diff --git a/lib/valueflow.cpp b/lib/valueflow.cpp
index 58a20689f13..72da844aa87 100644
--- a/lib/valueflow.cpp
+++ b/lib/valueflow.cpp
@@ -7157,7 +7157,10 @@ static void valueFlowContainerSize(const TokenList& tokenlist,
                 for (const ValueFlow::Value& value : values)
                     setTokenValue(tok, value, settings);
             } else if (Token::Match(tok, "%name%|;|{|}|> %var% =") && Token::Match(tok->tokAt(2)->astOperand2(), "[({]") &&
-                       (tok->tokAt(3) == tok->tokAt(2)->astOperand2() || settings.library.detectContainer(tok->tokAt(3)))) {
+                       // init list
+                       ((tok->tokAt(2) == tok->tokAt(2)->astOperand2()->astParent() && !tok->tokAt(2)->astOperand2()->astOperand2() && tok->tokAt(2)->astOperand2()->str() == "{") ||
+                        // constructor
+                        (!Token::simpleMatch(tok->tokAt(2)->astOperand2()->astOperand1(), ".") && settings.library.detectContainer(tok->tokAt(3))))) {
                 Token* containerTok = tok->next();
                 if (containerTok->exprId() == 0)
                     continue;
diff --git a/test/cfg/qt.cpp b/test/cfg/qt.cpp
index b6d0ba760f9..2c0e836f7f3 100644
--- a/test/cfg/qt.cpp
+++ b/test/cfg/qt.cpp
@@ -211,6 +211,12 @@ bool QString7(QString s, const QString& l) {
     return l.startsWith(s);
 }
 
+void QString_split(const char* name) { // #12998
+    // cppcheck-suppress valueFlowBailoutIncompleteVar // FIXME
+    QStringList qsl = QString(name).split(';', Qt::SkipEmptyParts);
+    if (qsl.isEmpty()) {}
+}
+
 namespace NTestStd // #12355
 {
     using namespace std;