regex lookaheads

app.py

@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ def highlight_words(input_text, json_output):
         color = color_map[path_key]
         # highlighted_text = highlighted_text.replace(f" {value}", f" <span style='background-color: {color};'>{unquote(f'{value}')}</span>")
 
-        pattern = rf"( |\n|\t){value}( |\n|\t|\.|\,|\?|\:|\;)"
-        replacement = f" <span style='background-color: {color};'>{unquote(value)}</span> "
+        pattern = rf"(?<=[ \n\t]){value}(?=[ \n\t\.\,\?\:\;])"
+        replacement = f"<span style='background-color: {color};'>{unquote(value)}</span>"
         highlighted_text = re.sub(pattern, replacement, highlighted_text, flags=re.IGNORECASE)
 
     return highlighted_text