diff --git a/.eslintrc.js b/.eslintrc.js
index 4b354fe2d986ff..2f47ada5001739 100644
--- a/.eslintrc.js
+++ b/.eslintrc.js
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ module.exports = {
 							'dropRight',
 							'each',
 							'findIndex',
+							'findKey',
 							'flatten',
 							'isArray',
 							'isFinite',
diff --git a/packages/block-editor/src/components/rich-text/use-input-rules.js b/packages/block-editor/src/components/rich-text/use-input-rules.js
index 719bba1caa2740..b2b1800ef037d4 100644
--- a/packages/block-editor/src/components/rich-text/use-input-rules.js
+++ b/packages/block-editor/src/components/rich-text/use-input-rules.js
@@ -1,8 +1,3 @@
-/**
- * External dependencies
- */
-import { findKey } from 'lodash';
-
 /**
  * WordPress dependencies
  */
@@ -17,21 +12,17 @@ import { useDispatch } from '@wordpress/data';
  */
 import { store as blockEditorStore } from '../../store';
 import { preventEventDiscovery } from './prevent-event-discovery';
-
-// A robust way to retain selection position through various
-// transforms is to insert a special character at the position and
-// then recover it.
-const START_OF_SELECTED_AREA = '\u0086';
+import {
+	retrieveSelectedAttribute,
+	START_OF_SELECTED_AREA,
+} from '../../utils/selection';
 
 function findSelection( blocks ) {
 	let i = blocks.length;
 
 	while ( i-- ) {
-		const attributeKey = findKey(
-			blocks[ i ].attributes,
-			( v ) =>
-				typeof v === 'string' &&
-				v.indexOf( START_OF_SELECTED_AREA ) !== -1
+		const attributeKey = retrieveSelectedAttribute(
+			blocks[ i ].attributes
 		);
 
 		if ( attributeKey ) {
diff --git a/packages/block-editor/src/store/actions.js b/packages/block-editor/src/store/actions.js
index 213b9824636591..e20872ca78a817 100644
--- a/packages/block-editor/src/store/actions.js
+++ b/packages/block-editor/src/store/actions.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /**
  * External dependencies
  */
-import { castArray, findKey, first, isObject, last, some } from 'lodash';
+import { castArray, first, isObject, last, some } from 'lodash';
 
 /**
  * WordPress dependencies
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ import deprecated from '@wordpress/deprecated';
  * Internal dependencies
  */
 import { mapRichTextSettings } from './utils';
+import {
+	retrieveSelectedAttribute,
+	START_OF_SELECTED_AREA,
+} from '../utils/selection';
 
 /**
  * Action which will insert a default block insert action if there
@@ -771,10 +775,6 @@ export const __unstableDeleteSelection =
 			...mapRichTextSettings( attributeDefinitionB ),
 		} );
 
-		// A robust way to retain selection position through various transforms
-		// is to insert a special character at the position and then recover it.
-		const START_OF_SELECTED_AREA = '\u0086';
-
 		valueA = remove( valueA, selectionA.offset, valueA.text.length );
 		valueB = insert( valueB, START_OF_SELECTED_AREA, 0, selectionB.offset );
 
@@ -822,12 +822,7 @@ export const __unstableDeleteSelection =
 			);
 		}
 
-		const newAttributeKey = findKey(
-			updatedAttributes,
-			( v ) =>
-				typeof v === 'string' &&
-				v.indexOf( START_OF_SELECTED_AREA ) !== -1
-		);
+		const newAttributeKey = retrieveSelectedAttribute( updatedAttributes );
 
 		const convertedHtml = updatedAttributes[ newAttributeKey ];
 		const convertedValue = create( {
@@ -1052,10 +1047,6 @@ export const mergeBlocks =
 			}
 		}
 
-		// A robust way to retain selection position through various transforms
-		// is to insert a special character at the position and then recover it.
-		const START_OF_SELECTED_AREA = '\u0086';
-
 		// Clone the blocks so we don't insert the character in a "live" block.
 		const cloneA = cloneBlock( blockA );
 		const cloneB = cloneBlock( blockB );
@@ -1098,12 +1089,8 @@ export const mergeBlocks =
 		);
 
 		if ( canRestoreTextSelection ) {
-			const newAttributeKey = findKey(
-				updatedAttributes,
-				( v ) =>
-					typeof v === 'string' &&
-					v.indexOf( START_OF_SELECTED_AREA ) !== -1
-			);
+			const newAttributeKey =
+				retrieveSelectedAttribute( updatedAttributes );
 			const convertedHtml = updatedAttributes[ newAttributeKey ];
 			const convertedValue = create( {
 				html: convertedHtml,
diff --git a/packages/block-editor/src/utils/selection.js b/packages/block-editor/src/utils/selection.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..68c634d591c5e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/block-editor/src/utils/selection.js
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+/**
+ * A robust way to retain selection position through various
+ * transforms is to insert a special character at the position and
+ * then recover it.
+ */
+export const START_OF_SELECTED_AREA = '\u0086';
+
+/**
+ * Retrieve the block attribute that contains the selection position.
+ *
+ * @param {Object} blockAttributes Block attributes.
+ * @return {string|void} The name of the block attribute that was previously selected.
+ */
+export function retrieveSelectedAttribute( blockAttributes ) {
+	if ( ! blockAttributes ) {
+		return;
+	}
+
+	return Object.keys( blockAttributes ).find( ( name ) => {
+		const value = blockAttributes[ name ];
+		return (
+			typeof value === 'string' &&
+			value.indexOf( START_OF_SELECTED_AREA ) !== -1
+		);
+	} );
+}
diff --git a/packages/block-editor/src/utils/test/selection.js b/packages/block-editor/src/utils/test/selection.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..484ad201b14fff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/block-editor/src/utils/test/selection.js
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/**
+ * Internal dependencies
+ */
+import {
+	retrieveSelectedAttribute,
+	START_OF_SELECTED_AREA,
+} from '../selection';
+
+describe( 'retrieveSelectedAttribute', () => {
+	it( 'returns undefined if block attributes are not an object', () => {
+		expect( retrieveSelectedAttribute( undefined ) ).toBeUndefined();
+		expect( retrieveSelectedAttribute( null ) ).toBeUndefined();
+	} );
+
+	it( 'returns the block attribute name if it contains the selection position character', () => {
+		const blockAttributes = {
+			foo: `this is not selected`,
+			bar: `this${ START_OF_SELECTED_AREA }is selected`,
+		};
+		expect( retrieveSelectedAttribute( blockAttributes ) ).toBe( 'bar' );
+	} );
+
+	it( 'returns the first block attribute that contains the selection position character', () => {
+		const blockAttributes = {
+			foo: `this is not selected`,
+			bar: `this${ START_OF_SELECTED_AREA }is selected`,
+			baz: `this${ START_OF_SELECTED_AREA }is selected`,
+		};
+		expect( retrieveSelectedAttribute( blockAttributes ) ).toBe( 'bar' );
+	} );
+
+	it( 'returns undefined if no block attribute contains the selection position character', () => {
+		const blockAttributes = {
+			foo: `this is not selected`,
+			bar: `this is not selected either`,
+		};
+		expect( retrieveSelectedAttribute( blockAttributes ) ).toBeUndefined();
+	} );
+} );