From b6c28eb7b37daea54afe440f58dd7f78da3c7aa4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Barrett Ruth <br.barrettruth@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2026 14:25:22 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] feat(buffer): add configurable `eol_format` for EOL virtual
 text
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Problem: EOL virtual text order (category → recurrence → due) and the
double-space separator are hardcoded in `apply_extmarks()`. Users cannot
reorder, omit, or restyle metadata fields.

Solution: Add `eol_format` config field (default `'%c  %r  %d'`) with
`%c`, `%r`, `%d` specifiers. `parse_eol_format()` tokenizes the format
string; `build_eol_virt()` resolves specifiers against `LineMeta` and
collapses literals around absent fields.
---
 doc/pending.txt        |  26 +++++++++++
 lua/pending/buffer.lua | 103 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------
 lua/pending/config.lua |   2 +
 3 files changed, 116 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/pending.txt b/doc/pending.txt
index 2883664..11c3973 100644
--- a/doc/pending.txt
+++ b/doc/pending.txt
@@ -648,6 +648,32 @@ Fields: ~
                          virtual text in the buffer. Examples: `'%Y-%m-%d'`
                          for ISO dates, `'%d %b'` for day-first.
 
+    {eol_format}         (string, default: '%c  %r  %d')
+                         Format string controlling the order, content, and
+                         separators of end-of-line virtual text on task lines.
+                         Three specifiers are available:
+
+                           `%c`  category icon + name (`PendingHeader`)
+                           `%r`  recurrence icon + pattern (`PendingRecur`)
+                           `%d`  due icon + date (`PendingDue` / `PendingOverdue`)
+
+                         Literal text between specifiers is rendered with the
+                         `Normal` highlight group and acts as a separator.
+                         When a specifier's data is absent (e.g. `%d` on a
+                         task with no due date), the specifier and any
+                         surrounding literal text up to the next specifier
+                         are omitted — missing fields never leave gaps.
+
+                         `%c` only renders in priority view (where
+                         `show_category` is true). In category view it is
+                         always omitted regardless of the format string.
+
+                         Examples: >lua
+                             vim.g.pending = { eol_format = '%d  %r' }
+                             vim.g.pending = { eol_format = '%d | %r' }
+                             vim.g.pending = { eol_format = '%c  %d  %r' }
+<
+
     {input_date_formats} (string[], default: {})         *pending-input-formats*
                          List of strftime-like format strings tried in order
                          when parsing a `due:` token that does not match the
diff --git a/lua/pending/buffer.lua b/lua/pending/buffer.lua
index c3e666f..34ce3b3 100644
--- a/lua/pending/buffer.lua
+++ b/lua/pending/buffer.lua
@@ -352,30 +352,103 @@ function M.get_fold()
   end
 end
 
+---@class pending.EolSegment
+---@field type 'specifier'|'literal'
+---@field key? 'c'|'r'|'d'
+---@field text? string
+
+---@param fmt string
+---@return pending.EolSegment[]
+local function parse_eol_format(fmt)
+  local segments = {}
+  local pos = 1
+  local len = #fmt
+  while pos <= len do
+    if fmt:sub(pos, pos) == '%' and pos + 1 <= len then
+      local key = fmt:sub(pos + 1, pos + 1)
+      if key == 'c' or key == 'r' or key == 'd' then
+        table.insert(segments, { type = 'specifier', key = key })
+        pos = pos + 2
+      else
+        table.insert(segments, { type = 'literal', text = '%' .. key })
+        pos = pos + 2
+      end
+    else
+      local next_pct = fmt:find('%%', pos + 1)
+      local chunk = next_pct and fmt:sub(pos, next_pct - 1) or fmt:sub(pos)
+      table.insert(segments, { type = 'literal', text = chunk })
+      pos = pos + #chunk
+    end
+  end
+  return segments
+end
+
+---@param segments pending.EolSegment[]
+---@param m pending.LineMeta
+---@param icons pending.Icons
+---@return string[][]
+local function build_eol_virt(segments, m, icons)
+  local due_hl = m.overdue and 'PendingOverdue' or 'PendingDue'
+  local resolved = {}
+  for i, seg in ipairs(segments) do
+    if seg.type == 'specifier' then
+      local text, hl
+      if seg.key == 'c' and m.show_category and m.category then
+        text = icons.category .. ' ' .. m.category
+        hl = 'PendingHeader'
+      elseif seg.key == 'r' and m.recur then
+        text = icons.recur .. ' ' .. m.recur
+        hl = 'PendingRecur'
+      elseif seg.key == 'd' and m.due then
+        text = icons.due .. ' ' .. m.due
+        hl = due_hl
+      end
+      resolved[i] = text and { text = text, hl = hl, present = true }
+        or { present = false }
+    else
+      resolved[i] = { text = seg.text, hl = 'Normal', literal = true }
+    end
+  end
+
+  local virt_parts = {}
+  for i, r in ipairs(resolved) do
+    if r.literal then
+      local prev_present, next_present = false, false
+      for j = i - 1, 1, -1 do
+        if not resolved[j].literal then
+          prev_present = resolved[j].present
+          break
+        end
+      end
+      for j = i + 1, #resolved do
+        if not resolved[j].literal then
+          next_present = resolved[j].present
+          break
+        end
+      end
+      if prev_present and next_present then
+        table.insert(virt_parts, { r.text, r.hl })
+      end
+    elseif r.present then
+      table.insert(virt_parts, { r.text, r.hl })
+    end
+  end
+  return virt_parts
+end
+
 ---@param bufnr integer
 ---@param line_meta pending.LineMeta[]
 local function apply_extmarks(bufnr, line_meta)
-  local icons = config.get().icons
+  local cfg = config.get()
+  local icons = cfg.icons
+  local eol_segments = parse_eol_format(cfg.eol_format or '%c  %r  %d')
   vim.api.nvim_buf_clear_namespace(bufnr, ns_eol, 0, -1)
   vim.api.nvim_buf_clear_namespace(bufnr, ns_inline, 0, -1)
   for i, m in ipairs(line_meta) do
     local row = i - 1
     if m.type == 'task' then
-      local due_hl = m.overdue and 'PendingOverdue' or 'PendingDue'
-      local virt_parts = {}
-      if m.show_category and m.category then
-        table.insert(virt_parts, { icons.category .. ' ' .. m.category, 'PendingHeader' })
-      end
-      if m.recur then
-        table.insert(virt_parts, { icons.recur .. ' ' .. m.recur, 'PendingRecur' })
-      end
-      if m.due then
-        table.insert(virt_parts, { icons.due .. ' ' .. m.due, due_hl })
-      end
+      local virt_parts = build_eol_virt(eol_segments, m, icons)
       if #virt_parts > 0 then
-        for p = 1, #virt_parts - 1 do
-          virt_parts[p][1] = virt_parts[p][1] .. '  '
-        end
         vim.api.nvim_buf_set_extmark(bufnr, ns_eol, row, 0, {
           virt_text = virt_parts,
           virt_text_pos = 'eol',
diff --git a/lua/pending/config.lua b/lua/pending/config.lua
index d926037..b7a42ad 100644
--- a/lua/pending/config.lua
+++ b/lua/pending/config.lua
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@
 ---@field keymaps pending.Keymaps
 ---@field folding? boolean|pending.FoldingConfig
 ---@field sync? pending.SyncConfig
+---@field eol_format? string
 ---@field icons pending.Icons
 
 ---@class pending.config
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ local defaults = {
   date_syntax = 'due',
   recur_syntax = 'rec',
   someday_date = '9999-12-30',
+  eol_format = '%c  %r  %d',
   folding = true,
   category_order = {},
   keymaps = {