took a lot of debugging to find this

crates/core/src/pattern/dynamic_snippet.rs

@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ impl DynamicSnippet {
         let source_string = raw_source
             .replace("\\n", "\n")
             .replace("\\$", "$")
+            .replace("\\^", "^")
             .replace("\\`", "`")
             .replace("\\\"", "\"")
             .replace("\\\\", "\\");

crates/core/src/pattern/patterns.rs

@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ use super::{
     r#where::Where, rewrite::Rewrite, some::Some, string_constant::StringConstant,
     variable::Variable, within::Within, Context, Node, State,
 };
+use crate::binding::node_text;
 use crate::pattern::register_variable;
 use crate::pattern::string_constant::AstLeafNode;
 use anyhow::{anyhow, bail, Result};
@@ -481,7 +482,7 @@ impl Pattern {
             }
             if node_types[sort as usize].is_empty() {
                 let content = node.utf8_text(text)?;
-                if node.named_child_count() == 0
+                if (node.named_child_count() == 0 || node.named_child_count() == 1)
                     && lang.replaced_metavariable_regex().is_match(&content)
                 {
                     let regex = implicit_metavariable_regex(
@@ -538,14 +539,17 @@ impl Pattern {
                             )
                         })
                         .collect::<Result<Vec<Pattern>>>()?;
-                    // assumes that non multiple field has exactly one element
+
                     // TODO check if Pattern is Dots, and error at compile time,
                     // dots only makes sense in a list.
-                    if !field.multiple() {
-                        let lang = lang.get_ts_language();
-                        let field_name = lang.field_name_for_id(field_id).unwrap();
-                        let message = format!("field {} was empty!", field_name);
-                        return Ok((field_id, false, nodes_list.pop().expect(&message)));
+                    if !field.multiple() {    
+                        if nodes_list.len() == 1 {
+                            return Ok((field_id, false, nodes_list.pop().unwrap()));
+                        }
+                        let field_node = node.child_by_field_id(field_id).unwrap();
+                        return Ok((field_id, false,  Pattern::AstLeafNode(AstLeafNode::new(
+                            field_node.kind_id(), node_text(str::from_utf8(text).unwrap(), &field_node), lang,
+                        )?)));
                     }
                     if nodes_list.len() == 1
                         && matches!(

crates/core/src/pattern/variable.rs

@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ fn register_variable_optional_range(
         }
         return Ok(Variable::new(GLOBAL_VARS_SCOPE_INDEX, *i));
     }
-    let (name_map, scope_index) = if name.starts_with("$GLOBAL_") {
+    let (name_map, scope_index) = if name.starts_with("$GLOBAL_") || name.starts_with("^GLOBAL_") {
         (global_vars, GLOBAL_VARS_SCOPE_INDEX)
     } else {
         (vars, scope_index)

crates/language/src/language.rs

@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ pub trait Language {
                 "..." => GritMetaValue::Dots,
                 _ => {
                     let mut s = s.to_owned();
-                    s.insert_str(0, GRIT_METAVARIABLE_PREFIX);
+                    s.insert_str(0, self.metavariable_prefix());
                     GritMetaValue::Variable(s)
                 }
             })
@@ -414,11 +414,10 @@ impl SnippetTree {
             }
             // sanity check to avoid infinite loop
             if snippet_root.id() == id {
-                if snippet_root
+                if !snippet_root
                     .utf8_text(self.context.as_bytes())
                     .unwrap()
-                    .trim()
-                    != self.snippet.trim()
+                    .trim().contains(self.snippet.trim())
                 {
                     return None;
                 }
@@ -493,7 +492,7 @@ pub fn fields_for_nodes(language: &TSLanguage, types: &str) -> Vec<Vec<Field>> {
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::nodes_from_indices;
-    use crate::{language::Language, php::Php, tsx::Tsx};
+    use crate::{language::Language, tsx::Tsx};
     use tree_sitter::Parser;
     use trim_margin::MarginTrimmable;
 
@@ -536,14 +535,6 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(subbed, "µfoo$('µbar')");
     }
 
-    #[test]
-    fn test_php_substitute_variable() {
-        let snippet = "$foo$('$bar')";
-        let lang = Php::new(None);
-        let subbed = lang.substitute_metavariable_prefix(snippet);
-        assert_eq!(subbed, "µ[foo]$('µ[bar]')");
-    }
-
     #[test]
     fn test_substitute_variable_template() {
         let snippet = r#"