As far as I know, this is currently not possible. I would like to see this feature implemented as well.

Hello! I'm currently working on a slightly different feature that allows defining annotations inside the code.

You can find the package and syntax here:

https://github.com/expressive-code/annotation-comments/blob/main/packages/annotation-comments/README.md

This will be used by EC's core package and made available to all plugins, including text markers.

Do you think using this once it's ready might be an alternative to your request?

What is already possible right now is using the regex-based text markers syntax to only match the strings if they appear together with other unique strings on the line you want to target. Examples:

• ins=/(?:or )(id=11 -- zzz)/
  • Only highlights id=11 -- zzz if it's directly preceded by or (which is not highlighted due to the non-capturing group syntax)
• del=/(?<=%foo)(%'\))/
  • Only highlights %') if %foo appears somewhere on the same line before (using a non-capturing positive lookbehind syntax)

I realize that this might not be always possible and requires writing tedious regex syntax, but I wanted to mention it as workaround that might solve your use case until I've finished adding annotation comments to EC. :)

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