From 520086189fc119e4e2617bb1e55a04c45e045aa0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: alliasgher <alliasgher123@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2026 03:41:30 +0500
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] errors: don't print an empty line for Exit with empty
 message

When HandleExitCoder received an ExitCoder whose Error() returned an
empty string (e.g. cli.Exit("", code)), it still called
fmt.Fprintln(ErrWriter, err) which wrote a bare newline to stderr.

Guard the print with a check on the error message so that an empty
message produces no output at all.

Fixes #2263

Signed-off-by: alliasgher <alliasgher123@gmail.com>
---
 errors.go      | 10 ++++++----
 errors_test.go | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 31 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/errors.go b/errors.go
index f365a57990..ffd6471f23 100644
--- a/errors.go
+++ b/errors.go
@@ -150,10 +150,12 @@ func HandleExitCoder(err error) {
 	}
 
 	if exitErr, ok := err.(ExitCoder); ok {
-		if _, ok := exitErr.(ErrorFormatter); ok {
-			_, _ = fmt.Fprintf(ErrWriter, "%+v\n", err)
-		} else {
-			_, _ = fmt.Fprintln(ErrWriter, err)
+		if msg := err.Error(); msg != "" {
+			if _, ok := exitErr.(ErrorFormatter); ok {
+				_, _ = fmt.Fprintf(ErrWriter, "%+v\n", err)
+			} else {
+				_, _ = fmt.Fprintln(ErrWriter, err)
+			}
 		}
 		OsExiter(exitErr.ExitCode())
 		return
diff --git a/errors_test.go b/errors_test.go
index 35aaab54d4..6a497c58f5 100644
--- a/errors_test.go
+++ b/errors_test.go
@@ -232,3 +232,28 @@ func TestErrRequiredFlags_Error(t *testing.T) {
 	expectedMsg = "Required flag \"flag1\" not set"
 	assert.Equal(t, expectedMsg, err.Error())
 }
+
+// TestHandleExitCoder_EmptyMessage is a regression test for
+// https://github.com/urfave/cli/issues/2263.
+// HandleExitCoder must not print an empty line to ErrWriter when the ExitCoder
+// message is empty (e.g. cli.Exit("", code)).
+func TestHandleExitCoder_EmptyMessage(t *testing.T) {
+	called := false
+
+	OsExiter = func(rc int) {
+		if !called {
+			called = true
+		}
+	}
+	ErrWriter = &bytes.Buffer{}
+
+	defer func() {
+		OsExiter = fakeOsExiter
+		ErrWriter = fakeErrWriter
+	}()
+
+	HandleExitCoder(Exit("", 2))
+
+	assert.True(t, called)
+	assert.Empty(t, ErrWriter.(*bytes.Buffer).String(), "expected no output for empty-message exit")
+}

From 5f284b84435ec649f76eb26397a49d6da1cdcded Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: alliasgher <alliasgher123@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:02:13 +0500
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] test: cover ErrorFormatter direct path in HandleExitCoder

Adds TestHandleExitCoder_ErrorFormatterDirect to exercise the Fprintf
branch in HandleExitCoder when an ExitCoder also implements
ErrorFormatter and is passed in directly. The existing
TestHandleExitCoder_ErrorFormatter routes through a multiError which
goes down a different branch, so the direct path was not hit by any
test (codecov patch).

Signed-off-by: alliasgher <alliasgher123@gmail.com>
---
 errors_test.go | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+)

diff --git a/errors_test.go b/errors_test.go
index 6a497c58f5..bb86ff56f0 100644
--- a/errors_test.go
+++ b/errors_test.go
@@ -257,3 +257,23 @@ func TestHandleExitCoder_EmptyMessage(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.True(t, called)
 	assert.Empty(t, ErrWriter.(*bytes.Buffer).String(), "expected no output for empty-message exit")
 }
+
+// TestHandleExitCoder_ErrorFormatterDirect verifies the ErrorFormatter branch
+// (Fprintf path) is exercised when the ExitCoder is passed to HandleExitCoder
+// directly with a non-empty message. Distinct from
+// TestHandleExitCoder_ErrorFormatter above which routes through a multiError.
+func TestHandleExitCoder_ErrorFormatterDirect(t *testing.T) {
+	called := false
+	OsExiter = func(rc int) { called = true }
+	ErrWriter = &bytes.Buffer{}
+
+	defer func() {
+		OsExiter = fakeOsExiter
+		ErrWriter = fakeErrWriter
+	}()
+
+	HandleExitCoder(&exitFormatter{code: 7})
+
+	assert.True(t, called)
+	assert.Contains(t, ErrWriter.(*bytes.Buffer).String(), "some other special")
+}