diff --git a/syft/pkg/cataloger/javascript/parse_yarn_lock.go b/syft/pkg/cataloger/javascript/parse_yarn_lock.go
index 36e8ae4c0..eb6cb0539 100644
--- a/syft/pkg/cataloger/javascript/parse_yarn_lock.go
+++ b/syft/pkg/cataloger/javascript/parse_yarn_lock.go
@@ -15,9 +15,18 @@ import (
 var _ common.ParserFn = parseYarnLock
 
 var (
+	// composedNameExp matches the "composed" variant of yarn.lock entry names,
+	// where the name appears in quotes and is prefixed with @<some-namespace>.
+	// For example: "@babel/code-frame@^7.0.0"
 	composedNameExp = regexp.MustCompile(`^"(@[^@]+)`)
-	simpleNameExp   = regexp.MustCompile(`^(\w[\w-_.]*)@`)
-	versionExp      = regexp.MustCompile(`^\W+version\W+"([\w-_.]+)"`)
+
+	// simpleNameExp matches the "simple" variant of yarn.lock entry names, for packages with no namespace prefix.
+	// For example: aws-sdk@2.706.0
+	simpleNameExp = regexp.MustCompile(`^(\w[\w-_.]*)@`)
+
+	// versionExp matches the "version" line of a yarn.lock entry and captures the version value.
+	// For example: version "4.10.1" (...and the value "4.10.1" is captured)
+	versionExp = regexp.MustCompile(`^\W+version\W+"([\w-_.]+)"`)
 )
 
 const (