Open the entry in a vertical split",
					},
					["<leader>s"] = {
						"actions.select",
						opts = { horizontal = true },
						desc = "Open the entry in a horizontal split",
					},
					[",t"] = { "actions.select", opts = { tab = true }, desc = "Open the entry in new tab" },

					-- set things
					["`"] = { callback = "actions.cd", mode = "n" },
					["~"] = { callback = "actions.tcd", mode = "n" },

					-- open external programm
					["go"] = "actions.open_external",
					["gx"] = "actions.open_external",

					-- more stuff
					["g."] = "actions.toggle_hidden",
					["gs"] = "actions.change_sort",
					["g?"] = { callback = "actions.show_help", mode = "n" },
				},
			})
		end,
	},
	-- add any other plugins here
}
require("lazy").setup(plugins, {
	root = root .. "/plugins",
})

vim.cmd.colorscheme("tokyonight")
-- add anything else here

Did you check the bug with a clean config?

• I have confirmed that the bug reproduces with nvim -u repro.lua using the repro.lua file above.

[JohnWilliston]

I have this same issue. Thanks for posting the workaround. I look forward to a fix.

[stevearc]

I believe I've fixed it, but I was unable to reproduce the issue on my local machine. Can you confirm that the fix worked?

[kmoschcau]

That seems to have fixed the issue for me at least.

[JohnWilliston]

Can confirm fixed for me too. Thanks!