Match search terms at word starts/ends and rank results in tiers

src/lib/pageHighlight.ts

@@ -1,68 +1,54 @@
+import {
+  findPhraseSpans,
+  findMatchSpans,
+  tokenize,
+  type Span,
+} from "$lib/textMatch";
+
 const HIGHLIGHT_NAME = "search-terms";
 
 function supported(): boolean {
   return typeof CSS !== "undefined" && "highlights" in CSS;
 }
 
-function escapeRe(s: string): string {
-  return s.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, "\\$&");
-}
-
 // Highlight the query inside the given roots using the CSS Custom Highlight
 // API, which paints ranges without touching the DOM, so it never conflicts
 // with Svelte re-renders. When the whole query appears contiguously anywhere
-// on the page, only those phrase occurrences are painted; per-word marks are
+// on the page, only those phrase occurrences are painted; otherwise the
-// a fallback for pages that matched on scattered terms. Returns the first
+// textMatch fallback (contiguous runs as blocks, then single words) is used.
-// match in document order (for scrolling), or null. No-op on unsupported
+// Returns the first match in document order (for scrolling), or null. No-op
-// browsers.
+// on unsupported browsers.
 export function applyHighlights(
   roots: Iterable<Element>,
   query: string,
 ): Range | null {
   if (!supported()) return null;
   CSS.highlights.delete(HIGHLIGHT_NAME);
-  const terms = [
+  if (tokenize(query).length === 0) return null;
-    ...new Set(query.toLowerCase().split(/\s+/).filter((t) => t.length >= 2)),
-  ];
-  if (terms.length === 0) return null;
-  const phraseRe =
-    terms.length > 1
-      ? new RegExp(terms.map(escapeRe).join("\\s+"), "gi")
-      : null;
 
-  const phraseRanges: Range[] = [];
+  const nodes: Node[] = [];
-  const termRanges: Range[] = [];
   for (const root of roots) {
     const walker = document.createTreeWalker(root, NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT);
     let node: Node | null;
-    while ((node = walker.nextNode())) {
+    while ((node = walker.nextNode())) nodes.push(node);
-      const text = node.textContent ?? "";
-
-      if (phraseRe) {
-        phraseRe.lastIndex = 0;
-        let m: RegExpExecArray | null;
-        while ((m = phraseRe.exec(text))) {
-          const range = new Range();
-          range.setStart(node, m.index);
-          range.setEnd(node, m.index + m[0].length);
-          phraseRanges.push(range);
-        }
   }
 
-      const lower = text.toLowerCase();
+  let perNode: Span[][] = nodes.map((n) =>
-      for (const term of terms) {
+    findPhraseSpans(n.textContent ?? "", query),
-        let i = 0;
+  );
-        while ((i = lower.indexOf(term, i)) !== -1) {
+  if (perNode.every((spans) => spans.length === 0)) {
+    perNode = nodes.map((n) => findMatchSpans(n.textContent ?? "", query));
+  }
+
+  const ranges: Range[] = [];
+  nodes.forEach((node, i) => {
+    for (const span of perNode[i]) {
       const range = new Range();
-          range.setStart(node, i);
+      range.setStart(node, span.start);
-          range.setEnd(node, i + term.length);
+      range.setEnd(node, span.end);
-          termRanges.push(range);
+      ranges.push(range);
-          i += term.length;
     }
-      }
+  });
-    }
-  }
-  const ranges = phraseRanges.length > 0 ? phraseRanges : termRanges;
   if (ranges.length === 0) return null;
 
   CSS.highlights.set(HIGHLIGHT_NAME, new Highlight(...ranges));

src/lib/search.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import type { Event } from "@nostr/tools/core";
 import type { Filter } from "@nostr/tools/filter";
 import { queryForum } from "$lib/relay";
+import { bestMatch } from "$lib/textMatch";
 import { GROUP_ID, MODE } from "$lib/config";
 import { groupsStore } from "$lib/groups.svelte";
 
@@ -12,49 +13,17 @@ export type SearchResult = {
   createdAt: number;
 };
 
-// Window the snippet around the best match: a full-phrase occurrence when
+// Window the snippet around the best match (full phrase > longest
-// present, otherwise the term cluster covering the most distinct query
+// contiguous run > densest single-term cluster, per textMatch rules). The
-// terms. The score ranks how well this content matched (phrase beats any
+// score ranks how well this content matched, so dedupe can keep the best
-// scattered cluster), so dedupe can keep the best snippet per thread.
+// snippet per thread and the result list can order its tiers.
 function snippetOf(
   content: string,
   query: string,
 ): { text: string; score: number } {
   const flat = content.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
   const MAX = 140;
-  const lower = flat.toLowerCase();
+  const { anchor, score } = bestMatch(flat, query, MAX - 40);
-  const phrase = query.toLowerCase().trim().replace(/\s+/g, " ");
-  const terms = [...new Set(phrase.split(" "))].filter(Boolean);
-
-  const occurrences: { i: number; term: string }[] = [];
-  for (const t of terms) {
-    let i = 0;
-    while ((i = lower.indexOf(t, i)) !== -1) {
-      occurrences.push({ i, term: t });
-      i += t.length;
-    }
-  }
-  occurrences.sort((a, b) => a.i - b.i);
-
-  let anchor = occurrences[0]?.i ?? -1;
-  let score = 0;
-  const phraseIdx = terms.length > 1 ? lower.indexOf(phrase) : -1;
-  if (phraseIdx !== -1) {
-    anchor = phraseIdx;
-    score = terms.length + 100; // Full phrase beats any scattered cluster
-  } else {
-    const span = MAX - 40; // Visible chars from the anchor to the window's end
-    for (const o of occurrences) {
-      const seen = new Set<string>();
-      for (const p of occurrences) {
-        if (p.i >= o.i && p.i + p.term.length <= o.i + span) seen.add(p.term);
-      }
-      if (seen.size > score) {
-        score = seen.size;
-        anchor = o.i;
-      }
-    }
-  }
 
   if (flat.length <= MAX) return { text: flat, score };
   if (anchor <= 40) return { text: flat.slice(0, MAX) + "…", score };
@@ -129,7 +98,13 @@ export async function searchThreads(query: string): Promise<SearchResult[]> {
     }),
   );
 
-  // Keep the relay's relevance order (arrival order); a thread keeps the
+  // Tiered ordering: full-phrase matches, then contiguous multi-word runs
-  // position of its best-ranked match
+  // (longest first), then single-word matches capped to keep noise down.
-  return [...byThread.values()];
+  // Within a tier the relay's relevance (arrival) order is preserved —
+  // Array.prototype.sort is stable.
+  const SINGLES_LIMIT = 5;
+  let singles = 0;
+  return [...byThread.values()]
+    .sort((a, b) => b.score - a.score)
+    .filter((r) => r.score >= 100 || ++singles <= SINGLES_LIMIT);
 }

src/lib/searchState.svelte.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { searchThreads, type SearchResult } from "$lib/search";
+import { findPhraseSpans, findMatchSpans } from "$lib/textMatch";
 
 // Debounced-search state machine shared by the inline (homepage) and modal
 // search shells, so behavior lives in one place and the shells only differ
@@ -12,10 +13,6 @@ export function createSearchState() {
   let timer: ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | null = null;
   let seq = 0;
 
-  const terms = $derived(
-    resultsQuery.split(/\s+/).filter((t) => t.length >= 2),
-  );
-
   function schedule() {
     const q = query.trim();
     if (timer) clearTimeout(timer);
@@ -41,29 +38,26 @@ export function createSearchState() {
     }, 300);
   }
 
-  function escapeRe(s: string): string {
-    return s.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, "\\$&");
-  }
-
   // Split into alternating plain/matched segments for <mark> rendering.
   // When the text contains the whole query as a contiguous phrase, only the
-  // phrase is marked; scattered single words are marked only as a fallback,
+  // phrase is marked; otherwise contiguous runs (as single blocks) and
-  // to show why a phrase-less text matched at all.
+  // single words are marked as a fallback, to show why the text matched.
   function highlight(text: string): { text: string; hit: boolean }[] {
-    if (!text || terms.length === 0) return [{ text, hit: false }];
+    if (!text) return [{ text, hit: false }];
-    const phrase =
+    const phrase = findPhraseSpans(text, resultsQuery);
-      terms.length > 1
+    const spans =
-        ? escapeRe(resultsQuery.trim()).replace(/\s+/g, "\\s+")
+      phrase.length > 0 ? phrase : findMatchSpans(text, resultsQuery);
-        : null;
+    if (spans.length === 0) return [{ text, hit: false }];
-    const alts =
+    const out: { text: string; hit: boolean }[] = [];
-      phrase && new RegExp(phrase, "i").test(text)
+    let pos = 0;
-        ? phrase
+    for (const s of spans) {
-        : terms.map(escapeRe).join("|");
+      if (s.start > pos)
-    const exact = new RegExp(`^(${alts})$`, "i");
+        out.push({ text: text.slice(pos, s.start), hit: false });
-    return text
+      out.push({ text: text.slice(s.start, s.end), hit: true });
-      .split(new RegExp(`(${alts})`, "gi"))
+      pos = s.end;
-      .filter((s) => s !== "")
+    }
-      .map((s) => ({ text: s, hit: exact.test(s) }));
+    if (pos < text.length) out.push({ text: text.slice(pos), hit: false });
+    return out;
   }
 
   // Arrow/Enter handling; returns true when the event was consumed

src/lib/textMatch.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+// Shared matching rules for search highlighting and ranking. The query is
+// tokenized on any non-alphanumeric character (so "-_|!./" all act as word
+// separators, in the query and in the text), and a token matches where a
+// word starts or ends with it — "id" marks "id" or "identify" but never the
+// middle of "gravida", while still allowing prefix searches like the first
+// characters of an npub.
+
+export type Span = { start: number; end: number };
+
+// Separator between adjacent tokens of a run: one or more non-word chars
+const SEP = "[^\\p{L}\\p{N}]+";
+
+export function tokenize(query: string): string[] {
+  return query
+    .toLowerCase()
+    .split(/[^\p{L}\p{N}]+/u)
+    .filter((t) => t.length >= 2);
+}
+
+function isWordChar(ch: string | undefined): boolean {
+  return ch !== undefined && /[\p{L}\p{N}]/u.test(ch);
+}
+
+// Start-with or end-with: the match must begin at a word start or finish at
+// a word end.
+function validBoundaries(text: string, span: Span): boolean {
+  return !isWordChar(text[span.start - 1]) || !isWordChar(text[span.end]);
+}
+
+function overlaps(taken: Span[], s: Span): boolean {
+  return taken.some((t) => s.start < t.end && s.end > t.start);
+}
+
+// All spans where the given tokens appear consecutively (any separators
+// between them). Tokens are alphanumeric-only, so no regex escaping needed.
+function findRuns(text: string, tokens: string[]): Span[] {
+  const re = new RegExp(tokens.join(SEP), "giu");
+  const out: Span[] = [];
+  let m: RegExpExecArray | null;
+  while ((m = re.exec(text))) {
+    const span = { start: m.index, end: m.index + m[0].length };
+    if (validBoundaries(text, span)) out.push(span);
+    if (m[0].length === 0) re.lastIndex++;
+  }
+  return out;
+}
+
+// Occurrences of the whole query as one contiguous phrase
+export function findPhraseSpans(text: string, query: string): Span[] {
+  const tokens = tokenize(query);
+  if (tokens.length < 2) return [];
+  return findRuns(text, tokens);
+}
+
+// Fallback matches: longest contiguous multi-token runs claim their spans
+// first (each painted as one block), then single tokens outside them.
+export function findMatchSpans(text: string, query: string): Span[] {
+  const tokens = tokenize(query);
+  if (tokens.length === 0) return [];
+  const spans: Span[] = [];
+  for (let len = tokens.length; len >= 2; len--) {
+    for (let s = 0; s + len <= tokens.length; s++) {
+      for (const span of findRuns(text, tokens.slice(s, s + len))) {
+        if (!overlaps(spans, span)) spans.push(span);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  for (const t of new Set(tokens)) {
+    for (const span of findRuns(text, [t])) {
+      if (!overlaps(spans, span)) spans.push(span);
+    }
+  }
+  return spans.sort((a, b) => a.start - b.start);
+}
+
+// Rank how well a text matches the query, and where to anchor an excerpt:
+// the full query (1000) beats any shorter contiguous run (100 + length),
+// which beats scattered singles (count of distinct tokens inside a window of
+// `windowSpan` chars, always < 100).
+export function bestMatch(
+  text: string,
+  query: string,
+  windowSpan: number,
+): { anchor: number; score: number } {
+  const tokens = tokenize(query);
+  if (tokens.length === 0) return { anchor: -1, score: 0 };
+
+  for (let len = tokens.length; len >= 2; len--) {
+    for (let s = 0; s + len <= tokens.length; s++) {
+      const runs = findRuns(text, tokens.slice(s, s + len));
+      if (runs.length > 0)
+        return {
+          anchor: runs[0].start,
+          score: len === tokens.length ? 1000 : 100 + len,
+        };
+    }
+  }
+
+  const singles: { start: number; token: string }[] = [];
+  for (const t of new Set(tokens)) {
+    for (const span of findRuns(text, [t]))
+      singles.push({ start: span.start, token: t });
+  }
+  if (singles.length === 0) return { anchor: -1, score: 0 };
+  singles.sort((a, b) => a.start - b.start);
+
+  let anchor = singles[0].start;
+  let score = 0;
+  for (const o of singles) {
+    const seen = new Set<string>();
+    for (const p of singles) {
+      if (p.start >= o.start && p.start <= o.start + windowSpan)
+        seen.add(p.token);
+    }
+    if (seen.size > score) {
+      score = seen.size;
+      anchor = o.start;
+    }
+  }
+  return { anchor, score };
+}