Don't include HTML content in title search index

CHANGES.rst

@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ Incompatible changes
   The :confval:`autodoc_use_legacy_class_based` option has been added to
   use the legacy (pre-9.0) implementation of autodoc.
   Patches by Adam Turner.
+* #13355: Don't include escaped title content in the search index.
+  Patch by Will Lachance.
 
 Deprecated
 ----------

sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py

@@ -668,8 +668,9 @@ def write_doc(self, docname: str, doctree: nodes.document) -> None:
     def write_doc_serialized(self, docname: str, doctree: nodes.document) -> None:
         self.imgpath = relative_uri(self.get_target_uri(docname), self.imagedir)
         self.post_process_images(doctree)
+        # get title as plain text
         title_node = self.env.longtitles.get(docname)
-        title = self.render_partial(title_node)['title'] if title_node else ''
+        title = title_node.astext() if title_node else ''
         self.index_page(docname, doctree, title)
 
     def finish(self) -> None:

sphinx/themes/basic/static/searchtools.js

@@ -59,6 +59,15 @@ const _removeChildren = (element) => {
 const _escapeRegExp = (string) =>
   string.replace(/[.*+\-?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, "\\$&"); // $& means the whole matched string
 
+const _escapeHTML = (text) => {
+  return text
+    .replaceAll("&", "&")
+    .replaceAll("<", "&lt;")
+    .replaceAll(">", "&gt;")
+    .replaceAll('"', "&quot;")
+    .replaceAll("'", "&apos;");
+};
+
 const _displayItem = (item, searchTerms, highlightTerms) => {
   const docBuilder = DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS.BUILDER;
   const docFileSuffix = DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS.FILE_SUFFIX;
@@ -91,10 +100,10 @@ const _displayItem = (item, searchTerms, highlightTerms) => {
   let linkEl = listItem.appendChild(document.createElement("a"));
   linkEl.href = linkUrl + anchor;
   linkEl.dataset.score = score;
-  linkEl.innerHTML = title;
+  linkEl.innerHTML = _escapeHTML(title);
   if (descr) {
     listItem.appendChild(document.createElement("span")).innerHTML =
-      " (" + descr + ")";
+      ` (${_escapeHTML(descr)})`;
     // highlight search terms in the description
     if (SPHINX_HIGHLIGHT_ENABLED)
       // SPHINX_HIGHLIGHT_ENABLED is set in sphinx_highlight.js

tests/js/searchtools.spec.js

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ describe("Basic html theme search", function () {
       // prettier-ignore
       hits = [[
         "index",
-        "<no title>",
+        "<no title>",
         "",
         null,
         5,

tests/roots/test-search/escapedtitle.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+`escaped` title with < and > in it
+==================================
+
+this document has escaped content in the title but also the characters < and > in it

tests/test_search.py

@@ -154,8 +154,17 @@ def test_term_in_heading_and_section(app: SphinxTestApp) -> None:
     # if search term is in the title of one doc and in the text of another
     # both documents should be a hit in the search index as a title,
     # respectively text hit
-    assert '"textinhead":2' in searchindex
-    assert '"textinhead":0' in searchindex
+    assert '"textinhead":3' in searchindex
+    assert '"textinhead":1' in searchindex
+
+
+@pytest.mark.sphinx('html', testroot='search')
+def test_escaped_title(app: SphinxTestApp) -> None:
+    app.build(force_all=True)
+    searchindex = load_searchindex(app.outdir / 'searchindex.js')
+    print(searchindex)
+    assert 'escapedtitle' in searchindex['docnames']
+    assert 'escaped title with < and > in it' in searchindex['titles']
 
 
 @pytest.mark.sphinx('html', testroot='search')
@@ -388,15 +397,15 @@ def test_search_index_gen_zh(app: SphinxTestApp) -> None:
 def test_nosearch(app: SphinxTestApp) -> None:
     app.build()
     index = load_searchindex(app.outdir / 'searchindex.js')
-    assert index['docnames'] == ['index', 'nosearch', 'tocitem']
+    assert index['docnames'] == ['escapedtitle', 'index', 'nosearch', 'tocitem']
     # latex is in 'nosearch.rst', and nowhere else
     assert 'latex' not in index['terms']
     # cat is in 'index.rst' but is marked with the 'no-search' class
     assert 'cat' not in index['terms']
     # bat is indexed from 'index.rst' and 'tocitem.rst' (document IDs 0, 2), and
     # not from 'nosearch.rst' (document ID 1)
     assert 'bat' in index['terms']
-    assert index['terms']['bat'] == [0, 2]
+    assert index['terms']['bat'] == [1, 3]
 
 
 @pytest.mark.sphinx(
@@ -408,7 +417,7 @@ def test_nosearch(app: SphinxTestApp) -> None:
 def test_parallel(app: SphinxTestApp) -> None:
     app.build()
     index = load_searchindex(app.outdir / 'searchindex.js')
-    assert index['docnames'] == ['index', 'nosearch', 'tocitem']
+    assert index['docnames'] == ['escapedtitle', 'index', 'nosearch', 'tocitem']
 
 
 @pytest.mark.sphinx('html', testroot='search')