diff --git a/doc/nanorc.sample b/doc/nanorc.sample
index 43855b16..52fbdfd0 100644
--- a/doc/nanorc.sample
+++ b/doc/nanorc.sample
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@
 # color brightyellow "\<(try|throw|catch|operator|new|delete)\>"
 # color magenta "\<(goto|continue|break|return)\>"
 # color brightcyan "^[[:space:]]*#[[:space:]]*(define|undef|include|ifn?def|endif|elif|else|if|warning|error)"
-# color brightmagenta "'([^'\]|(\\["'abfnrtv\\]))'" "'\\(([0-7]{,2})|([0-3][0-7]{,2}))'" "'\\x[0-9A-Fa-f]{,2}'"
+# color brightmagenta "'([^'\]|(\\["'abfnrtv\\]))'" "'\\(([0-3]?[0-7]{,2}))'" "'\\x[0-9A-Fa-f]{,2}'"
 ##
 ## GCC builtins
 ##