[Due for payment 2026-06-12] [$250] Expense - Colon symbol category cannot be selected as category

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Version Number: 9.3.78-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #85448
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdsdjoijdoisnjodis@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.2 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace chat.
3. Click + > Create expense > Manual.
4. Enter amount > Next.
5. On confirm page, click Category.
6. Select any category.
7. Click Category.
8. Click + button.
9. Enter : and save it.
   → Category is cleared after selecting :
10. Open Category field.
    → : category is missing.
11. Click + button.
12. Enter : and save it.
    → It shows that the category exists but it is missing in the list.

Expected Result:

In Step 9, after entering colon symbol, the colon symbol will be the category.

Actual Result:

In Step 9, after entering colon symbol, the category is cleared.
In Step 10, the added colon symbol category is missing in category list.
In Step 12, tt shows that the colon symbol category exists but it is missing in the list.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome Safari

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7158349_1779229159073.1.mp4

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Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Svetlana Lazutkina
Bug ID: 7158349

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• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022057157946292784839
• Upwork Job ID: 2057157946292784839
• Last Price Increase: 2026-05-20
• Automatic offers:
• ijmalik | Contributor | 111531827

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @mallenexpensify

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[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #85448

[melvin-bot]

💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source

[github-actions]

👋 Friendly reminder that deploy blockers are time-sensitive ⏱ issues! Check out the open `StagingDeployCash` deploy checklist to see the list of PRs included in this release, then work quickly to do one of the following:

1. Identify the pull request that introduced this issue and revert it.
2. Find someone who can quickly fix the issue.
3. Fix the issue yourself.

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

The new processCategoryNameSegments function (introduced in PR #85448) splits category names on : and filters out empty segments. When the category name is just ":", ":".split(":") produces ["", ""] — both empty strings are filtered out, returning an empty array [].

This empty array causes three cascading failures:

1. Category disappears from the list — getCategoryOptionTree iterates an empty array, so ":" is never added to the option tree.
2. Selected category appears cleared — getDecodedLeafCategoryName returns "" for ":", so CategoryField displays a blank title.
3. sortCategories drops the category — lodashSet(hierarchy, [], value) with an empty path is a no-op, silently losing the entry.

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

In processCategoryNameSegments (src/libs/CategoryUtils.ts:163), add an early return when the result array is empty but the original category name is non-empty. If all segments are empty after filtering (meaning the name consists entirely of colons/whitespace), return the original trimmed name as a single-element array instead of []. This preserves the category as a valid leaf node.

What alternative solutions did you explore?

• Validation at category creation time to prevent colon-only names — rejected because the backend already accepts these names, and existing data would still be broken.
• Reverting PR Resolved issue_Category - Parent category is disabled when selected #85448 — would fix this regression but re-introduce the original bug that PR solved.

Investigation details

Data flow:

1. User creates category ":" → backend stores it
2. sortCategories → processCategoryNameSegments(":") → [] → lodashSet(hierarchy, [], ...) is a no-op → category lost
3. getCategoryOptionTree → same empty array → loop never runs → category invisible in picker
4. getDecodedLeafCategoryName(":") → [] → undefined ?? "" → CategoryField shows blank title
5. User tries to re-create ":" → backend says it exists, but UI can't display it

Affected code paths:

• src/libs/CategoryUtils.ts:163-185 — processCategoryNameSegments
• src/libs/CategoryUtils.ts:187-191 — getDecodedLeafCategoryName
• src/libs/CategoryOptionListUtils.ts:36-37 — getCategoryOptionTree
• src/components/MoneyRequestConfirmationList/sections/CategoryField.tsx:53 — display

Possibly related: #82068 (multi-level categories with colons display issues)

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team: Reply with @MelvinBot implement this to create a draft PR, @MelvinBot <your feedback> to refine this analysis, or explain why you are rejecting Melvin's proposal.