diff --git a/syntax/ruby.nanorc b/syntax/ruby.nanorc
index 02de0e64..69a6e626 100644
--- a/syntax/ruby.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/ruby.nanorc
@@ -16,20 +16,22 @@ color yellow "\<(next|nil|not|or|redo|rescue|retry|return|self|super|then|true|u
 color magenta "([ 	]|^):[0-9A-Za-z_]+\>"
 # Some unique things we want to stand out.
 color brightyellow "\<(__FILE__|__LINE__)\>"
+
 # Regular expressions.
-color brightmagenta "/([^/]|(\\/))*/[iomx]*" "%r\{([^}]|(\\}))*\}[iomx]*"
-# Shell command expansion is in `backticks` or like %x{this}.  These are
-# "double-quotish" (to use a perlism).
-color brightblue "`[^`]*`" "%x\{[^}]*\}"
+color brightmagenta "(/([^/]|\\/)*/|%r\{([^}]|\\\})*\})[iomx]*"
+# Shell command expansion is in `backticks` or like %x{this}.
+color brightblue "`[^`]*`|%x\{[^}]*\}"
+
 # Strings, double-quoted.
-color green ""([^"]|(\\"))*"" "%[QW]?\{[^}]*\}" "%[QW]?\([^)]*\)" "%[QW]?<[^>]*>" "%[QW]?\[[^]]*\]" "%[QW]?\$[^$]*\$" "%[QW]?\^[^^]*\^" "%[QW]?![^!]*!"
-# Expression substitution.  These go inside double-quoted strings,
-# "like #{this}".
+color green ""([^"]|\\")*"" "%[QW]?(\{[^}]*\}|\([^)]*\)|<[^>]*>|\[[^]]*\]|\$[^$]*\$|\^[^^]*\^|![^!]*!)"
+# Expression substitution for inside double-quoted strings, "like #{this}".
 color brightgreen "#\{[^}]*\}"
 # Strings, single-quoted.
-color green "'([^']|(\\'))*'" "%[qw]\{[^}]*\}" "%[qw]\([^)]*\)" "%[qw]<[^>]*>" "%[qw]\[[^]]*\]" "%[qw]\$[^$]*\$" "%[qw]\^[^^]*\^" "%[qw]![^!]*!"
+color green "'([^']|\\')*'" "%[qw](\{[^}]*\}|\([^)]*\)|<[^>]*>|\[[^]]*\]|\$[^$]*\$|\^[^^]*\^|![^!]*!)"
+
 # Comments.
-color cyan "#[^{].*" "#$"
-color brightcyan "##[^{].*" "##$"
+color cyan "#([^{].*|$)"
+color brightcyan "##([^{].*|$)"
+
 # Some common markers.
 color brightcyan "XXX|TODO|FIXME|\?\?\?"