Tasks with content starting with a number+dot pattern (e.g. `- [x] 1. foo`) are not recognized as tasks by Dataview's task parser.

Author: codeandflowCreated May 3, 2026Updated May 8, 2026
Labelsbug

What happened?

Tasks with content starting with a number+dot pattern (e.g. - [x] 1. foo) are not recognized as tasks by Dataview's task parser.

Reproduction

Create a markdown file with:

```md

  • task A
  • 1. task B (numbered prefix)
  • 2. task C (numbered prefix)
  • task D ```

Run query:

```dataview TASK FROM "" ```

```dataviewjs dv.paragraph(Found ${dv.current().file.tasks.length} tasks (expected 4)); ```

Expected: 4 tasks listed. Actual: Only 2 tasks listed (A and D). Tasks B and C are silently dropped.

Same effect on `dv.pages("").file.tasks.len.

Verified by comparing against an external Python parse the markdown spec says - [x] 1. content is a list-item-task with literal text content 1. content. Dataview seems to treat the 1. as the start of a new ordered list, dropping the task.

Versions

  • Obsidian: 1.12.7 (installer 1.6.7)
  • Dataview: 0.5.67
  • OS: Windows 11

DQL

  • task A
  • 1. task B
  • 2. task C
  • task D

```dataview TASK FROM "" ```

```dataviewjs dv.paragraph(Found ${dv.current().file.tasks.length} tasks (expected 4)); ```

JS

javascript

Dataview Version

0.5.67

Obsidian Version

1.12.7

OS

Windows

Source: blacksmithgu/obsidian-dataview