Index: gc_core/js/lang_core/gc_engine.js
==================================================================
--- gc_core/js/lang_core/gc_engine.js
+++ gc_core/js/lang_core/gc_engine.js
@@ -475,39 +475,39 @@
 
 // warning: check compile_rules.py to understand how it works
 
 function nextword (s, iStart, n) {
     // get the nth word of the input string or empty string
-    let z = new RegExp("^( +[a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st%_-]+){" + (n-1).toString() + "} +([a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st%_-]+)", "i");
+    let z = new RegExp("^(?: +[a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st%_-]+){" + (n-1).toString() + "} +([a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st%_-]+)", "ig");
     let m = z.exec(s.slice(iStart));
     if (!m) {
         return null;
     }
-    return [iStart + RegExp.lastIndex - m[2].length, m[2]];
+    return [iStart + z.lastIndex - m[1].length, m[1]];
 }
 
 function prevword (s, iEnd, n) {
     // get the (-)nth word of the input string or empty string
-    let z = new RegExp("([a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st%_-]+) +([a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st%_-]+ +){" + (n-1).toString() + "}$", "i");
+    let z = new RegExp("([a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st%_-]+) +(?:[a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st%_-]+ +){" + (n-1).toString() + "}$", "i");
     let m = z.exec(s.slice(0, iEnd));
     if (!m) {
         return null;
     }
     return [m.index, m[1]];
 }
 
-const _zNextWord = new RegExp ("^ +([a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st_][a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st_-]*)", "i");
-const _zPrevWord = new RegExp ("([a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st_][a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st_-]*) +$", "i");
-
 function nextword1 (s, iStart) {
     // get next word (optimization)
+    let _zNextWord = new RegExp ("^ +([a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st_][a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st_-]*)", "ig");
     let m = _zNextWord.exec(s.slice(iStart));
     if (!m) {
         return null;
     }
-    return [iStart + RegExp.lastIndex - m[1].length, m[1]];
+    return [iStart + _zNextWord.lastIndex - m[1].length, m[1]];
 }
+
+const _zPrevWord = new RegExp ("([a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st_][a-zà-öA-Zø-ÿÀ-Ö0-9Ø-ßĀ-ʯfi-st_-]*) +$", "i");
 
 function prevword1 (s, iEnd) {
     // get previous word (optimization)
     //echo("prev1, s:"+s);
     //echo("prev1, s.slice(0, iEnd):"+s.slice(0, iEnd));

Index: gc_core/py/lang_core/gc_engine.py
==================================================================
--- gc_core/py/lang_core/gc_engine.py
+++ gc_core/py/lang_core/gc_engine.py
@@ -472,19 +472,19 @@
 
 # warning: check compile_rules.py to understand how it works
 
 def nextword (s, iStart, n):
     "get the nth word of the input string or empty string"
-    m = re.match("( +[\\w%-]+){" + str(n-1) + "} +([\\w%-]+)", s[iStart:])
+    m = re.match("(?: +[\\w%-]+){" + str(n-1) + "} +([\\w%-]+)", s[iStart:])
     if not m:
         return None
-    return (iStart+m.start(2), m.group(2))
+    return (iStart+m.start(1), m.group(1))
 
 
 def prevword (s, iEnd, n):
     "get the (-)nth word of the input string or empty string"
-    m = re.search("([\\w%-]+) +([\\w%-]+ +){" + str(n-1) + "}$", s[:iEnd])
+    m = re.search("([\\w%-]+) +(?:[\\w%-]+ +){" + str(n-1) + "}$", s[:iEnd])
     if not m:
         return None
     return (m.start(1), m.group(1))