Deprecate '-p' flag and replace backslash interpolation with curly brace

interpolation

35 files changed, 251 insertions, 239 deletions

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7e7d714..e8747d5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,8 +13,14 @@ Run `make tutorial` to run through the tutorial. It walks through some basic pat
 
 ## Usage
 
-`bp [flags] <pattern> [<input files>...]`
+```
+bp [flags] <pattern> [<input files>...]
+```
 
+BP is optimized for matching literal strings, so the main pattern argument is
+interpreted as a string literal. BP pattern syntax is inserted using curly
+brace interpolations like `bp 'foo{..}baz'` (match the string literal "foo" up
+to and including the next occurrence of "baz" on the same line).
 
 ### Flags
 
@@ -25,7 +31,6 @@ Run `make tutorial` to run through the tutorial. It walks through some basic pat
 * `-e` `--explain` print an explanation of the matches
 * `-j` `--json` print matches as JSON objects
 * `-l` `--list-files` print only filenames containing matches
-* `-p` `--pattern <pat>` provide a pattern (equivalent to `bp '\(<pat>)'`)
 * `-r` `--replace <replacement>` replace the input pattern with the given replacement
 * `-s` `--skip <skip pattern>` skip over the given pattern when looking for matches
 * `-B` `--context-before <N>` change how many lines of context are printed before each match
diff --git a/bp.1 b/bp.1
index 3e585a4..1e7f46e 100644
--- a/bp.1
+++ b/bp.1
@@ -1,41 +1,25 @@
-.\" Automatically generated by Pandoc 2.18
+.\" Automatically generated by Pandoc 3.1.8
 .\"
-.\" Define V font for inline verbatim, using C font in formats
-.\" that render this, and otherwise B font.
-.ie "\f[CB]x\f[]"x" \{\
-. ftr V B
-. ftr VI BI
-. ftr VB B
-. ftr VBI BI
-.\}
-.el \{\
-. ftr V CR
-. ftr VI CI
-. ftr VB CB
-. ftr VBI CBI
-.\}
 .TH "BP" "1" "May 17 2021" "" ""
-.hy
 .SH NAME
-.PP
 bp - Bruce\[aq]s Parsing Expression Grammar tool
 .SH SYNOPSIS
-.PP
 \f[B]bp\f[R] [\f[I]options\&...\f[R]] \f[I]pattern\f[R] [[\f[B]--\f[R]]
 \f[I]files\&...\f[R]]
 .SH DESCRIPTION
-.PP
 \f[B]bp\f[R] is a tool that matches parsing expression grammars using a
 custom syntax.
 .SH OPTIONS
 .TP
-\f[B]-p\f[R], \f[B]--pattern\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
-Give a pattern in BP syntax instead of string syntax (equivalent to
-\f[B]bp \[aq]\[rs](pat)\[aq]\f[R]
+\f[I]pattern\f[R]
+The text to search for.
+The main argument for \f[B]bp\f[R] is a string literals which may
+contain BP syntax patterns.
+See the \f[B]STRING PATTERNS\f[R] section below.
 .TP
 \f[B]-w\f[R], \f[B]--word\f[R] \f[I]word\f[R]
 Surround a string pattern with word boundaries (equivalent to \f[B]bp
-\[aq]\[rs]|word\[rs]|\[aq]\f[R])
+\[aq]{|}word{|}\[aq]\f[R])
 .TP
 \f[B]-e\f[R], \f[B]--explain\f[R]
 Print a visual explanation of the matches.
@@ -101,11 +85,6 @@ formatting otherwise.
 \f[B]-h\f[R], \f[B]--help\f[R]
 Print the usage and exit.
 .TP
-\f[I]pattern\f[R]
-The main pattern for bp to match.
-By default, this pattern is a string pattern (see the \f[B]STRING
-PATTERNS\f[R] section below).
-.TP
 \f[I]files\&...\f[R]
 The input files to search.
 If no input files are provided and data was piped in, that data will be
@@ -113,19 +92,22 @@ used instead.
 If neither are provided, \f[B]bp\f[R] will search through all files in
 the current directory and its subdirectories (recursively).
 .SH STRING PATTERNS
-.PP
 One of the most common use cases for pattern matching tools is matching
 plain, literal strings, or strings that are primarily plain strings,
 with one or two patterns.
 \f[B]bp\f[R] is designed around this fact.
 The default mode for bp patterns is \[lq]string pattern mode\[rq].
 In string pattern mode, all characters are interpreted literally except
-for the backslash (\f[B]\[rs]\f[R]), which may be followed by an escape
-or a bp pattern (see the \f[B]PATTERNS\f[R] section below).
-Optionally, the bp pattern may be terminated by a semicolon
-(\f[B];\f[R]).
+for curly braces \f[B]{}\f[R], which mark a region of BP syntax patterns
+(see the \f[B]PATTERNS\f[R] section below).
+In other words, when passing a search query to \f[B]bp\f[R], you do not
+need to escape periods, quotation marks, backslashes, or any other
+character, as long as it fits inside a shell string literal.
+In order to match a literal \f[B]{\f[R], you can either search for the
+character literal: \f[B]{\[ga]{}\f[R], the string literal:
+\f[B]{\[dq]{\[dq]}\f[R], or a pair of matching curly braces using the
+\f[B]braces\f[R] rule: \f[B]{braces}\f[R].
 .SH PATTERNS
-.PP
 \f[B]bp\f[R] patterns are based off of a combination of Parsing
 Expression Grammars and regular expression syntax.
 The syntax is designed to map closely to verbal descriptions of the
@@ -146,7 +128,7 @@ A choice: \f[I]pat1\f[R], or if it doesn\[aq]t match, then
 \f[I]pat2\f[R]
 .TP
 \f[B].\f[R]
-Any character (excluding newline)
+The period pattern matches single character (excluding newline)
 .TP
 \f[B]\[ha]\f[R]
 Start of a line
@@ -227,11 +209,14 @@ A word boundary (i.e.\ the edge of a word).
 \f[B]\[rs]b\f[R]
 Alias for \f[B]|\f[R] (word boundary)
 .TP
+\f[B](\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R] \f[B])\f[R]
+Parentheses can be used to delineate patterns, as in most languages.
+.TP
 \f[B]!\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
-Not \f[I]pat\f[R]
+Not \f[I]pat\f[R] (don\[cq]t match if \f[I]pat\f[R] matches here)
 .TP
 \f[B][\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R] \f[B]]\f[R]
-Maybe \f[I]pat\f[R]
+Maybe \f[I]pat\f[R] (match zero or one occurrences of \f[I]pat\f[R])
 .TP
 \f[I]N\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
 Exactly \f[I]N\f[R] repetitions of \f[I]pat\f[R] (e.g.\ \f[B]5
@@ -253,7 +238,7 @@ Any \f[I]pat\f[R]s (zero or more, e.g.\ \f[B]* \[dq]x\[dq]\f[R] matches
 etc.)
 .TP
 \f[B]+\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
-Some \f[I]pat\f[R]s (e.g.\ \f[B]+ \[dq]x\[dq]\f[R] matches
+Some \f[I]pat\f[R]s (one or more, e.g.\ \f[B]+ \[dq]x\[dq]\f[R] matches
 \f[B]\[lq]x\[rq]\f[R], \f[B]\[lq]xx\[rq]\f[R], \f[B]\[lq]xxx\[rq]\f[R],
 etc.)
 .TP
@@ -263,14 +248,18 @@ etc.)
 comma-separated words)
 .TP
 \f[B]..\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
-Any text (except newlines) up to and including \f[I]pat\f[R]
+Any text (except newlines) up to and including \f[I]pat\f[R].
+This is a non-greedy match and does not span newlines.
 .TP
 \f[B].. %\f[R] \f[I]skip\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
 Any text (except newlines) up to and including \f[I]pat\f[R], skipping
 over instances of \f[I]skip\f[R] (e.g.\ \f[B]\[aq]\[dq]\[aq]
 \&..%(\[aq]\[rs]\[aq] .)
 \[aq]\[dq]\[aq]\f[R] opening quote, up to closing quote, skipping over
-backslash followed by a single character)
+backslash followed by a single character).
+A useful application of the \f[B]%\f[R] operator is to skip over
+newlines to perform multi-line matches, e.g.\ \f[B]pat1 ..%\[rs]n
+pat2\f[R]
 .TP
 \f[B].. =\f[R] \f[I]only\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
 Any number of repetitions of the pattern \f[I]only\f[R] up to and
@@ -285,21 +274,14 @@ pat\f[R]
 \f[B]<\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
 Matches at the current position if \f[I]pat\f[R] matches immediately
 before the current position (lookbehind).
-Conceptually, you can think of this as creating a file containing only
-the \f[I]N\f[R] characters immediately before the current position and
-attempting to match \f[I]pat\f[R] on that file, for all values of
-\f[I]N\f[R] from the minimum number of characters \f[I]pat\f[R] can
-match up to maximum number of characters \f[I]pat\f[R] can match (or the
-length of the current line upto the current position, whichever is
-smaller).
 \f[B]Note:\f[R] For fixed-length lookbehinds, this is quite efficient
-(e.g.\ \f[B]<(100 \[dq]x\[dq])\f[R]), however this could cause
-performance problems with variable-length lookbehinds
-(e.g.\ \f[B]<(\[dq]x\[dq] 0-100\[dq]y\[dq])\f[R]).
-Also, it is worth noting that \f[B]\[ha]\f[R], \f[B]\[ha]\[ha]\f[R],
-\f[B]$\f[R], and \f[B]$$\f[R] all match against the edges of the slice,
-which may give false positives if you were expecting them to match only
-against the edges file or line.
+(e.g.\ \f[B]<(100 \[dq]x\[dq])\f[R]), however this can cause performance
+problems with variable-length lookbehinds (e.g.\ \f[B]<(\[dq]x\[dq]
+0-100\[dq]y\[dq])\f[R]).
+Also, patterns like \f[B]\[ha]\f[R], \f[B]\[ha]\[ha]\f[R], \f[B]$\f[R],
+and \f[B]$$\f[R] that match against line/file edges will match against
+the edge of the lookbehind window, so they should generally be avoided
+in lookbehinds.
 .TP
 \f[B]>\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
 Matches \f[I]pat\f[R], but does not consume any input (lookahead).
@@ -319,7 +301,7 @@ See the \f[B]GRAMMAR FILES\f[R] section for more info.
 \f[B]\[at]\f[R] \f[I]name\f[R] \f[B]:\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
 For the rest of the current chain, define \f[I]name\f[R] to match
 whatever \f[I]pat\f[R] matches, i.e.\ a backreference.
-For example, \f[B]\[at]foo:word \[ga]( foo \[ga])\f[R] (matches
+For example, \f[B]\[at]my-word:word \[ga]( my-word \[ga])\f[R] (matches
 \f[B]\[lq]asdf(asdf)\[rq]\f[R] or \f[B]\[lq]baz(baz)\[rq]\f[R], but not
 \f[B]\[lq]foo(baz)\[rq]\f[R])
 .TP
@@ -343,17 +325,21 @@ series of words, a colon, a newline, a tab, and then the first word.
 \f[I]pat1\f[R] \f[B]\[ti]\f[R] \f[I]pat2\f[R]
 Matches when \f[I]pat1\f[R] matches and \f[I]pat2\f[R] can be found
 within the text of that match.
-(e.g.\ \f[B]comment \[ti] {TODO}\f[R] matches comments that contain the
-word \f[B]\[lq]TODO\[rq]\f[R])
+(e.g.\ \f[B]comment \[ti] \[dq]TODO\[dq]\f[R] matches comments that
+contain \f[B]\[lq]TODO\[rq]\f[R])
 .TP
 \f[I]pat1\f[R] \f[B]!\[ti]\f[R] \f[I]pat2\f[R]
 Matches when \f[I]pat1\f[R] matches, but \f[I]pat2\f[R] can not be found
 within the text of that match.
-(e.g.\ \f[B]comment \[ti] {IGNORE}\f[R] matches only comments that do
-not contain the word \f[B]\[lq]IGNORE\[rq]\f[R])
+(e.g.\ \f[B]comment \[ti] \[dq]IGNORE\[dq]\f[R] matches only comments
+that do not contain \f[B]\[lq]IGNORE\[rq]\f[R])
 .TP
-\f[I]name\f[R]\f[B]:\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
-Define \f[I]name\f[R] to mean \f[I]pat\f[R] (pattern definition)
+\f[I]name\f[R]\f[B]:\f[R] \f[I]pat1\f[R]; \f[I]pat2\f[R]
+Define \f[I]name\f[R] to mean \f[I]pat1\f[R] (pattern definition) inside
+the pattern \f[I]pat2\f[R].
+For example, a recursive pattern can be defined and used like this:
+\f[B]paren-comment: \[dq](*\[dq] ..%paren-comment \[dq]*)\[dq];
+paren-comment\f[R]
 .TP
 \f[B]\[at]:\f[R]\f[I]name\f[R] \f[B]=\f[R] \f[I]pat\f[R]
 Match \f[I]pat\f[R] and tag it with the given name as metadata.
@@ -364,9 +350,8 @@ Syntactic sugar for \f[I]name\f[R]\f[B]:\f[R]
 that also attaches a metadata tag of the same name)
 .TP
 \f[B]#\f[R] \f[I]comment\f[R]
-A line comment
+A line comment, ignored by BP
 .SH GRAMMAR FILES
-.PP
 \f[B]bp\f[R] allows loading extra grammar files, which define patterns
 which may be used for matching.
 The \f[B]builtins\f[R] grammar file is loaded by default, and it defines
@@ -375,9 +360,36 @@ For example, it defines the \f[B]parens\f[R] rule, which matches pairs
 of matching parentheses, accounting for nested inner parentheses:
 .RS
 .PP
-\f[B]bp -p \[aq]\[dq]my_func\[dq] parens\[aq]\f[R]
+\f[B]bp \[aq]my_func{parens}\[aq]\f[R]
 .RE
 .PP
+BP\[cq]s builtin grammar file defines a few other commonly used patterns
+such as:
+.IP \[bu] 2
+\f[B]braces\f[R] (matching \f[B]{}\f[R] pairs), \f[B]brackets\f[R]
+(matching \f[B][]\f[R] pairs), \f[B]anglebraces\f[R] (matching
+\f[B]<>\f[R] pairs)
+.IP \[bu] 2
+\f[B]string\f[R]: a single- or double-quote delimited string, including
+standard escape sequences
+.IP \[bu] 2
+\f[B]id\f[R] or \f[B]var\f[R]: an identifier (full UTF-8 support)
+.IP \[bu] 2
+\f[B]word\f[R]: similar to \f[B]id\f[R]/\f[B]var\f[R], but can start
+with a number
+.IP \[bu] 2
+\f[B]Hex\f[R], \f[B]hex\f[R], \f[B]HEX\f[R]: a mixed-case, lowercase, or
+uppercase hex digit
+.IP \[bu] 2
+\f[B]digit\f[R]: a digit from 0-9
+.IP \[bu] 2
+\f[B]int\f[R]: one or more digits
+.IP \[bu] 2
+\f[B]number\f[R]: an int or floating point literal
+.IP \[bu] 2
+\f[B]esc\f[R], \f[B]tab\f[R], \f[B]nl\f[R], \f[B]cr\f[R],
+\f[B]crlf\f[R], \f[B]lf\f[R]: Shorthand for escape sequences
+.PP
 \f[B]bp\f[R] also comes with a few grammar files for common programming
 languages, which may be loaded on demand.
 These grammar files are not comprehensive syntax definitions, but only
@@ -389,35 +401,35 @@ Thus, you can find all comments with the word \[lq]TODO\[rq] with the
 following command:
 .RS
 .PP
-\f[B]bp -g c++ -p \[aq]comment \[ti] {TODO}\[aq] *.cpp\f[R]
+\f[B]bp -g c++ \[aq]{comment \[ti] \[dq]TODO\[dq]}\[aq] *.cpp\f[R]
 .RE
 .SH EXAMPLES
-.PP
-Find files containing the string \[lq]foo\[rq] (a string pattern):
+Find files containing the literal string \[lq]foo.baz\[rq] (a string
+pattern):
 .RS
 .PP
-\f[B]ls | bp foo\f[R]
+\f[B]ls | bp foo.baz\f[R]
 .RE
 .PP
 Find files ending with \[lq].c\[rq] and print the name with the
 \[lq].c\[rq] replaced with \[lq].h\[rq]:
 .RS
 .PP
-\f[B]ls | bp \[aq].c\[rs]$\[aq] -r \[aq].h\[aq]\f[R]
+\f[B]ls | bp \[aq].c{$}\[aq] -r \[aq].h\[aq]\f[R]
 .RE
 .PP
 Find the word \[lq]foobar\[rq], followed by a pair of matching
 parentheses in the file \f[I]my_file.py\f[R]:
 .RS
 .PP
-\f[B]bp -p \[aq]{foobar} parens\[aq] my_file.py\f[R]
+\f[B]bp \[aq]foobar{parens}\[aq] my_file.py\f[R]
 .RE
 .PP
 Using the \f[I]html\f[R] grammar, find all \f[I]element\f[R]s matching
 the tag \f[I]a\f[R] in the file \f[I]foo.html\f[R]:
 .RS
 .PP
-\f[B]bp -g html -p \[aq]element \[ti] (\[ha]\[ha]\[dq]<a \[dq])\[aq]
+\f[B]bp -g html \[aq]{element \[ti] (\[ha]\[ha]\[dq]<a \[dq])}\[aq]
 foo.html\f[R]
 .RE
 .SH AUTHORS
diff --git a/bp.1.md b/bp.1.md
index d91e9ac..97f12f4 100644
--- a/bp.1.md
+++ b/bp.1.md
@@ -17,13 +17,12 @@ syntax.
 
 # OPTIONS
 
-`-p`, `--pattern` *pat*
-: Give a pattern in BP syntax instead of string syntax (equivalent to `bp
-'\(pat)'`
+*pattern*
+: The text to search for. The main argument for `bp` is a string literals which
+  may contain BP syntax patterns. See the **STRING PATTERNS** section below.
 
 `-w`, `--word` *word*
-: Surround a string pattern with word boundaries (equivalent to `bp
-'\|word\|'`)
+: Surround a string pattern with word boundaries (equivalent to `bp '{|}word{|}'`)
 
 `-e`, `--explain`
 : Print a visual explanation of the matches.
@@ -82,10 +81,6 @@ and *auto* (the default) uses *fancy* formatting when the output is a TTY and
 `-h`, `--help`
 : Print the usage and exit.
 
-*pattern*
-: The main pattern for bp to match. By default, this pattern is a string
-pattern (see the **STRING PATTERNS** section below).
-
 *files...*
 : The input files to search. If no input files are provided and data was piped
 in, that data will be used instead. If neither are provided, `bp` will search
@@ -99,9 +94,13 @@ One of the most common use cases for pattern matching tools is matching plain,
 literal strings, or strings that are primarily plain strings, with one or two
 patterns. `bp` is designed around this fact. The default mode for bp patterns
 is "string pattern mode". In string pattern mode, all characters are
-interpreted literally except for the backslash (`\`), which may be followed by
-an escape or a bp pattern (see the **PATTERNS** section below). Optionally, the
-bp pattern may be terminated by a semicolon (`;`).
+interpreted literally except for curly braces `{}`, which mark a region of BP
+syntax patterns (see the **PATTERNS** section below). In other words, when
+passing a search query to `bp`, you do not need to escape periods, quotation
+marks, backslashes, or any other character, as long as it fits inside a shell
+string literal. In order to match a literal `{`, you can either search for the
+character literal: ``` {`{} ```, the string literal: `{"{"}`, or a pair of 
+matching curly braces using the `braces` rule: `{braces}`.
 
 
 # PATTERNS
@@ -122,7 +121,7 @@ should be used for clarity, but it will not affect the meaning of the pattern.
 : A choice: *pat1*, or if it doesn\'t match, then *pat2*
 
 `.`
-: Any character (excluding newline)
+: The period pattern matches single character (excluding newline)
 
 `^`
 : Start of a line
@@ -191,62 +190,64 @@ containing only the starting indentation and the string "FOO":
 `\b`
 : Alias for `|` (word boundary)
 
+`(` *pat* `)`
+: Parentheses can be used to delineate patterns, as in most languages.
+
 `!` *pat*
-: Not *pat*
+: Not *pat* (don't match if *pat* matches here)
 
 `[` *pat* `]`
-: Maybe *pat*
+: Maybe *pat* (match zero or one occurrences of *pat*)
 
 *N* *pat*
 : Exactly *N* repetitions of *pat* (e.g. `5 "x"` matches **"xxxxx"**)
 
 *N* `-` *M* *pat*
 : Between *N* and *M* repetitions of *pat* (e.g. `2-3 "x"` matches **"xx"** or
-**"xxx"**)
+  **"xxx"**)
 
 *N*`+` *pat*
-: At least *N* or more repetitions of *pat* (e.g. `2+ "x"` matches
-**"xx"**, **"xxx"**, **"xxxx"**, etc.)
+: At least *N* or more repetitions of *pat* (e.g. `2+ "x"` matches **"xx"**,
+  **"xxx"**, **"xxxx"**, etc.)
 
 `*` *pat*
 : Any *pat*s (zero or more, e.g. `* "x"` matches **""**, **"x"**, **"xx"**,
-etc.)
+  etc.)
 
 `+` *pat*
-: Some *pat*s (e.g. `+ "x"` matches **"x"**, **"xx"**, **"xxx"**, etc.)
+: Some *pat*s (one or more, e.g. `+ "x"` matches **"x"**, **"xx"**, **"xxx"**,
+  etc.)
 
 *repeating-pat* `%` *sep*
 : *repeating-pat* (see the examples above) separated by *sep* (e.g. `*word %
-","` matches zero or more comma-separated words)
+  ","` matches zero or more comma-separated words)
 
 `..` *pat*
-: Any text (except newlines) up to and including *pat*
+: Any text (except newlines) up to and including *pat*. This is a non-greedy
+  match and does not span newlines.
 
 `.. %` *skip* *pat*
 : Any text (except newlines) up to and including *pat*, skipping over instances
-of *skip* (e.g. `'"' ..%('\' .) '"'` opening quote, up to closing quote,
-skipping over backslash followed by a single character)
+  of *skip* (e.g. `'"' ..%('\' .) '"'` opening quote, up to closing quote,
+  skipping over backslash followed by a single character). A useful application
+  of the `%` operator is to skip over newlines to perform multi-line matches,
+  e.g. `pat1 ..%\n pat2`
 
 `.. =` *only* *pat*
 : Any number of repetitions of the pattern *only* up to and including *pat*
-(e.g. `"f" ..=abc "k"` matches the letter "f" followed by some alphabetic
-characters and then a "k", which would match "fork", but not "free kit") This
-is essentially a "non-greedy" version of `*`, and `.. pat` can be thought of as
-the special case of `..=. pat`
+  (e.g. `"f" ..=abc "k"` matches the letter "f" followed by some alphabetic
+  characters and then a "k", which would match "fork", but not "free kit") This
+  is essentially a "non-greedy" version of `*`, and `.. pat` can be thought of
+  as the special case of `..=. pat`
 
 `<` *pat*
 : Matches at the current position if *pat* matches immediately before the
-current position (lookbehind). Conceptually, you can think of this as creating
-a file containing only the *N* characters immediately before the current
-position and attempting to match *pat* on that file, for all values of *N* from
-the minimum number of characters *pat* can match up to maximum number of
-characters *pat* can match (or the length of the current line upto the current
-position, whichever is smaller). **Note:** For fixed-length lookbehinds, this
-is quite efficient (e.g. `<(100 "x")`), however this could cause performance
-problems with variable-length lookbehinds (e.g. `<("x" 0-100"y")`). Also, it is
-worth noting that `^`, `^^`, `$`, and `$$` all match against the edges of the
-slice, which may give false positives if you were expecting them to match only
-against the edges file or line.
+  current position (lookbehind). **Note:** For fixed-length lookbehinds, this
+  is quite efficient (e.g. `<(100 "x")`), however this can cause performance
+  problems with variable-length lookbehinds (e.g. `<("x" 0-100"y")`). Also,
+  patterns like `^`, `^^`, `$`, and `$$` that match against line/file edges
+  will match against the edge of the lookbehind window, so they should
+  generally be avoided in lookbehinds.
 
 `>` *pat*
 : Matches *pat*, but does not consume any input (lookahead).
@@ -256,50 +257,51 @@ against the edges file or line.
 
 `foo`
 : The named pattern whose name is **"foo"**. Pattern names come from
-definitions in grammar files or from named captures. Pattern names may contain
-dashes (`-`), but not underscores (`_`), since the underscore is used to match
-whitespace. See the **GRAMMAR FILES** section for more info.
+  definitions in grammar files or from named captures. Pattern names may
+  contain dashes (`-`), but not underscores (`_`), since the underscore is used
+  to match whitespace. See the **GRAMMAR FILES** section for more info.
 
 `@` *name* `:` *pat*
 : For the rest of the current chain, define *name* to match whatever *pat*
-matches, i.e. a backreference. For example, `` @foo:word `( foo `) `` (matches
-**"asdf(asdf)"** or **"baz(baz)"**, but not **"foo(baz)"**)
+  matches, i.e. a backreference. For example, `` @my-word:word `( my-word `) ``
+  (matches **"asdf(asdf)"** or **"baz(baz)"**, but not **"foo(baz)"**)
 
 `@` *name* `=` *pat*
-: Let *name* equal *pat* (named capture). Named captures can be used in
-text replacements.
+: Let *name* equal *pat* (named capture). Named captures can be used in text
+  replacements.
 
 *pat* `=>` `"`*replacement*`"`
 : Replace *pat* with *replacement*. Note: *replacement* should be a string
-(single or double quoted), and it may contain escape sequences (e.g. `\n`) or
-references to captured values: `@0` (the whole of *pat*), `@1` (the first
-capture in *pat*), `@`*foo* (the capture named *foo* in *pat*), etc. For
-example, `@word _ @rest=(*word % _) => "@rest:\n\t@1"` matches a word followed
-by whitespace, followed by a series of words and replaces it with the series
-of words, a colon, a newline, a tab, and then the first word.
+  (single or double quoted), and it may contain escape sequences (e.g. `\n`) or
+  references to captured values: `@0` (the whole of *pat*), `@1` (the first
+  capture in *pat*), `@`*foo* (the capture named *foo* in *pat*), etc. For
+  example, `@word _ @rest=(*word % _) => "@rest:\n\t@1"` matches a word
+  followed by whitespace, followed by a series of words and replaces it with
+  the series of words, a colon, a newline, a tab, and then the first word.
 
 *pat1* `~` *pat2*
 : Matches when *pat1* matches and *pat2* can be found within the text of that
-match. (e.g. `comment ~ {TODO}` matches comments that contain the word
-**"TODO"**)
+  match. (e.g. `comment ~ "TODO"` matches comments that contain **"TODO"**)
 
 *pat1* `!~` *pat2*
 : Matches when *pat1* matches, but *pat2* can not be found within the text of
-that match. (e.g. `comment ~ {IGNORE}` matches only comments that do not
-contain the word **"IGNORE"**)
+  that match. (e.g. `comment ~ "IGNORE"` matches only comments that do not
+  contain **"IGNORE"**)
 
-*name*`:` *pat*
-: Define *name* to mean *pat* (pattern definition)
+*name*`:` *pat1*; *pat2*
+: Define *name* to mean *pat1* (pattern definition) inside the pattern *pat2*.
+  For example, a recursive pattern can be defined and used like this:
+  `paren-comment: "(*" ..%paren-comment "*)"; paren-comment`
 
 `@:`*name* `=` *pat*
 : Match *pat* and tag it with the given name as metadata.
 
 *name*`::` *pat*
 : Syntactic sugar for *name*`:` `@:`*name*`=`*pat* (define a pattern that also
-attaches a metadata tag of the same name)
+  attaches a metadata tag of the same name)
 
 `#` *comment*
-: A line comment
+: A line comment, ignored by BP
 
 
 # GRAMMAR FILES
@@ -311,9 +313,23 @@ defines a few useful general-purpose patterns. For example, it defines the
 nested inner parentheses:
 
 ```
-bp -p '"my_func" parens'
+bp 'my_func{parens}'
 ```
 
+BP's builtin grammar file defines a few other commonly used patterns such as:
+
+- `braces` (matching `{}` pairs), `brackets` (matching `[]` pairs),
+  `anglebraces` (matching `<>` pairs)
+- `string`: a single- or double-quote delimited string, including standard
+  escape sequences
+- `id` or `var`: an identifier (full UTF-8 support)
+- `word`: similar to `id`/`var`, but can start with a number
+- `Hex`, `hex`, `HEX`: a mixed-case, lowercase, or uppercase hex digit
+- `digit`: a digit from 0-9
+- `int`: one or more digits
+- `number`: an int or floating point literal
+- `esc`, `tab`, `nl`, `cr`, `crlf`, `lf`: Shorthand for escape sequences
+
 **bp** also comes with a few grammar files for common programming languages,
 which may be loaded on demand. These grammar files are not comprehensive syntax
 definitions, but only some common patterns. For example, the c++ grammar file
@@ -322,31 +338,31 @@ block comments. Thus, you can find all comments with the word "TODO" with the
 following command:
 
 ```
-bp -g c++ -p 'comment ~ {TODO}' *.cpp
+bp -g c++ '{comment ~ "TODO"}' *.cpp
 ```
 
 
 # EXAMPLES
 
-Find files containing the string "foo" (a string pattern):
+Find files containing the literal string "foo.baz" (a string pattern):
 ```
-ls | bp foo
+ls | bp foo.baz
 ```
 
 Find files ending with ".c" and print the name with the ".c" replaced with ".h":
 ```
-ls | bp '.c\$' -r '.h'
+ls | bp '.c{$}' -r '.h'
 ```
 
 Find the word "foobar", followed by a pair of matching parentheses in the file
 *my_file.py*:
 ```
-bp -p '{foobar} parens' my_file.py
+bp 'foobar{parens}' my_file.py
 ```
 
 Using the *html* grammar, find all *element*s matching the tag *a* in the file
 *foo.html*:
 ```
-bp -g html -p 'element ~ (^^"<a ")' foo.html
+bp -g html '{element ~ (^^"<a ")}' foo.html
 ```
 
diff --git a/bp.c b/bp.c
index 6adad36..3b7a843 100644
--- a/bp.c
+++ b/bp.c
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ static const char *usage = (
     " -i --ignore-case                 preform matching case-insensitively\n"
     " -I --inplace                     modify a file in-place\n"
     " -l --list-files                  list filenames only\n"
-    " -p --pattern <pat>               provide a pattern (equivalent to bp '\\(<pat>)')\n"
     " -w --word <string-pat>           find words matching the given string pattern\n"
     " -r --replace <replacement>       replace the input pattern with the given replacement\n"
     " -s --skip <skip-pattern>         skip over the given pattern when looking for matches\n"
@@ -383,7 +382,7 @@ static int print_matches(FILE *out, file_t *f, pat_t *pattern, pat_t *defs)
     // Print trailing context if needed:
     if (matches > 0) {
         fprint_context(out, f, prev, NULL);
-        if (last_line_num < 0) { // Hacky fix to ensure line number gets printed for `bp -p '$$'`
+        if (last_line_num < 0) { // Hacky fix to ensure line number gets printed for `bp '{$$}'`
             fprint_linenum(out, f, f->nlines, print_opts.normal_color);
             fputc('\n', out);
         }
@@ -599,9 +598,6 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
             if (f == NULL)
                 errx(EXIT_FAILURE, "Couldn't find grammar: %s", flag);
             defs = load_grammar(defs, f); // Keep in memory for debug output
-        } else if (FLAG("-p")     || FLAG("--pattern")) {
-            pat_t *p = assert_pat(flag, NULL, bp_pattern(flag, flag+strlen(flag)));
-            pattern = chain_together(pattern, p);
         } else if (FLAG("-w")     || FLAG("--word")) {
             require(asprintf(&flag, "\\|%s\\|", flag), "Could not allocate memory");
             file_t *arg_file = spoof_file(&loaded_files, "<word pattern>", flag, -1);
diff --git a/pattern.c b/pattern.c
index 75b21b3..150b638 100644
--- a/pattern.c
+++ b/pattern.c
@@ -97,8 +97,8 @@ static pat_t *expand_replacements(pat_t *replace_pat, const char *end, bool allo
         const char *repstr;
         size_t replen;
         if (matchchar(&str, '"', allow_nl, end) || matchchar(&str, '\'', allow_nl, end)
-            || matchchar(&str, '{', allow_nl, end) || matchchar(&str, '\002', allow_nl, end)) {
-            char closequote = str[-1] == '{' ? '}' : (str[-1] == '\002' ? '\003' : str[-1]);
+            || matchchar(&str, '}', allow_nl, end) || matchchar(&str, '\002', allow_nl, end)) {
+            char closequote = str[-1] == '}' ? '{' : (str[-1] == '\002' ? '\003' : str[-1]);
             repstr = str;
             for (; str < end && *str != closequote; str = next_char(str, end)) {
                 if (*str == '\\') {
@@ -235,8 +235,7 @@ static pat_t *_bp_simplepattern(const char *str, const char *end, bool inside_st
             }
             pat_t *target;
             if (inside_stringpattern) {
-                maybe_pat_t maybe_target = bp_stringpattern(str, end);
-                target = maybe_target.success ? maybe_target.value.pat : NULL;
+                target = NULL;
             } else {
                 target = bp_simplepattern(str, end);
             }
@@ -332,8 +331,8 @@ static pat_t *_bp_simplepattern(const char *str, const char *end, bool inside_st
         return Pattern(BP_WORD_BOUNDARY, start, str, 0, 0);
     }
     // String literal
-    case '"': case '\'': case '\002': case '{': {
-        char endquote = c == '\002' ? '\003' : (c == '{' ? '}' : c);
+    case '"': case '\'': case '\002': case '}': {
+        char endquote = c == '\002' ? '\003' : (c == '}' ? '{' : c);
         char *litstart = (char*)str;
         while (str < end && *str != endquote)
             str = next_char(str, end);
@@ -494,42 +493,26 @@ static pat_t *_bp_simplepattern(const char *str, const char *end, bool inside_st
 }
 
 //
-// Similar to bp_simplepattern, except that the pattern begins with an implicit, unclosable quote.
+// Similar to bp_simplepattern, except that the pattern begins with an implicit
+// '}' open quote that can be closed with '{'
 //
 maybe_pat_t bp_stringpattern(const char *str, const char *end)
 {
     __TRY_PATTERN__
     if (!end) end = str + strlen(str);
-    pat_t *ret = NULL;
-    while (str < end) {
-        char *start = (char*)str;
-        pat_t *interp = NULL;
-        for (; str < end; str = next_char(str, end)) {
-            if (*str == '\\' && str+1 < end) {
-                if (str[1] == '\\' || isalnum(str[1]))
-                    interp = _bp_simplepattern(str, end, true);
-                else
-                    interp = _bp_simplepattern(str+1, end, true);
-                if (interp) break;
-                // If there is no interpolated value, this is just a plain ol' regular backslash
-            }
-        }
-        // End of string
-        size_t len = (size_t)(str - start);
-        if (len > 0) {
-            pat_t *str_chunk = Pattern(BP_STRING, start, str, len, (ssize_t)len, .string=start);
-            ret = chain_together(ret, str_chunk);
-        }
-        if (interp) {
-            ret = chain_together(ret, interp);
-            str = interp->end;
-            // allow terminating seq
-            (void)matchchar(&str, ';', false, end);
-        }
+    char *start = (char*)str;
+    while (str < end && *str != '{')
+        str = next_char(str, end);
+    size_t len = (size_t)(str - start);
+    pat_t *pat = Pattern(BP_STRING, start, str, len, (ssize_t)len, .string=start);
+    str += 1;
+    if (str < end) {
+        pat_t *interp = bp_pattern_nl(str, end, true);
+        if (interp)
+            pat = chain_together(pat, interp);
     }
-    if (!ret) ret = Pattern(BP_STRING, str, str, 0, 0);
     __END_TRY_PATTERN__
-    return (maybe_pat_t){.success = true, .value.pat = ret};
+    return (maybe_pat_t){.success = true, .value.pat = pat};
 }
 
 //
diff --git a/tests/01-literal.sh b/tests/01-literal.sh
index 618dc4b..ddfe1a9 100644
--- a/tests/01-literal.sh
+++ b/tests/01-literal.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Use double quotation marks to match literal strings
-# Example: bp -p '"baz"'
-bp -p '"foo"'
+# Example: bp '{ "baz" }'
+bp '{ "foo" }'
diff --git a/tests/02-char.sh b/tests/02-char.sh
index e630e45..1493fa6 100644
--- a/tests/02-char.sh
+++ b/tests/02-char.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Match a single character with backtick:
-# Example: bp -p '`A' matches the letter "A"
-bp -p '`x'
+# Example: bp '{`A}' matches the letter "A"
+bp '{`x}'
diff --git a/tests/03-char-range.sh b/tests/03-char-range.sh
index 7904466..36ae483 100644
--- a/tests/03-char-range.sh
+++ b/tests/03-char-range.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Character sets and ranges work with backticks
-# Example: bp -p '`a-z,A-Z' matches all lowercase and uppercase letters
-bp -p '`0-9,a-f'
+# Example: bp '{`a-z,A-Z}' matches all lowercase and uppercase letters
+bp '{`0-9,a-f}'
diff --git a/tests/04-sequence.sh b/tests/04-sequence.sh
index dc61eeb..3d8df71 100644
--- a/tests/04-sequence.sh
+++ b/tests/04-sequence.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Multiple patterns in a row represent a sequence.
 # bp pattern syntax mostly doesn't care about whitespace, so you can have
 # spaces between patterns if you want, but it's not required.
-# Example: bp -p '"foo" `0-9' matches "foo1", "foo2", etc.
-bp -p '"one" "two"'
+# Example: bp '{"foo" `0-9}' matches "foo1", "foo2", etc.
+bp '{"one" "two"}'
diff --git a/tests/05-dot.sh b/tests/05-dot.sh
index ec5c9e7..c963aed 100644
--- a/tests/05-dot.sh
+++ b/tests/05-dot.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # The dot matches a single character
-# Example: bp -p '.'
-bp -p '`a .'
+# Example: bp '{.}'
+bp '{`a .}'
diff --git a/tests/06-start-of-line.sh b/tests/06-start-of-line.sh
index c44000e..c8e5504 100644
--- a/tests/06-start-of-line.sh
+++ b/tests/06-start-of-line.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # ^ matches start of a line
-# Example: bp -p '^ "x"' matches lines starting with "x"
-bp -p '^ "foo"'
+# Example: bp '{^ "x"}' matches lines starting with "x"
+bp '{^ "foo"}'
diff --git a/tests/07-end-of-line.sh b/tests/07-end-of-line.sh
index 4a1e05d..5954c10 100644
--- a/tests/07-end-of-line.sh
+++ b/tests/07-end-of-line.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # $ matches end of line
-# Example: bp -p '"x" $' matches lines ending with "x"
-bp -p '"foo" $'
+# Example: bp '{"x" $}' matches lines ending with "x"
+bp '{"foo" $}'
diff --git a/tests/08-spaces.sh b/tests/08-spaces.sh
index cc16d96..a6a62c9 100644
--- a/tests/08-spaces.sh
+++ b/tests/08-spaces.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # The _ pattern matches zero or more spaces/tabs
-# Example: bp -p '`= _ "foo"' matches "=foo", "= foo", "=  foo", etc.
-bp -p '"one" _ "two"'
+# Example: bp '{`= _ "foo"}' matches "=foo", "= foo", "=  foo", etc.
+bp '{"one" _ "two"}'
diff --git a/tests/09-ellipsis.sh b/tests/09-ellipsis.sh
index 0763fd1..c755ab6 100644
--- a/tests/09-ellipsis.sh
+++ b/tests/09-ellipsis.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # The ellipsis matches text upto the following pattern, not counting newlines
-# Example: bp -p '"/*" .. "*/"' matches "/* blah blah */" or "/**/"
-bp -p '"hello" .. "world"'
+# Example: bp '{"/*" .. "*/"}' matches "/* blah blah */" or "/**/"
+bp '{"hello" .. "world"}'
diff --git a/tests/10-words.sh b/tests/10-words.sh
index c5f5193..afb064d 100644
--- a/tests/10-words.sh
+++ b/tests/10-words.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # The | operator matches word edges
-# Example: bp -p '|"baz"|' matches the word "baz"
-bp '\|foo\|'
+# Example: bp '{|"baz"|}' matches the word "baz"
+bp '{|}foo{|}'
diff --git a/tests/11-ordered-choice.sh b/tests/11-ordered-choice.sh
index 277741d..4334643 100644
--- a/tests/11-ordered-choice.sh
+++ b/tests/11-ordered-choice.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # The ordered choice operator (/) picks the first choice that matches
-# Example: bp -p '"cabaret"/"cab"' matches either "cabaret" or "cab"
+# Example: bp '{"cabaret"/"cab"}' matches either "cabaret" or "cab"
 # Note: if a match occurs, the options to the right will *never* be attempted,
-# so bp -p '"cab"/"cabaret"' will always match "cab" instead of "cabaret"
-bp -p '"foo" / "bar"'
+# so bp '{"cab"/"cabaret"}' will always match "cab" instead of "cabaret"
+bp '{"foo" / "bar"}'
diff --git a/tests/12-star.sh b/tests/12-star.sh
index bd2d578..f0a9de9 100644
--- a/tests/12-star.sh
+++ b/tests/12-star.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # The star (*) prefix operator matches zero or more repetitions
-# Example: bp -p '"Ha" *"ha"' will match "Ha", "Haha", "Hahaha", etc.
-bp -p '`( *`x `)'
+# Example: bp '{"Ha" *"ha"}' will match "Ha", "Haha", "Hahaha", etc.
+bp '{`( *`x `)}'
diff --git a/tests/13-plus.sh b/tests/13-plus.sh
index c2aa7cc..7ac39e7 100644
--- a/tests/13-plus.sh
+++ b/tests/13-plus.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # The plus (+) prefix operator matches one or more of a pattern
-# Example: bp -p '"l" +"ol"' will match "lol", "lolol", "lololol", etc.
-bp -p '`( +`x `)'
+# Example: bp '{"l" +"ol"}' will match "lol", "lolol", "lololol", etc.
+bp '{`( +`x `)}'
diff --git a/tests/14-repeat-sep.sh b/tests/14-repeat-sep.sh
index 879ec4b..f61a4bc 100644
--- a/tests/14-repeat-sep.sh
+++ b/tests/14-repeat-sep.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # The '%' operator modifies repeating patterns, allowing you to give a separator between matches
-# Example: bp -p '+"x" % ":"' will match "x", "x:x", "x:x:x", etc.
-bp -p '`( +int % `, `)'
+# Example: bp '{+"x" % ":"}' will match "x", "x:x", "x:x:x", etc.
+bp '{`( +int % `, `)}'
diff --git a/tests/15-repeating.sh b/tests/15-repeating.sh
index 115e791..7672195 100644
--- a/tests/15-repeating.sh
+++ b/tests/15-repeating.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Numbers allow you to specify repetitions of a pattern
-# Example: bp -p '3 "x"' matches "xxx"
-bp -p '`( 4 . `)'
+# Example: bp '{3 "x"}' matches "xxx"
+bp '{`( 4 . `)}'
diff --git a/tests/16-lookahead.sh b/tests/16-lookahead.sh
index 18761bd..4b8d5f8 100644
--- a/tests/16-lookahead.sh
+++ b/tests/16-lookahead.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # >pat is a lookahead
-# Example: bp -p '"foo" >`(' will match "foo" only when it is followed by a parenthesis
-bp -p '>`t word'
+# Example: bp '{"foo" >`(}' will match "foo" only when it is followed by a parenthesis
+bp '{>`t word}'
diff --git a/tests/17-lookbehind.sh b/tests/17-lookbehind.sh
index 0b5136a..fe14678 100644
--- a/tests/17-lookbehind.sh
+++ b/tests/17-lookbehind.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # <pat is a lookbehind
-# Example: bp -p '<`: word' will match words that come after a colon
-bp -p '<`2 `3'
+# Example: bp '{<`: word}' will match words that come after a colon
+bp '{<`2 `3}'
diff --git a/tests/18-lookbehind-variable-length.sh b/tests/18-lookbehind-variable-length.sh
index 851c549..d41a708 100644
--- a/tests/18-lookbehind-variable-length.sh
+++ b/tests/18-lookbehind-variable-length.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Lookbehinds can have variable length.
-# Example: bp -p '<(^ +`# _) "foo"' matches lines starting with "# foo", "## foo", "### foo", etc.
-bp -p '<(`U +`h "...") "ok"'
+# Example: bp '{<(^ +`# _) "foo"}' matches lines starting with "# foo", "## foo", "### foo", etc.
+bp '{<(`U +`h "...") "ok"}'
diff --git a/tests/19-negation.sh b/tests/19-negation.sh
index 2928df1..2fbb11c 100644
--- a/tests/19-negation.sh
+++ b/tests/19-negation.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # !pat matches only if pat doesn't match
-# Example: bp -p '"cat" !"aclysm"' matches the "cat" in "catatonic", but not "cataclysm"
-bp -p '"foo" !"bar"'
+# Example: bp '"cat" !"aclysm"' matches the "cat" in "catatonic", but not "cataclysm"
+bp '{"foo" !"bar"}'
diff --git a/tests/20-submatch.sh b/tests/20-submatch.sh
index 22da9e0..5543fcf 100644
--- a/tests/20-submatch.sh
+++ b/tests/20-submatch.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # pat1 ~ pat2 matches if pat2 can be found within pat1, like words containing "e"
-# Example: bp -p '+`0-9 ~ `5' matches "12345" and "72581", but not "789"
-bp -p 'word ~ `e'
+# Example: bp '{+`0-9 ~ `5}' matches "12345" and "72581", but not "789"
+bp '{word ~ `e}'
diff --git a/tests/21-no-submatch.sh b/tests/21-no-submatch.sh
index c187694..8bb418d 100644
--- a/tests/21-no-submatch.sh
+++ b/tests/21-no-submatch.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # pat1 !~ pat2 matches if pat2 cannot be found within pat1, like words *not* containing "e"
-# Example: bp -p '(|+`0-9|) !~ `5' matches "123" and "678", but not "456"
-bp -p 'word !~ `e'
+# Example: bp '{(|+`0-9|) !~ `5}' matches "123" and "678", but not "456"
+bp '{word !~ `e}'
diff --git a/tests/22-replace.sh b/tests/22-replace.sh
index cd48850..451be8f 100644
--- a/tests/22-replace.sh
+++ b/tests/22-replace.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Replacements can be done with pat => "replacement"
-# Example: bp -p '"foo" => "baz"' matches "foobar" and replaces it with "bazbar"
-bp -p '"s" => "$"'
+# Example: bp '{"foo" => "baz"}' matches "foobar" and replaces it with "bazbar"
+bp '{"s" => "$"}'
diff --git a/tests/23-nested-parens.sh b/tests/23-nested-parens.sh
index 1bf872e..6b3c01b 100644
--- a/tests/23-nested-parens.sh
+++ b/tests/23-nested-parens.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # parens is a pattern matching nested parentheses
-# Example: bp -p '"foo" parens' matches "foo()" or "foo(baz(), qux())", but not "foo(()"
-bp -p 'id parens `;'
+# Example: bp '{"foo" parens}' matches "foo()" or "foo(baz(), qux())", but not "foo(()"
+bp '{id parens `;}'
diff --git a/tests/24-backref.sh b/tests/24-backref.sh
index 28a203b..2a7d89b 100644
--- a/tests/24-backref.sh
+++ b/tests/24-backref.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # With @-capturing, you can reference previous captures
-# Example: bp -p '@first=`a-z .. first' matches "aba" and "xyzx", but not "abc"
-bp -p '@first:+Abc _ +Abc _ first'
+# Example: bp '{@first=`a-z .. first}' matches "aba" and "xyzx", but not "abc"
+bp '{@first:+Abc _ +Abc _ first}'
diff --git a/tests/25-replace-capture.sh b/tests/25-replace-capture.sh
index f401605..70fc889 100644
--- a/tests/25-replace-capture.sh
+++ b/tests/25-replace-capture.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # Captures with @ can be referenced in a replacement by @1, @2, etc.
-# Example: bp -p '"=" _ @+`0-9 => "= -@1"' replaces "x = 5" with "x = -5"
-# Note: @0 refers to the entire match, e.g. bp -p '"foo" => "xx@0xx"' replaces "foo" with "xxfooxx"
-bp -p '@`a,e,i,o,u => "{@1}" / .'
+# Example: bp '{"=" _ @+`0-9 => "= -@1"}' replaces "x = 5" with "x = -5"
+# Note: @0 refers to the entire match, e.g. bp '{"foo" => "xx@0xx"}' replaces "foo" with "xxfooxx"
+bp '{@`a,e,i,o,u => "{@1}" / .}'
diff --git a/tests/26-null-byte.sh b/tests/26-null-byte.sh
index 2c825c3..84996a8 100644
--- a/tests/26-null-byte.sh
+++ b/tests/26-null-byte.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # Null bytes can be matched with \x00
-bp -p '\x00'
+bp '{\x00}'
diff --git a/tests/27-left-recursion.sh b/tests/27-left-recursion.sh
index ec11cab..3472fb6 100644
--- a/tests/27-left-recursion.sh
+++ b/tests/27-left-recursion.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # Left recursion should work
-bp -p 'xys: (xys / `x) `y; xys => "{@0}"'
+bp '{xys: (xys / `x) `y; xys => "{@0}"}'
diff --git a/tests/28-left-recursion2.sh b/tests/28-left-recursion2.sh
index 995f82c..e348340 100644
--- a/tests/28-left-recursion2.sh
+++ b/tests/28-left-recursion2.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # Left recursion has some tricky edge cases like this:
-bp -p 'foo: (foo / `a-z) (foo / `a-z) `!; foo => "{@0}"'
+bp '{foo: (foo / `a-z) (foo / `a-z) `!; foo => "{@0}"}'
diff --git a/tests/29-left-recursion3.sh b/tests/29-left-recursion3.sh
index 7de7379..936ca78 100644
--- a/tests/29-left-recursion3.sh
+++ b/tests/29-left-recursion3.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # Left recursion has some tricky edge cases like this:
-bp -p 'shout: phrase `!; phrase: shout / id; phrase => "{@0}"'
+bp '{shout: phrase `!; phrase: shout / id; phrase => "{@0}"}'
diff --git a/tutorial.sh b/tutorial.sh
index 70f87dd..7e66132 100755
--- a/tutorial.sh
+++ b/tutorial.sh
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@ for t in $([ $# -gt 0 ] && echo "$@" || ls -v tests/*.sh); do
     printf "\033[33;1mGiven these lines:              Give this output:\033[m\n"
     diff -y -W60 --color=always "${t/.sh/.in}" "${t/.sh/.out}"
     while true; do
-        printf "\n\033[1m$ bp --pattern ''\033[D\033[m"
+        printf "\n\033[1m$ bp \033[m"
         read -r pat
         pat="${pat%\'}"
-        printf "\033[0;2mRunning: \033[32m%s\033[m\n\n" "bp -p '$pat'"
+        printf "\033[0;2mRunning: \033[32m%s\033[m\n\n" "bp '$pat'"
         printf "\033[33;1mExpected output:                Your pattern's output:\033[m\n"
-        bp -p "$pat" < "${t/.sh/.in}" 2>"$tmpfile" | diff -y -W60 --color=always "${t/.sh/.out}" - && break
+        bp "$pat" < "${t/.sh/.in}" 2>"$tmpfile" | diff -y -W60 --color=always "${t/.sh/.out}" - && break
         cat "$tmpfile"
         printf "\n\033[0;1;31mSorry, try again!\033[m\n"
     done