C_NUMBER_RE has incorrect behavior with unary `-`

That makes sense.

I modeled my regex after the C_NUMBER_RE which starts with -?: https://github.com/highlightjs/highlight.js/blob/3a2934d7e7af99631527bf55465fa229522735b9/src/lib/modes.js#L8

_Originally posted by @Hirse in https://github.com/highlightjs/highlight.js/pull/2808#discussion_r528422486_

[joshgoebel]

Ah okay so you want to exclude - from the number token globally.

Yes, that has been the general rule because it’s mostly impossible to simply know if the - is an operator or a unary on a number (without being a full parser).

We can’t look backwards yet… so all we see is “-3”… so is that:

[operator]- [number]3
OR
[number]-3

Just flagged it as an operator always (or not flagging it at all) has the appears of us making fewer ‘mistakes’.

[joshgoebel]

Huh? Not sure I’m following. If that was program code the - would be an operator and the 8 would be a number in many languages.

The discussion here is about changing the C_NUMBER to exclude - from the beginning of numbers - like our general policy has been.