diff --git a/syntax/asm.nanorc b/syntax/asm.nanorc
index 4bcae332..d7386623 100644
--- a/syntax/asm.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/asm.nanorc
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ color brightred "^[[:blank:]]*[.0-9A-Za-z_]*:"
 color brightcyan "^[[:blank:]]*#[[:blank:]]*(define|undef|include|ifn?def|endif|elif|else|if|warning|error)"
 
 # Strings.
-color brightyellow "<[^= 	]*>|"(\\.|[^"\])*""
+color brightyellow "<[^= 	]*>|"([^"\]|\\.)*""
 
 # Comments.
 color brightblue "//.*"
diff --git a/syntax/awk.nanorc b/syntax/awk.nanorc
index 13b92c5f..02b6230e 100644
--- a/syntax/awk.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/awk.nanorc
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ color magenta "\<(and|compl|lshift|or|rshift|xor)\>"
 color magenta "\<(bindtextdomain|dcgettext|dcngettext)\>"
 
 # Strings.
-color brightyellow ""(\\.|[^"\])*""
+color brightyellow ""([^"\]|\\.)*""
 # Comments.
 color brightblue "(^|[[:blank:]])#.*"
 
diff --git a/syntax/elisp.nanorc b/syntax/elisp.nanorc
index 165ed6cd..7cb06896 100644
--- a/syntax/elisp.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/elisp.nanorc
@@ -28,6 +28,6 @@ color brightred "\<(t|nil)\>"
 color blue ":(\w|[?-])+"
 # Strings
 color yellow start="^[[:blank:]]+"" end="[^\]""
-color yellow ""(\\.|[^"\])*""
+color yellow ""([^"\]|\\.)*""
 # Comments
 color cyan "(^|[[:blank:]]);.*"
diff --git a/syntax/extra/fortran.nanorc b/syntax/extra/fortran.nanorc
index 87f070d8..72a0ff33 100644
--- a/syntax/extra/fortran.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/extra/fortran.nanorc
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ icolor yellow "\<(.or.|repeat|select case|then|where|while)\>"
 icolor magenta "\<(continue|cycle|exit|go?to|result|return)\>"
 
 # Strings.
-color yellow ""(\\.|[^"\])*""
+color yellow ""([^"\]|\\.)*""
 
 # Comments.
 color blue "!.*"
diff --git a/syntax/extra/gentoo.nanorc b/syntax/extra/gentoo.nanorc
index 756b12b6..84e9bcf2 100644
--- a/syntax/extra/gentoo.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/extra/gentoo.nanorc
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ color blue "\<(awk|cat|cd|chmod|chown|cp|echo|env|find|e?grep|ln|make|mkdir|mv|p
 ## Comments (doesn't work that well):
 color yellow "(^|[[:space:]])#.*"
 ## Strings (doesn't work that well):
-color brightyellow ""(\\.|[^"\])*"|'(\\.|[^'\])*'"
+color brightyellow ""([^"\]|\\.)*"|'([^'\]|\\.)*'"
 ## Trailing space is bad!
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"
 ## Mixed whitespace is also bad.
diff --git a/syntax/go.nanorc b/syntax/go.nanorc
index e6499d43..3266dad9 100644
--- a/syntax/go.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/go.nanorc
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ color red "\<[0-9]+i\>"
 
 # Strings and characters; slightly fuzzy.
 color red "\<(true|false|nil|iota|_)\>"
-color red ""(\\.|[^"\])*"|'(\\.|[^'\])+'"
-color red start=""(\\.|[^"\])*\\[[:blank:]]*$" end="^(\\.|[^"\])*""
+color red ""([^"\]|\\.)*"|'([^'\]|\\.)+'"
+color red start=""([^"\]|\\.)*\\[[:blank:]]*$" end="^([^"\]|\\.)*""
 
 # Comments.
 color brightblue "//.*"
diff --git a/syntax/guile.nanorc b/syntax/guile.nanorc
index e75336d5..0c61a5c1 100644
--- a/syntax/guile.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/guile.nanorc
@@ -19,6 +19,6 @@ color brightred "(#t|#f)\>"
 color blue "#?:(\w|[?-])+"
 # Strings
 color yellow start="^[[:blank:]]+"" end="[^\]""
-color yellow ""(\\.|[^"\])*""
+color yellow ""([^"\]|\\.)*""
 # Comments
 color cyan "(^|[[:blank:]]);.*"
diff --git a/syntax/html.nanorc b/syntax/html.nanorc
index 06f461e5..7a099de9 100644
--- a/syntax/html.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/html.nanorc
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ color red "\<(rows(pan)?|rules|scheme|scope|scrolling|selected|shape|size|span|s
 color red "\<(tabindex|target|text|title|type|usemap|valign|value(type)?|vlink|vspace|width|xmlns|xml:space)="
 
 # Strings:
-color green ""(\\.|[^"\])*""
+color green ""([^"\]|\\.)*""
 
 # Comments:
 color yellow start="<!--" end="-->"
diff --git a/syntax/javascript.nanorc b/syntax/javascript.nanorc
index 64161ad9..4b161cad 100644
--- a/syntax/javascript.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/javascript.nanorc
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ color cyan "\<([0-9]+|0x[0-9A-Fa-f]+)\>"
 color cyan "\<(true|false|null|undefined)\>"
 
 # Strings.
-color brightmagenta ""(\\.|[^"\])*"|'(\\.|[^'\])*'|`(\\.|[^`\])*`"
+color brightmagenta ""([^"\]|\\.)*"|'([^'\]|\\.)*'|`([^`\]|\\.)*`"
 # Comments.
 color brightblue "(^|[[:blank:]])//.*"
 color brightblue start="/\*" end="\*/"
diff --git a/syntax/lua.nanorc b/syntax/lua.nanorc
index dae1103b..f12c38a9 100644
--- a/syntax/lua.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/lua.nanorc
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ color brightmagenta "\(|\)|\[|\]|\{|\}"
 color brightcyan "^#!.*"
 
 # Strings
-color red ""(\\.|[^"\])*"|'(\\.|[^'\])*'"
+color red ""([^"\]|\\.)*"|'([^'\]|\\.)*'"
 
 # Simple comments and multiline comments
 color green "--.*"
diff --git a/syntax/nftables.nanorc b/syntax/nftables.nanorc
index d042af5a..263f180d 100644
--- a/syntax/nftables.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/nftables.nanorc
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ color cyan "(^|[[:blank:]])#.*"
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"
 
 # Strings and others
-color yellow ""(\\.|[^"\])*"|'(\\.|[^'\])*'"
+color yellow ""([^"\]|\\.)*"|'([^'\]|\\.)*'"
 color green "[][{}():;|`$<>!=&\]"
 
 # Basic variable names
diff --git a/syntax/objc.nanorc b/syntax/objc.nanorc
index 8b452df3..fc46ad3e 100644
--- a/syntax/objc.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/objc.nanorc
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ color white "\[[^][:blank:]]*\]"
 
 # Strings.
 color brightblack "'([^'\]|(\\["'abfnrtv\]))'" "'\\(([0-3]?[0-7]{1,2}))'" "'\\x[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,2}'"
-color brightblack "<[^= 	]*>|"(\\.|[^"\])*""
-color brightblue "@"(\\.|[^"\])*""
+color brightblack "<[^= 	]*>|"([^"\]|\\.)*""
+color brightblue "@"([^"\]|\\.)*""
 
 # Preprocessor commands.
 color brightblue "^[[:blank:]]*#[[:blank:]]*(define|include|import|(un|ifn?)def|endif|el(if|se)|if|warning|error)"
diff --git a/syntax/php.nanorc b/syntax/php.nanorc
index 43fd3fb9..4acc2f1f 100644
--- a/syntax/php.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/php.nanorc
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ color brightcyan "\<(and|or|xor)\>"
 color magenta "\<(break|continue|goto|return)\>"
 
 # Strings.
-color brightyellow ""(\\.|[^"\])*"|'(\\.|[^'\])*'"
+color brightyellow ""([^"\]|\\.)*"|'([^'\]|\\.)*'"
 
 # Comments.
 color brightblue "(^|[[:blank:]]+)//.*"
diff --git a/syntax/sh.nanorc b/syntax/sh.nanorc
index e3c270ec..0deb5d20 100644
--- a/syntax/sh.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/sh.nanorc
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ color brightred "\$\{[#!]?([-@*#?$!]|[0-9]+|[[:alpha:]_][[:alnum:]_]*)(\[([[:bla
 color cyan "(^|[[:blank:]])#.*"
 
 # Strings.
-color brightyellow ""(\\.|[^"\])*"|'(\\.|[^'\])*'"
+color brightyellow ""([^"\]|\\.)*"|'([^'\]|\\.)*'"
 
 # Trailing whitespace.
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"
diff --git a/syntax/tcl.nanorc b/syntax/tcl.nanorc
index 721f9b84..958b897d 100644
--- a/syntax/tcl.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/tcl.nanorc
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ color green "\<(alarm|auto_load_pkg|bsearch|catclose|catgets|catopen|ccollate|cc
 # Syntax:
 color brightblue "\<proc[[:blank:]]|\{|\}"
 color green "\(|\)|\;|`|\\|\$|<|>|!|=|&|\|"
-color brightyellow ""(\\.|[^"\])*"|'(\\.|[^'\])*'"
+color brightyellow ""([^"\]|\\.)*"|'([^'\]|\\.)*'"
 color brightred "\$\{?[0-9A-Za-z_!@#$*?-]+\}?"
 
 # Trailing whitespace: