diff --git a/plugins/builtin/source/content/text_highlighting/pattern_language.cpp b/plugins/builtin/source/content/text_highlighting/pattern_language.cpp
index bd288c811..b01ebe4fe 100644
--- a/plugins/builtin/source/content/text_highlighting/pattern_language.cpp
+++ b/plugins/builtin/source/content/text_highlighting/pattern_language.cpp
@@ -331,9 +331,11 @@ namespace hex::plugin::builtin {
         i32 skipCountLimit =
                 increment > 0 ? std::min(maxSkipCount, (i32) tokenCount - 1 - tokenId) : std::min(maxSkipCount, tokenId);
         next(increment);
+        skipCountLimit -= increment;
 
         if (peek(delimiter[0])) {
             next(increment);
+            skipCountLimit -= increment;
             while (skipCount < skipCountLimit) {
 
                 if (peek(delimiter[1])) {