Hi Todd,
This applescript seems to do what you want :
*tell* *application* "BBEdit"
*try*
*tell* *first* *document* *of* *front* *window*
*set* vSelectionEnd *to* (characterOffset *of* *its* *window's* selection)
- 1
*set* vRegex *to* "\\\\[A-Za-z0-9_
\\s]*(?:\\s+\"[^\"]*\")?\\s*(\\[(?:[^\\[\\]]+|(?1))*\\])(?:(\\s*=\\s*)(?P<function_name>[a-zA-Z0-9_!?]+))?"
*set* vOptions *to* {search mode:*grep*, wrap around:*false*, backwards:
*true*}
*set* vResult *to* *find* vRegex searching in *it* options vOptions
*if* vResult's found *then*
*set* vSelectionStart *to* characterOffset *of* vResult's found object
*else*
*error* "Pattern not found."
*end* *if*
*select* *its* *characters* vSelectionStart *thru* vSelectionEnd
*end* *tell*
*on* *error* aMessage number aErrorNumber
*if* aErrorNumber ≠ -128 *then* -- Error number -128 (User Cancelled).
*display dialog* aMessage
*else*
*return*
*end* *if*
*end* *try*
*end* *tell*
Successfully tested against those expressions (courtesy of Claude):
\section [main]
\config "default settings" [database] = connect
\path [logs]
\module [auth[user]] = login_handler
\service [web_server] = nginx
\handler "error pages" [404[custom]] = not_found!
\backup [files] = backup_job
\system [network[tcp[port]]] = handle_connections?
\data "user info" [profiles] = user_manager
\temp [cache[memory[buffer]]] = cache_clear!
HTH,
Jean Jourdain
On Sunday, August 24, 2025 at 2:02:53 AM UTC+2 Todd Ingalls wrote:
> Hello,
> I am working on something in an esoteric language and have a Function
> Pattern that works great
> \\[A-Za-z0-9_
> \s]*(?:\s+"[^"]*")?\s*(\[(?:[^\[\]]+|(?1))*\])(?:(\s*=\s*)(?P<function_name>[a-zA-Z0-9_!?]+))?
>
> What I want to be able to do is from wherever my cursor is to search
> backwards and find the beginning of this function definition and then
> select all the text from where my cursor was to the beginning of the
> function.
>
> I can use find previous with the grep pattern and that will select that
> function but not the text from where my cursor was. I can also use Reveal
> Start in Go->Functions to move the cursor to the beginning of the previous
> function. I just can't seem to figure out how to quite accomplish what I
> want in AppleScript. Any thoughts would be appreciated
>
>
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