Highlight [[var]] and code only in strings and comments

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 * [#709](https://github.com/clojure-emacs/clojure-mode/pull/709): Fix `clojure-get-indent-spec` and `put-clojure-indent` converting legacy indent specs, like those of `letfn`, `reify` or `extend-protocol`, to the wrong modern rules.
 * [#709](https://github.com/clojure-emacs/clojure-mode/pull/709): Fix indenting with a modern indent spec that has an `:inner` rule with a position but no `:block` rule, like `((:inner 1 0))`, which signaled an error.
 * [#711](https://github.com/clojure-emacs/clojure-mode/pull/711): Fix the indentation of `letfn` functions, and of other forms an `:inner` rule with an index applies to, when a `#_` form comes before them, as the discarded form and its `#_` counted as two arguments.
+* [#707](https://github.com/clojure-emacs/clojure-mode/issues/707): Highlight `[[var]]` and `` `code` `` only in strings and comments, so Datalog relation bindings like `[[?x]]` and destructuring like `(fn [[x]] x)` aren't colored as constants in code.
 
 ## 5.23.0 (2026-03-25)
 

clojure-mode.el

@@ -1226,12 +1226,18 @@ whether the paren is a direct child of a letfn binding vector."
              'clojure-discard-face font-lock-comment-face)
        t)
       ;; Highlight `code` marks, just like `elisp'.
-      (,(rx "`" (group-n 1 (optional "#'")
-                         (+ (or (syntax symbol) (syntax word)))) "`")
+      (,(lambda (bound)
+          (clojure--search-in-string-or-comment
+           (rx "`" (group-n 1 (optional "#'")
+                            (+ (or (syntax symbol) (syntax word)))) "`")
+           bound))
        (1 'font-lock-constant-face prepend))
       ;; Highlight [[var]] comments
-      (,(rx "[[" (group-n 1 (optional "#'")
-                          (+ (or (syntax symbol) (syntax word)))) "]]")
+      (,(lambda (bound)
+          (clojure--search-in-string-or-comment
+           (rx "[[" (group-n 1 (optional "#'")
+                             (+ (or (syntax symbol) (syntax word)))) "]]")
+           bound))
        (1 'font-lock-constant-face prepend))
       ;; Highlight escaped characters in strings.
       (clojure-font-lock-escaped-chars 0 'bold prepend)
@@ -1374,6 +1380,19 @@ preceded by a #."
             ;; When regexp is nil, match any string (both #"..." and "...").
             string-beg))))))
 
+(defun clojure--search-in-string-or-comment (regexp bound)
+  "Search forward for REGEXP in a string or a comment, up to BOUND.
+In code, the same text can be something else entirely, like the
+[[?x]] relation binding of a Datalog query."
+  (let ((found nil))
+    (while (and (not found)
+                (re-search-forward regexp bound t))
+      (setq found (save-match-data
+                    (save-excursion
+                      (ppss-comment-or-string-start
+                       (syntax-ppss (match-beginning 0)))))))
+    found))
+
 (defun clojure-font-lock-escaped-chars (bound)
   "Highlight \\escaped chars in strings.
 BOUND denotes a buffer position to limit the search."

test/clojure-mode-font-lock-test.el

@@ -183,6 +183,16 @@ DESCRIPTION is the description of the spec."
      (4 11 (font-lock-constant-face font-lock-comment-face))
      (12 13 font-lock-comment-face)))
 
+  (when-fontifying-it "should leave double brackets and backticks alone in code"
+    ("(fn [[x]] x)"
+     (7 7 nil))
+
+    ("[(q '[:find (min ?d)] $) [[?d]]]"
+     (28 29 nil))
+
+    ("(list `a`b)"
+     (8 8 nil)))
+
   (when-fontifying-it "should fontify let, when, and while type forms"
     ("(when-alist [x 1]\n  ())"
      ("when-alist" font-lock-keyword-face))