diff --git a/config/menus/vars.cfg b/config/menus/vars.cfg
index 66bcf8dae..218760c3c 100644
--- a/config/menus/vars.cfg
+++ b/config/menus/vars.cfg
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ menu_variables =  [
                             q = (+ $variable_index $i)
                             if (< $q $numvars) [
                                 curvar = (getvarinfo $q $variable_types $variable_no_types $variable_flags $variable_no_flags $variable_search_text)
-                                hilvar = (stringreplace $curvar $variable_search_text (format "^fs^fy%1^fS" $variable_search_text))
+                                hilvar = (string_highlight_list $curvar $variable_search_text "^fs^fy" "^fS")
                                 ui_list [ ui_radiobutton $hilvar variable_number $q ]
                             ] [ ui_strut 1 ]
                         ]
diff --git a/config/usage.cfg b/config/usage.cfg
index afcc7f6cb..7c92d29a1 100644
--- a/config/usage.cfg
+++ b/config/usage.cfg
@@ -715,6 +715,7 @@ setdesc "stringlen" "returns the length of string;^nexample: stringlen ^"four^""
 setdesc "stringncasecmp" "returns true when the first count characters of string1 and string2 are equal ignoring case;^nexample: stringncasecmp ^"str^" ^"StRiNg^" 3" "string1 string2 count"
 setdesc "stringncmp" "returns true when the first count characters of string1 and string2 are equal;^nexample: stringncmp ^"str^" ^"string^" 3" "string1 string2 count"
 setdesc "stringreplace" "returns string with all occurrences of search replaced with replace;^nexample: stringreplace ^"misspelled sring^" ^"sring^" ^"string^"" "string search replace"
+setdesc "string_highlight_list" "returns string with all occurrences of words in string surrounded by before and after;^nexample: string_highlight_list ^"abcdefghi^" ^"b efg gh^" ^"<^" ^">^"  // this returns ^"a<b>cd<efgh>i^"" "string words before after"
 setdesc "stringstr" "returns the index of search in string;^nexample: stringstr ^"long string^" ^"str^"" "string search"
 setdesc "substring" "returns a substringing of string starting at start and continuing to the end or for count characters;^nexample: substring ^"string^" 2 3" "string start [count]"
 setdesc "concat" "returns all values concatenated with a space between each argument;^nexample: concat hello (getname)" "value..."
diff --git a/src/engine/command.cpp b/src/engine/command.cpp
index 705e9577c..b3df12ac6 100644
--- a/src/engine/command.cpp
+++ b/src/engine/command.cpp
@@ -3475,6 +3475,63 @@ char *strreplace(const char *s, const char *oldval, const char *newval)
 
 ICOMMAND(0, stringreplace, "sss", (char *s, char *o, char *n), commandret->setstr(strreplace(s, o, n)));
 
+// Surrounds all occurrences in `s` of the words in `words` with `before` and `after`.
+// Words that overlap will be merged and count as one big word.
+// Example: string_highlight_list("abcdefghi", "b efg gh", "<", ">")
+//          returns "a<b>cd<efgh>i".
+char *string_highlight_list(const char *s, const char *words, const char *before, const char *after)
+{
+    if(!s || !*s) return newstring("");
+
+    std::vector<std::string> word_list;
+    explodelist(words, word_list);
+    size_t s_len = strlen(s);
+    char *highlight_mask = new char[s_len];  // This is a byte array, not string
+    memset(highlight_mask, 0, s_len);
+
+    // First mark the characters that will be highlighted.
+    for(const std::string &word : word_list)
+    {
+        for(size_t s_i = 0; s_i < s_len; s_i++)
+        {
+            char *mp = &highlight_mask[s_i];
+            const char *cp = &s[s_i];
+            if(strncmp(word.c_str(), cp, word.length()) == 0)
+            {
+                memset(mp, 1, word.length());
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    std::string replaced;
+    replaced.reserve(s_len);
+    char prev_m = 0;
+    // Now do the replacing using highlight_mask to see where the highlights start and end.
+    for(size_t s_i = 0; s_i < s_len; s_i++)
+    {
+        char m = highlight_mask[s_i];
+        char c = s[s_i];
+        // Start highlighting
+        if(m && !prev_m)
+        {
+            replaced += before;
+        }
+        // End highlighting
+        else if(!m && prev_m)
+        {
+            replaced += after;
+        }
+        replaced += c;
+        prev_m = m;
+    }
+    if(highlight_mask[s_len - 1]) replaced += after;
+
+    delete[] highlight_mask;
+    return newstring(replaced.c_str(), replaced.length());
+}
+
+ICOMMAND(0, string_highlight_list, "ssss", (char *s, char *words, char *before, char *after), commandret->setstr(string_highlight_list(s, words, before, after)));
+
 void stringsplice(const char *s, const char *vals, int *skip, int *count)
 {
     int slen = strlen(s), vlen = strlen(vals),
@@ -3579,11 +3636,24 @@ void getvarinfo(int n, int types, int notypes, int flags, int noflags, char *str
     }
     if(str && *str)
     {
+        std::vector<std::string> words;
+        explodelist(str, words);
         static char *laststr = NULL;
         if(ids[1].empty() || !laststr || strcmp(str, laststr))
         {
             ids[1].setsize(0);
-            loopv(ids[0]) if(rigcasestr(ids[0][i]->name, str)) ids[1].add(ids[0][i]);
+            loopv(ids[0])
+            {
+                bool matches = true;
+                for (const std::string &word : words)
+                {
+                    if(!rigcasestr(ids[0][i]->name, word.c_str()))
+                    {
+                        matches = false;
+                    }
+                }
+                if(matches) ids[1].add(ids[0][i]);
+            }
             if(laststr) DELETEA(laststr);
             laststr = newstring(str);
         }