a62513cab1b5fe7ee649f49c7ac065a0d4b5336b
diff --git a/scripts/p620/snapshot-tests.ts b/scripts/p620/snapshot-tests.ts
index 588f22994aa53b2ace497861d0ad52164d8f5327..e4968cb4fd48484967af83d45843f1827ccf6f73 100644
--- a/scripts/p620/snapshot-tests.ts
+++ b/scripts/p620/snapshot-tests.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
 import { existsSync, mkdirSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { resolve } from "node:path";
+import { stripStringsAndComments } from "../../src/c32_sama_verify.ts";
 
 const REPO_ROOT = resolve(import.meta.dir, "..", "..");
 const OWNER = "syntaxai";
@@ -100,9 +101,17 @@ interface PlaceholderTest {
 // the catch is the common failure shape, not every theoretical one.
 const findPlaceholderTests = (testFile: string, content: string): PlaceholderTest[] => {
   const out: PlaceholderTest[] = [];
+  // Strip strings & comments to a same-length whitespace mask. Used
+  // below to skip any test()/it() match whose keyword sits inside a
+  // string literal (the c32_sama_verify.test.ts fixtures hold real
+  // test source as backtick strings — those aren't real tests).
+  const mask = stripStringsAndComments(content);
   const re = /\b(test|it)\s*\(\s*(["'`])((?:\\.|(?!\2).)*)\2\s*,\s*(?:async\s+)?(?:\([^)]*\)|[^=()]*?)\s*=>\s*\{/g;
   let m: RegExpExecArray | null;
   while ((m = re.exec(content)) !== null) {
+    // If the match position is whitespace in the mask, the original
+    // was inside a string or comment — skip.
+    if (mask[m.index] === " " || mask[m.index] === "\n") continue;
     const name = m[3] ?? "";
     const startBrace = re.lastIndex - 1;
     let depth = 1;
diff --git a/src/c32_sama_verify.ts b/src/c32_sama_verify.ts
index 70f78c10eea1d058d485be31ad1544a74417d3ae..0564493da312bde26ba6a477c4409a9306ca2de9 100644
--- a/src/c32_sama_verify.ts
+++ b/src/c32_sama_verify.ts
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ const SAMA_PREFIX = /^c(\d{2})_/;
 // is the cheapest reliable fix for the test-fixture false-positive:
 // import strings and `test(...)` patterns inside literals/comments
 // would otherwise trigger Sorted/Atomic violations.
-const stripStringsAndComments = (src: string): string => {
+export const stripStringsAndComments = (src: string): string => {
   let out = "";
   let i = 0;
   while (i < src.length) {