Retain newlines in chat template when continue_final_message=True

src/transformers/tokenization_utils_base.py

@@ -1690,8 +1690,12 @@ def apply_chat_template(
                 final_message = chat[-1]["content"]
                 if isinstance(final_message, (list, tuple)):
                     final_message = final_message[-1]["text"]
-                final_message = final_message.strip()
-                rendered_chat = rendered_chat[: rendered_chat.rindex(final_message) + len(final_message)].rstrip()
+                try:
+                    rendered_chat = rendered_chat[: rendered_chat.rindex(final_message) + len(final_message)]
+                except:  # noqa: E722
+                    # Some chat templates like Llama-3.1 trim messages before rendering, so we must do the same here.
+                    final_message = final_message.strip()
+                    rendered_chat = rendered_chat[: rendered_chat.rindex(final_message) + len(final_message)]
             rendered.append(rendered_chat)
 
         if not is_batched:

tests/test_tokenization_common.py

@@ -1461,6 +1461,38 @@ def test_continue_final_message(self):
                     "<|im_start|>system\nsystem message<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>user\nuser message<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>assistant\nassistant message",
                 )
 
+    @require_jinja
+    def test_continue_final_message_with_trim(self):
+        """Regression test for chat templates with trimming: https://github.com/huggingface/transformers/pull/34214"""
+
+        dummy_template = """
+        {%- for message in messages %}
+            {{- "<|im_start|>" + message['role'] + "\n" + message['content'] | trim + "<|im_end|>" + "\n"}}
+        {%- endfor %}"""
+        dummy_conversation = [
+            {"role": "system", "content": "system message"},
+            {"role": "user", "content": "user message"},
+            {"role": "assistant", "content": "assistant message "},  # Note the trailing whitespace
+        ]
+        tokenizers = self.get_tokenizers()
+        for tokenizer in tokenizers:
+            with self.subTest(f"{tokenizer.__class__.__name__}"):
+                output = tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
+                    dummy_conversation, chat_template=dummy_template, tokenize=False, continue_final_message=False
+                )
+                self.assertEqual(
+                    output,
+                    "<|im_start|>system\nsystem message<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>user\nuser message<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>assistant\nassistant message<|im_end|>\n",
+                )
+                prefill_output = tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
+                    dummy_conversation, chat_template=dummy_template, tokenize=False, continue_final_message=True
+                )
+                # Assert that the final message is unterminated
+                self.assertEqual(
+                    prefill_output,
+                    "<|im_start|>system\nsystem message<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>user\nuser message<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>assistant\nassistant message",
+                )
+
     @require_jinja
     def test_chat_template_dict(self):
         dummy_template_1 = "{{'a'}}"