diff --git a/soundchanger.js b/soundchanger.js
index be8dcce..ccb236a 100644
--- a/soundchanger.js
+++ b/soundchanger.js
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ function handleFormSubmit(event) {
     const categories = {
         "V": ["i", "y", "ɨ", "ʉ", "ɯ", "u", "ɪ", "ʏ", "ʊ", "e", "ø", "ɘ", "ɵ", "ɤ", "o", "ə", "ɛ", "œ", "ɜ", "ɞ", "ʌ", "ɔ", "æ", "ɐ", "a", "ɶ", "ä", "ɑ", "ɒ"]
     }
-    const zeroCharacters = '∅-'
+    const zeroCharacters = ["∅", "-"]
 
     const result = apply(changes, strings, categories, zeroCharacters)
     displayResult(result)
@@ -21,10 +21,7 @@ function handleFormSubmit(event) {
     }
 }
 
-export function apply(changes, strings, categories={}, zeroCharacters='∅-') {
-    changes = Array.isArray(changes) ? changes : [changes]
-    strings = Array.isArray(strings) ? [...strings] : [strings]
-
+export function apply(changes, strings, categories={}, zeroCharacters=["∅", "-"]) {
     for (const change of changes) {
         let reformattedChange = reformatChangeToRegex(change, categories, zeroCharacters)
         const [original, changeTo, before, after] = splitChange(reformattedChange)
@@ -33,11 +30,13 @@ export function apply(changes, strings, categories={}, zeroCharacters='∅-') {
             console.log(`Failed to apply change "${change}".`)
             continue
         }
-        const pattern = `(?<=${before})(${original})(?=${after})`
+        let pattern = before == "#" ? "^" : `(?<=${before})`
+        pattern += `(${original})`
+        pattern += after == "#" ? "$" : `(?=${after})`
 
-        strings = strings.map(string => {
-            return `#${string}#`.replace(new RegExp(pattern, 'g'), changeTo).replace(/#/g, '').trim()
-        })
+        strings = strings.map(
+            string => string.replace(new RegExp(pattern, 'g'), changeTo)
+        )
     }
     return strings
 }
@@ -47,23 +46,18 @@ function displayResult(result) {
     resultElement.innerText = result.join('\n')
 }
 
-export function reformatChangeToRegex(change, categories = {}, zeroCharacters = '∅-') {
-    const regexEscape = (str) => str.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&')
+export function reformatChangeToRegex(change, categories = {}, zeroCharacters = ["∅", "-"]) {
     const replacements = { ' ': '', '{': '(', '}': ')', ',': '|' }
 
     for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(replacements)) {
-        change = change.replace(new RegExp(regexEscape(key), 'g'), value)
+        change = change.replace(key, value)
     }
 
     for (const [category, categoryValues] of Object.entries(categories)) {
-        const categoryPattern = new RegExp(regexEscape(category), 'g')
-        change = change.replace(categoryPattern, `(${categoryValues.join('|')})`)
-        change = change.replace(new RegExp(`((?<=,)${regexEscape(category)})|(${regexEscape(category)}(?=,))`, 'g'), categoryValues.join('|'))
+        change = change.replace(category, `(${categoryValues.join('|')})`)
     }
 
-    for (const char of zeroCharacters) {
-        change = change.replace(new RegExp(regexEscape(char), 'g'), '')
-    }
+    change = change.replace(new RegExp(`(${zeroCharacters.join('|')})`, 'g'), '')
 
     return change
 }
diff --git a/tests/apply.test.js b/tests/apply.test.js
index 1af55ff..b23a9ef 100644
--- a/tests/apply.test.js
+++ b/tests/apply.test.js
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ describe('apply', () => {
     it('Simple change to zero', () => {
         const strings = ["a", "ba", "aba"]
         const result = ["", "b", "b"]
-        const changes = ["a>∅", "a>-", "a>"]
+        const changes = ["a>∅", "a>-", "a>", "a> "]
 
         for (const change of changes) {
             expect(apply(
@@ -38,4 +38,19 @@ describe('apply', () => {
             {"A": ["a", "b"]},
         )).toEqual(["b", "bb", "bbc"])
     })
+    it('Change with curly braces', () => {
+        expect(apply(
+            ["{a,b}>c"],
+            ["abc", "bcd"],
+        )).toEqual(["ccc", "ccd"])
+        expect(apply(
+            ["a>b/{c, d}_"],
+            ["aa", "ca", "da"],
+        )).toEqual(["aa", "cb", "db"])
+        expect(apply(
+            ["d>e/{A}_"],
+            ["ad", "bd", "cd"],
+            {"A": ["a", "B"], "B": ["b", "c"]},
+        )).toEqual(["ae", "be", "ce"])
+    })
 })