I think you mean if the link IS internal then you have an extra space

I agree with the first part of the change as that fixes the bug but the second part looks like its just a different way of writing the same code and to me at least it looks harder to read. - maybe I am missing something

The use of sprintf actually makes it far easier to read (to developers),

That's a bold statement which I wouldn't sign ?
I find it harder to read as I have to first look what you're passing in and then back to see where you're passing it in. While it currently is just a simple concatenation of a string which anyone can read as it is.

But one question, why don't you use %1$s and %2$s? This way you wouldn't have to specify the htmlspecialchars($value) a second time, you could just reuse the first one.

with its use, this bug would never have been introduced!

I don't see why this bug couldn't be introduced when you use sprintf. The exact same error could have been done there as well (having a space in the sprintf "format").

Funnily not one person, including you, complained about its exact same use in #16135

I shrugged it off as personal flavor, not worth discussing.
Two differences:

• You didn't make that statement there that it is far easier to read and less error prone (which I don't agree but as said, personal flavor)
• You don't repeat an argument there, hence my serious question why you're not using %1$s here so you don't have to repeat the htmlspecialchars($value).

I have tested this item ✅ successfully on ca1c2d7

@PhilETaylor how to get Attributes not used in "Fields - URL"?

A blank $attributes is defined here https://github.com/PhilETaylor/joomla-cms/blob/ca1c2d79b20858faaf1c3d9e6ef12d25b1d48378/plugins/fields/url/tmpl/url.php#L18

A url to a page on your own site is.an internal link and will not have the extra attributes that a link to someone else's site has

I have tested this item ✅ successfully on ca1c2d7

RTC after two successful tests.