From d5088bc3db70a7253ff476867145c64076467136 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Daniel Pecos Martinez <me@danielpecos.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:41:09 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix: use lookbehind in highlightSpans to fix adjacent spans
 and start-of-line

The old pattern ([^`])`([^`]+?)` required consuming a preceding
character as group 1, which caused two bugs:

- Issue #2: spans at the start of a line were never matched because there
  was no preceding character to consume.
- Issue #3: adjacent spans like `foo`(`bar`) were broken because the
  pattern consumed the last char of the first span ('o' from 'foo') and
  then treated that span's closing backtick as the opening of a new span,
  capturing '(' as the highlighted content.

Replace the consuming group with a negative lookbehind (?<!['`'\\]) so
the opening backtick is matched without consuming any preceding character.
This fixes both bugs and also subsumes escape handling: a backtick
preceded by \ is no longer treated as an opening delimiter.

Closes #2
Closes #3
---
 src/__tests__/highlightSpans.test.ts | 88 +++++++++++++++++-----------
 src/mdeck/views/slideView.ts         | 16 +++--
 2 files changed, 65 insertions(+), 39 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/__tests__/highlightSpans.test.ts b/src/__tests__/highlightSpans.test.ts
index 207a8de..45823c9 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/highlightSpans.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/highlightSpans.test.ts
@@ -1,50 +1,70 @@
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
 
-// Test the highlight-spans regex behaviour directly.
-// The bug (issue #2): a backtick span at the very start of a line was not
-// recognised because the pattern required a non-backtick character before the
-// opening backtick.  The fix adds `^` as an alternative via the `m` flag.
-
+// Mirror the fixed pattern from slideView.ts highlightBlockSpans.
+// Uses a lookbehind so no preceding character is consumed, fixing:
+//   issue #2 – spans at the start of a line were never matched
+//   issue #3 – adjacent spans like `foo`(`bar`) incorrectly captured (
 function applyHighlightPattern(html: string): string {
-  // Mirrors the fixed pattern in highlightBlockSpans (highlightSpans === true).
-  const pattern = /(^|[^`])`([^`]+?)`/gm;
-  return html.replace(pattern, (m, e, c) => {
-    if (e === '\\') return m.slice(1);
-    return e + `<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">${c}</span>`;
+  const pattern = /(?<![`\\])`([^`]+?)`/g;
+  return html.replace(pattern, (_m, c) => {
+    return `<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">${c}</span>`;
   });
 }
 
-describe('highlightSpans regex (issue #2)', () => {
-  it('highlights a span preceded by a non-backtick character', () => {
-    const result = applyHighlightPattern('call `method`(arg)');
-    expect(result).toContain('<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">method</span>');
-  });
+describe('highlightSpans regex', () => {
+  describe('basic highlighting', () => {
+    it('highlights a span preceded by a non-backtick character', () => {
+      const result = applyHighlightPattern('call `method`(arg)');
+      expect(result).toContain('<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">method</span>');
+      expect(result).toContain('(arg)');
+    });
 
-  it('highlights a span at the very start of a string', () => {
-    const result = applyHighlightPattern('`highlightedMethod`(arg1, arg2)');
-    expect(result).toContain('<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">highlightedMethod</span>');
+    it('does not treat fenced code delimiters (```) as highlight spans', () => {
+      const result = applyHighlightPattern('```js\ncode\n```');
+      expect(result).not.toContain('remark-code-span-highlighted');
+    });
   });
 
-  it('highlights a span at the start of a new line', () => {
-    const html = 'normalMethod(a)\n`highlightedMethod`(b)';
-    const result = applyHighlightPattern(html);
-    expect(result).toContain('<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">highlightedMethod</span>');
-    expect(result).toContain('normalMethod(a)');
-  });
+  describe('issue #2 – span at start of line', () => {
+    it('highlights a span at the very start of a string', () => {
+      const result = applyHighlightPattern('`highlightedMethod`(arg1, arg2)');
+      expect(result).toContain('<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">highlightedMethod</span>');
+    });
 
-  it('does not double-highlight adjacent backtick spans', () => {
-    const result = applyHighlightPattern('`a` and `b`');
-    expect(result).toContain('<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">a</span>');
-    expect(result).toContain('<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">b</span>');
+    it('highlights a span at the start of a new line', () => {
+      const html = 'normalMethod(a)\n`highlightedMethod`(b)';
+      const result = applyHighlightPattern(html);
+      expect(result).toContain('<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">highlightedMethod</span>');
+      expect(result).toContain('normalMethod(a)');
+    });
   });
 
-  it('does not highlight a backtick span that is escaped', () => {
-    const result = applyHighlightPattern('\\`notHighlighted`');
-    expect(result).not.toContain('remark-code-span-highlighted');
+  describe('issue #3 – trailing parenthesis not captured', () => {
+    it('does not include ( after closing backtick in the highlighted span', () => {
+      const result = applyHighlightPattern('case `class Token`(value)');
+      expect(result).toContain('<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">class Token</span>');
+      expect(result).toMatch(/<\/span>\(value\)/);
+    });
+
+    it('correctly highlights both spans in `foo`(`bar`)', () => {
+      const result = applyHighlightPattern('`foo`(`bar`)');
+      expect(result).toContain('<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">foo</span>');
+      expect(result).toContain('<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted">bar</span>');
+      // ( must not be inside either span
+      expect(result).not.toContain('remark-code-span-highlighted">(');
+      expect(result).not.toContain('(</span>');
+    });
+
+    it('does not capture ( when it follows the closing backtick with spaces', () => {
+      const result = applyHighlightPattern('`method` (arg)');
+      expect(result).toMatch(/<\/span> \(arg\)/);
+    });
   });
 
-  it('does not treat fenced code delimiters (```) as highlight spans', () => {
-    const result = applyHighlightPattern('```js\ncode\n```');
-    expect(result).not.toContain('remark-code-span-highlighted');
+  describe('escape handling', () => {
+    it('does not highlight a backtick span preceded by a backslash', () => {
+      const result = applyHighlightPattern('\\`notHighlighted`');
+      expect(result).not.toContain('remark-code-span-highlighted');
+    });
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/mdeck/views/slideView.ts b/src/mdeck/views/slideView.ts
index a28fc34..02bb3f9 100644
--- a/src/mdeck/views/slideView.ts
+++ b/src/mdeck/views/slideView.ts
@@ -211,18 +211,24 @@ function highlightBlockLines(block: HTMLElement, lines: number[]): void {
 function highlightBlockSpans(block: HTMLElement, highlightSpans: boolean | RegExp): void {
   let pattern: RegExp;
   if (highlightSpans === true) {
-    pattern = /(^|[^`])`([^`]+?)`/gm;
+    // Use a lookbehind so the opening backtick is not consumed along with its
+    // preceding character. This fixes two bugs:
+    // - #2: spans at the start of a line were never matched (no preceding char)
+    // - #3: adjacent spans like `foo`(`bar`) incorrectly captured ( as content
+    //   because the old ([^`]) group consumed the last char of the first span,
+    //   treating its closing backtick as the opening of a new span.
+    // The lookbehind also handles escape: \` is not treated as an opening backtick.
+    pattern = /(?<![\`\\])`([^`]+?)`/g;
   } else if (highlightSpans instanceof RegExp) {
     if (!highlightSpans.global) throw new Error('highlightSpans RegExp must have /g flag');
-    pattern = new RegExp('(^|[\\s\\S])' + highlightSpans.source, (highlightSpans.flags || 'g') + 'm');
+    pattern = new RegExp('(?<![\\`\\\\])' + highlightSpans.source, highlightSpans.flags || 'g');
   } else {
     throw new Error('Illegal value for highlightSpans');
   }
   Array.from(block.childNodes).forEach((node) => {
     if (node instanceof HTMLElement) {
-      node.innerHTML = node.innerHTML.replace(pattern, (m, e, c) => {
-        if (e === '\\') return m.slice(1);
-        return e + `<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted mdeck-code-span-highlighted">${c}</span>`;
+      node.innerHTML = node.innerHTML.replace(pattern, (_m, c) => {
+        return `<span class="remark-code-span-highlighted mdeck-code-span-highlighted">${c}</span>`;
       });
     }
   });