From ac2889c296ebbcf923be812403f37ee0da75a70b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mike Farah <mikefarah@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2025 14:22:50 +1100
Subject: [PATCH] Fixed scalar encoding for HCL

---
 pkg/yqlib/encoder_hcl.go | 5 ++++-
 pkg/yqlib/hcl_test.go    | 8 ++++++++
 2 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/encoder_hcl.go b/pkg/yqlib/encoder_hcl.go
index af8315f7..2ba34e06 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/encoder_hcl.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/encoder_hcl.go
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ func (he *hclEncoder) PrintLeadingContent(_ io.Writer, _ string) error {
 
 func (he *hclEncoder) Encode(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode) error {
 	log.Debugf("I need to encode %v", NodeToString(node))
+	if node.Kind == ScalarNode {
+		return writeString(writer, node.Value+"\n")
+	}
 
 	f := hclwrite.NewEmptyFile()
 	body := f.Body()
@@ -490,7 +493,7 @@ func (he *hclEncoder) encodeBlockIfMapping(body *hclwrite.Body, key string, valu
 // encodeNode encodes a CandidateNode directly to HCL, preserving style information
 func (he *hclEncoder) encodeNode(body *hclwrite.Body, node *CandidateNode) error {
 	if node.Kind != MappingNode {
-		return fmt.Errorf("HCL encoder expects a mapping at the root level")
+		return fmt.Errorf("HCL encoder expects a mapping at the root level, got %v", kindToString(node.Kind))
 	}
 
 	for i := 0; i < len(node.Content); i += 2 {
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/hcl_test.go b/pkg/yqlib/hcl_test.go
index 963067ea..05d314de 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/hcl_test.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/hcl_test.go
@@ -325,6 +325,14 @@ var hclFormatScenarios = []formatScenario{
 		expected:     "# Configuration\nport = 8080\n",
 		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
 	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip:  extraction",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        simpleSample,
+		expression:   ".shouty_message",
+		expected:     "upper(message)\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
 	{
 		description:  "Roundtrip: With templates, functions and arithmetic",
 		input:        simpleSample,