diff --git a/packages/cursorless-engine/src/processTargets/modifiers/scopeHandlers/CharacterScopeHandler.ts b/packages/cursorless-engine/src/processTargets/modifiers/scopeHandlers/CharacterScopeHandler.ts
index 42d972409a..15caab5bd7 100644
--- a/packages/cursorless-engine/src/processTargets/modifiers/scopeHandlers/CharacterScopeHandler.ts
+++ b/packages/cursorless-engine/src/processTargets/modifiers/scopeHandlers/CharacterScopeHandler.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
+import { Direction, ScopeType } from "@cursorless/common";
 import { imap } from "itertools";
 import { NestedScopeHandler } from ".";
-import { generateMatchesInRange } from "../../../util/getMatchesInRange";
-import { Direction, ScopeType } from "@cursorless/common";
 import { getMatcher } from "../../../tokenizer";
-import { testRegex } from "../../../util/regex";
+import { generateMatchesInRange } from "../../../util/getMatchesInRange";
 import { PlainTarget } from "../../targets";
+import { isPreferredOverHelper } from "./isPreferredOverHelper";
 import type { TargetScope } from "./scope.types";
 
 /**
@@ -50,37 +50,13 @@ export class CharacterScopeHandler extends NestedScopeHandler {
     scopeA: TargetScope,
     scopeB: TargetScope,
   ): boolean | undefined {
-    const {
-      editor: { document },
-    } = scopeA;
     const { identifierMatcher } = getMatcher(this.languageId);
-
-    const textA = document.getText(scopeA.domain);
-    const textB = document.getText(scopeB.domain);
-
     // Regexes indicating preferences.  We prefer identifiers, preferred
     // symbols, then nonwhitespace.
-    const matchers = [
+    return isPreferredOverHelper(scopeA, scopeB, [
       identifierMatcher,
       PREFERRED_SYMBOLS_REGEX,
       NONWHITESPACE_REGEX,
-    ];
-
-    for (const matcher of matchers) {
-      // NB: Don't directly use `test` here because global regexes are stateful
-      // See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/RegExp/exec#finding_successive_matches
-      const aMatchesRegex = testRegex(matcher, textA);
-      const bMatchesRegex = testRegex(matcher, textB);
-
-      if (aMatchesRegex && !bMatchesRegex) {
-        return true;
-      }
-
-      if (bMatchesRegex && !aMatchesRegex) {
-        return false;
-      }
-    }
-
-    return undefined;
+    ]);
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/cursorless-engine/src/processTargets/modifiers/scopeHandlers/TokenScopeHandler.ts b/packages/cursorless-engine/src/processTargets/modifiers/scopeHandlers/TokenScopeHandler.ts
index 43212f80db..38e00dca88 100644
--- a/packages/cursorless-engine/src/processTargets/modifiers/scopeHandlers/TokenScopeHandler.ts
+++ b/packages/cursorless-engine/src/processTargets/modifiers/scopeHandlers/TokenScopeHandler.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
+import { Direction } from "@cursorless/common";
 import { imap } from "itertools";
 import { NestedScopeHandler } from ".";
-import { generateMatchesInRange } from "../../../util/getMatchesInRange";
-import { Direction } from "@cursorless/common";
 import { getMatcher } from "../../../tokenizer";
-import { testRegex } from "../../../util/regex";
+import { generateMatchesInRange } from "../../../util/getMatchesInRange";
 import { TokenTarget } from "../../targets";
+import { isPreferredOverHelper } from "./isPreferredOverHelper";
 import type { TargetScope } from "./scope.types";
 
 const PREFERRED_SYMBOLS_REGEX = /[$]/;
@@ -39,33 +39,12 @@ export class TokenScopeHandler extends NestedScopeHandler {
     scopeA: TargetScope,
     scopeB: TargetScope,
   ): boolean | undefined {
-    const {
-      editor: { document },
-    } = scopeA;
     const { identifierMatcher } = getMatcher(this.languageId);
-
-    const textA = document.getText(scopeA.domain);
-    const textB = document.getText(scopeB.domain);
-
     // Regexes indicating preferences.  We prefer identifiers then preferred
     // symbols.
-    const matchers = [identifierMatcher, PREFERRED_SYMBOLS_REGEX];
-
-    for (const matcher of matchers) {
-      // NB: Don't directly use `test` here because global regexes are stateful
-      // See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/RegExp/exec#finding_successive_matches
-      const aMatchesRegex = testRegex(matcher, textA);
-      const bMatchesRegex = testRegex(matcher, textB);
-
-      if (aMatchesRegex && !bMatchesRegex) {
-        return true;
-      }
-
-      if (bMatchesRegex && !aMatchesRegex) {
-        return false;
-      }
-    }
-
-    return undefined;
+    return isPreferredOverHelper(scopeA, scopeB, [
+      identifierMatcher,
+      PREFERRED_SYMBOLS_REGEX,
+    ]);
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/cursorless-engine/src/processTargets/modifiers/scopeHandlers/isPreferredOverHelper.ts b/packages/cursorless-engine/src/processTargets/modifiers/scopeHandlers/isPreferredOverHelper.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c82a1c11ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cursorless-engine/src/processTargets/modifiers/scopeHandlers/isPreferredOverHelper.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import { testRegex } from "../../../util/regex";
+import type { TargetScope } from "./scope.types";
+
+export function isPreferredOverHelper(
+  scopeA: TargetScope,
+  scopeB: TargetScope,
+  matchers: RegExp[],
+): boolean | undefined {
+  const {
+    editor: { document },
+  } = scopeA;
+  const textA = document.getText(scopeA.domain);
+  const textB = document.getText(scopeB.domain);
+
+  for (const matcher of matchers) {
+    // NB: Don't directly use `test` here because global regexes are stateful
+    // See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/RegExp/exec#finding_successive_matches
+    const aMatchesRegex = testRegex(matcher, textA);
+    const bMatchesRegex = testRegex(matcher, textB);
+
+    if (aMatchesRegex && !bMatchesRegex) {
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    if (bMatchesRegex && !aMatchesRegex) {
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return undefined;
+}