From 1cb3b797e3dff9b6c9ffc454472b8ccff7c49e5a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Yarchik <spoko.dev@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2026 00:15:20 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix: preserve scalar keys ending in "[]" across
 stringify/parse

---
 lib/ini.js  | 6 ++++--
 test/bar.js | 1 +
 2 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/ini.js b/lib/ini.js
index beb390d..19c338d 100644
--- a/lib/ini.js
+++ b/lib/ini.js
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ const encode = (obj, opt = {}) => {
     } else if (val && typeof val === 'object') {
       children.push(k)
     } else {
-      out += safe(k).padEnd(padToChars, ' ') + separator + safe(val) + eol
+      const safeKey = opt.bracketedArray && k.endsWith('[]') ? JSON.stringify(k) : safe(k)
+      out += safeKey.padEnd(padToChars, ' ') + separator + safe(val) + eol
     }
   }
 
@@ -135,7 +136,8 @@ const decode = (str, opt = {}) => {
     const keyRaw = unsafe(match[2])
     let isArray
     if (opt.bracketedArray) {
-      isArray = keyRaw.length > 2 && keyRaw.slice(-2) === '[]'
+      const rawKey = match[2].trim()
+      isArray = !isQuoted(rawKey) && rawKey.length > 2 && rawKey.slice(-2) === '[]'
     } else {
       duplicates[keyRaw] = (duplicates?.[keyRaw] || 0) + 1
       isArray = duplicates[keyRaw] > 1
diff --git a/test/bar.js b/test/bar.js
index 8f7eb23..babd6b2 100644
--- a/test/bar.js
+++ b/test/bar.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ var data = {
   string: { drink: 'white russian' },
   boolean: { isTrue: true },
   'nested boolean': { theDude: { abides: true, rugCount: 1 } },
+  'key ending in []': { 'foo[]': 'bar' },
 }
 
 test('parse(stringify(x)) is same as x', function (t) {