diff --git a/syntax/asm.nanorc b/syntax/asm.nanorc
index 8bc217eb..0d2293d1 100644
--- a/syntax/asm.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/asm.nanorc
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ color red "\<[A-Z_]{2,}\>"
 color brightgreen "\.(data|subsection|text)"
 color green "\.(align|file|globl|global|hidden|section|size|type|weak)"
 color brightyellow "\.(ascii|asciz|byte|double|float|hword|int|long|short|single|struct|word)"
-color brightred "^[[:space:]]*[.0-9A-Za-z_]*:"
-color brightcyan "^[[:space:]]*#[[:space:]]*(define|undef|include|ifn?def|endif|elif|else|if|warning|error)"
+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 "<[^= 	]*>" ""(\\.|[^"])*""
diff --git a/syntax/autoconf.nanorc b/syntax/autoconf.nanorc
index 918cfb9d..647c244e 100644
--- a/syntax/autoconf.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/autoconf.nanorc
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ color red ""[^"]*""  "'[^']*'"
 color green "`[^`]*`"
 
 # Error lines:
-color brightred "^[[:space:]]*\*\*\*.*"
+color brightred "^[[:blank:]]*\*\*\*.*"
 
 # Brackets:
 color magenta "\[|\]|\(|\)"
diff --git a/syntax/awk.nanorc b/syntax/awk.nanorc
index 9d5a5cb9..942d2f56 100644
--- a/syntax/awk.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/awk.nanorc
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ color magenta "\<(bindtextdomain|dcgettext|dcngettext)\>"
 # Strings.
 color brightyellow "<[^= 	]*>" ""(\\.|[^"])*""
 # Comments.
-color brightblue "(^|[[:space:]])#.*$"
+color brightblue "(^|[[:blank:]])#.*$"
 
 # Trailing whitespace.
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"
diff --git a/syntax/c.nanorc b/syntax/c.nanorc
index c13ec5fe..14db97c9 100644
--- a/syntax/c.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/c.nanorc
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 ## Syntax highlighting for C and C++ files.
 
 syntax c "\.([ch](pp|xx)?|C|cc|c\+\+|cu|H|hh|ii?)$"
-header "-\*-.*\<C(\+\+)?((;|\s).*)?-\*-"
+header "-\*-.*\<C(\+\+)?((;|[[:blank:]]).*)?-\*-"
 magic "^(C|C\+\+) (source|program)"
 comment "//"
 
 # Constants.
 color brightred "\<[A-Z_][0-9A-Z_]*\>"
 # Labels.
-color brightmagenta "^\s*[A-Z_a-z][0-9A-Z_a-z]*:\s*$"
-color normal ":\s*$"
+color brightmagenta "^[[:blank:]]*[A-Z_a-z][0-9A-Z_a-z]*:[[:blank:]]*$"
+color normal ":[[:blank:]]*$"
 
 # Types and related keywords.
 color green "\<(auto|bool|char|const|double|enum|extern|float|inline|int|long|restrict|short|signed|sizeof|static|struct|typedef|union|unsigned|void)\>"
@@ -26,15 +26,15 @@ color magenta "\<(break|continue|goto|return)\>"
 color brightmagenta "'([^'\]|\\(["'\abfnrtv]|x[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,2}|[0-3]?[0-7]{1,2}))'"
 
 # GCC builtins.
-color cyan "__attribute__[[:space:]]*\(\([^)]*\)\)" "__(aligned|asm|builtin|hidden|inline|packed|restrict|section|typeof|weak)__"
+color cyan "__attribute__[[:blank:]]*\(\([^)]*\)\)" "__(aligned|asm|builtin|hidden|inline|packed|restrict|section|typeof|weak)__"
 
 # Strings.  (In general you will want your strings and comments to come last,
 # because highlighting rules are applied in the order they are read in.)
-color brightyellow ""([^"]|\\")*"" "#[[:space:]]*include[[:space:]]*<[^>]+>"
+color brightyellow ""([^"]|\\")*"" "#[[:blank:]]*include[[:blank:]]*<[^>]+>"
 
 # Preprocessor directives.
-color brightcyan start="^[[:space:]]*#[[:space:]]*(if(n?def)?|elif|warning|error|pragma)\>" end="(\`|[^\\])$"
-color brightcyan "^[[:space:]]*#[[:space:]]*((define|else|endif|include(_next)?|line|undef)\>|$)"
+color brightcyan start="^[[:blank:]]*#[[:blank:]]*(if(n?def)?|elif|warning|error|pragma)\>" end="(\`|[^\\])$"
+color brightcyan "^[[:blank:]]*#[[:blank:]]*((define|else|endif|include(_next)?|line|undef)\>|$)"
 
 # Comments.
 color brightblue "//.*"
diff --git a/syntax/changelog.nanorc b/syntax/changelog.nanorc
index 46272380..fa0bb46f 100644
--- a/syntax/changelog.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/changelog.nanorc
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ color red "^(19|20)[0-9-]{8}"
 color yellow "<[^>]*@[^>]*>"
 
 # Command-line options.
-color cyan "[[:space:]]-[a-zA-Z\$]" "--[8a-z-]+"
+color cyan "[[:blank:]]-[a-zA-Z\$]" "--[8a-z-]+"
 # Bug and patch numbers.
 color cyan "(BZ|bug|patch)[ ]#[0-9]+" "PR [[:alnum:]]+/[0-9]+"
 # Probable constants, for variety.
diff --git a/syntax/cmake.nanorc b/syntax/cmake.nanorc
index acdf87f8..3c59392c 100644
--- a/syntax/cmake.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/cmake.nanorc
@@ -3,17 +3,17 @@
 syntax cmake "(CMakeLists\.txt|\.cmake)$"
 comment "#"
 
-color green "^[[:space:]]*[0-9A-Za-z_]+"
-icolor brightyellow "^[[:space:]]*(include|include_directories|include_external_msproject)\>"
+color green "^[[:blank:]]*[0-9A-Za-z_]+"
+icolor brightyellow "^[[:blank:]]*(include|include_directories|include_external_msproject)\>"
 
-icolor brightgreen "^[[:space:]]*((else|end)?if|else|(end)?while|(end)?foreach|break)\>"
-color brightgreen "\<(NOT|COMMAND|POLICY|TARGET|EXISTS|IS_(DIRECTORY|ABSOLUTE)|DEFINED)[[:space:]]"
-color brightgreen "[[:space:]](OR|AND|IS_NEWER_THAN|MATCHES|(STR|VERSION_)?(LESS|GREATER|EQUAL))[[:space:]]"
+icolor brightgreen "^[[:blank:]]*((else|end)?if|else|(end)?while|(end)?foreach|break)\>"
+color brightgreen "\<(NOT|COMMAND|POLICY|TARGET|EXISTS|IS_(DIRECTORY|ABSOLUTE)|DEFINED)[[:blank:]]"
+color brightgreen "[[:blank:]](OR|AND|IS_NEWER_THAN|MATCHES|(STR|VERSION_)?(LESS|GREATER|EQUAL))[[:blank:]]"
 
-icolor brightred "^[[:space:]]*((end)?(function|macro)|return)"
+icolor brightred "^[[:blank:]]*((end)?(function|macro)|return)"
 
 icolor cyan start="\$(ENV)?\{" end="\}"
 color magenta "\<(APPLE|UNIX|WIN32|CYGWIN|BORLAND|MINGW|MSVC(_IDE|60|71|80|90)?)\>"
 
-color brightblue "(^|[[:space:]])#.*"
+color brightblue "(^|[[:blank:]])#.*"
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"
diff --git a/syntax/default.nanorc b/syntax/default.nanorc
index d444e2db..7aa30739 100644
--- a/syntax/default.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/default.nanorc
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ syntax default
 comment "#"
 
 # Comments.
-color cyan "^[[:space:]]*#.*"
+color cyan "^[[:blank:]]*#.*"
 
 # Spaces in front of tabs.
 color ,red " +	+"
diff --git a/syntax/elisp.nanorc b/syntax/elisp.nanorc
index 473b93bb..44b788b6 100644
--- a/syntax/elisp.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/elisp.nanorc
@@ -30,4 +30,4 @@ color blue ":(\w|[?-])+"
 color yellow start="^[[:blank:]]+"" end="[^\]""
 color yellow ""(\\.|[^"])*""
 # Comments
-color cyan "(^|[[:space:]]);.*"
+color cyan "(^|[[:blank:]]);.*"
diff --git a/syntax/go.nanorc b/syntax/go.nanorc
index debc5d7b..368fd4fc 100644
--- a/syntax/go.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/go.nanorc
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ formatter gofmt -w
 # Types.
 color green "\<(bool|u?int(8|16|32|64)?|float(32|64)|complex(64|128)|byte|rune|uintptr|string|error)\>"
 color green "\<(chan|const|func|interface|map|struct|type|var)\>"
-color green "<-[[:space:]]*chan\>|\<chan[[:space:]]*<-"
+color green "<-[[:blank:]]*chan\>|\<chan[[:blank:]]*<-"
 
 # Predefined functions.
 color blue "\<(append|cap|close|complex|copy|delete|imag|len|make|new|panic|print|println|real|recover)\>"
@@ -36,14 +36,14 @@ color red "\<[0-9]+i\>"
 color red "\<(true|false|nil|iota|_)\>"
 color red "'(\\.|[^'])+'"
 color red ""(\\.|[^"])*""
-color red start=""(\\.|[^"])*\\[[:space:]]*$" end="^(\\.|[^"])*""
+color red start=""(\\.|[^"])*\\[[:blank:]]*$" end="^(\\.|[^"])*""
 
 # Comments.
 color brightblue "//.*"
 color brightblue start="/\*" end="\*/"
 
 # Special comments.
-color brightcyan "//[[:space:]]*\+build[[:space:]]+(([a-zA-Z_0-9]+[[:space:]]*)+,[[:space:]]*)*[a-zA-Z_0-9]+"
+color brightcyan "//[[:blank:]]*\+build[[:blank:]]+(([a-zA-Z_0-9]+[[:blank:]]*)+,[[:blank:]]*)*[a-zA-Z_0-9]+"
 
 # Trailing whitespace.
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"
diff --git a/syntax/groff.nanorc b/syntax/groff.nanorc
index 3559ac30..f7060e3a 100644
--- a/syntax/groff.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/groff.nanorc
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ color brightmagenta "\\f(.|\(..)" "\\s(\+|\-)?[0-9]"
 color cyan "\\(\\)?n(.|\(..)"
 color cyan start="\\(\\)?n\[" end="]"
 # Requests
-color brightgreen "^\.[[:space:]]*[^[:space:]]*"
+color brightgreen "^\.[[:blank:]]*[^[:space:]]*"
 # Comments
 color yellow "^\.\\".*"
 # Strings
diff --git a/syntax/guile.nanorc b/syntax/guile.nanorc
index 5d5e4e04..2f41e330 100644
--- a/syntax/guile.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/guile.nanorc
@@ -21,4 +21,4 @@ color blue "#?:(\w|[?-])+"
 color yellow start="^[[:blank:]]+"" end="[^\]""
 color yellow ""(\\.|[^"])*""
 # Comments
-color cyan "(^|[[:space:]]);.*"
+color cyan "(^|[[:blank:]]);.*"
diff --git a/syntax/javascript.nanorc b/syntax/javascript.nanorc
index 10925477..ecf0b9b6 100644
--- a/syntax/javascript.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/javascript.nanorc
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ color cyan "\<(true|false|null|undefined)\>"
 # Strings.
 color brightmagenta ""(\\.|[^"])*"" "'(\\.|[^'])*'" "`(\\.|[^`])*`"
 # Comments.
-color brightblue "(^|[[:space:]])//.*"
+color brightblue "(^|[[:blank:]])//.*"
 color brightblue start="/\*" end="\*/"
 
 # Trailing whitespace.
diff --git a/syntax/json.nanorc b/syntax/json.nanorc
index 39262963..05be6569 100644
--- a/syntax/json.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/json.nanorc
@@ -8,18 +8,18 @@ syntax json "\.json$"
 comment ""
 
 # Numbers (used as value).
-color green ":[[:space:]]*\-?(0|[1-9][0-9]*)(\.[0-9]+)?([Ee]?[-+]?[0-9]+)?"
+color green ":[[:blank:]]*\-?(0|[1-9][0-9]*)(\.[0-9]+)?([Ee]?[-+]?[0-9]+)?"
 # Values (well, any string).
 color brightmagenta "".+""
 # Hex numbers (used as value).
-color green ":[[:space:]]*"#[0-9abcdefABCDEF]+""
+color green ":[[:blank:]]*"#[0-9abcdefABCDEF]+""
 # Escapes.
 color green "\\\\" "\\"" "\\[bfnrt]" "\\u[0-9abcdefABCDEF]{4})"
 # Special words.
 color green "\<(true|false|null)\>"
 
 # Names (very unlikely to contain a quote).
-color brightblue ""[^"]+"[[:space:]]*:"
+color brightblue ""[^"]+"[[:blank:]]*:"
 
 # Brackets, braces, and separators.
 color brightblue "\[" "\]"
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ color brightred "\{" "\}"
 color brightred "," ":"
 
 # Comments.
-color cyan "(^|[[:space:]]+)(//|#).*"
+color cyan "(^|[[:blank:]]+)(//|#).*"
 
 # Trailing whitespace.
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"
diff --git a/syntax/lua.nanorc b/syntax/lua.nanorc
index e7e3ac16..dae1103b 100644
--- a/syntax/lua.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/lua.nanorc
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ color normal "\.\.\."
 color brightblue "\<(do|end|while|repeat|until|if|elseif|then|else|for|in|function|local|return|break)\>"
 
 # Keywords
-color brightyellow "\<(_G|_VERSION|assert|collectgarbage|dofile|error|getfenv|getmetatable|ipairs|load|loadfile|module|next|pairs|pcall|print|rawequal|rawget|rawlen|rawset|require|select|setfenv|setmetatable|tonumber|tostring|type|unpack|xpcall)\s*\("
+color brightyellow "\<(_G|_VERSION|assert|collectgarbage|dofile|error|getfenv|getmetatable|ipairs|load|loadfile|module|next|pairs|pcall|print|rawequal|rawget|rawlen|rawset|require|select|setfenv|setmetatable|tonumber|tostring|type|unpack|xpcall)[[:blank:]]*\("
 
 # Standard library
 color brightyellow "\<coroutine\.(create|isyieldable|resume|running|status|wrap|yield)\>"
diff --git a/syntax/makefile.nanorc b/syntax/makefile.nanorc
index c1f487ff..e98204c6 100644
--- a/syntax/makefile.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/makefile.nanorc
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ color blue "\$+[{(][a-zA-Z0-9_-]+[})]"
 color brightblue "^[^ 	]+:"
 
 # Comments.
-color green "(^|[[:space:]]+)#.*"
+color green "(^|[[:blank:]]+)#.*"
 
 # Trailing whitespace.
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"
diff --git a/syntax/nanorc.nanorc b/syntax/nanorc.nanorc
index a47fa655..683629ee 100644
--- a/syntax/nanorc.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/nanorc.nanorc
@@ -7,26 +7,26 @@ comment "#"
 color brightred ".*"
 
 # Keywords
-color brightgreen "^[[:space:]]*(set|unset)[[:space:]]+(afterends|allow_insecure_backup|atblanks|autoindent|backup|boldtext|bookstyle|breaklonglines|casesensitive|constantshow|cutfromcursor|emptyline|historylog|indicator|jumpyscrolling|linenumbers|locking|magic|minibar|mouse|multibuffer|noconvert|nohelp|nonewlines|positionlog|preserve|quickblank|rawsequences|rebinddelete|regexp|saveonexit|showcursor|smarthome|softwrap|stateflags|suspendable|tabstospaces|trimblanks|unix|wordbounds|zap)\>"
-color yellow "^[[:space:]]*set[[:space:]]+((error|function|key|number|prompt|scroller|selected|spotlight|status|stripe|title)color)[[:space:]]+(bold,)?(italic,)?(bright|light)?(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan|normal|pink|purple|mauve|lagoon|mint|lime|peach|orange|latte)?(,(light)?(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan|normal|pink|purple|mauve|lagoon|mint|lime|peach|orange|latte))?\>"
-color brightgreen "^[[:space:]]*set[[:space:]]+(backupdir|brackets|errorcolor|functioncolor|keycolor|matchbrackets|numbercolor|operatingdir|promptcolor|punct|quotestr|scrollercolor|selectedcolor|speller|spotlightcolor|statuscolor|stripecolor|titlecolor|whitespace|wordchars)[[:space:]]+"
-color brightgreen "^[[:space:]]*set[[:space:]]+(fill[[:space:]]+-?[[:digit:]]+|(guidestripe|tabsize)[[:space:]]+[1-9][0-9]*)\>"
-color brightgreen "^[[:space:]]*bind[[:space:]]+((\^([A-Za-z]|[]/@\^_`]|Space)|([Ss][Hh]-)?[Mm]-[A-Za-z]|[Mm]-([][!"#$%&'()*+,./0-9:;<=>?@\^_`{|}~-]|Space))|F([1-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-4])|Ins|Del)[[:space:]]+([a-z]+|".*")[[:space:]]+(main|help|search|replace(with)?|yesno|gotoline|writeout|insert|browser|whereisfile|gotodir|execute|spell|linter|all)([[:space:]]+#|[[:space:]]*$)"
-color brightgreen "^[[:space:]]*unbind[[:space:]]+((\^([A-Za-z]|[]/@\^_`]|Space)|([Ss][Hh]-)?[Mm]-[A-Za-z]|[Mm]-([][!"#$%&'()*+,./0-9:;<=>?@\^_`{|}~-]|Space))|F([1-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-4])|Ins|Del)[[:space:]]+(all|main|search|replace(with)?|yesno|gotoline|writeout|insert|ext(ernal)?cmd|help|spell|linter|browser|whereisfile|gotodir)([[:space:]]+#|[[:space:]]*$)"
-color brightgreen "^[[:space:]]*extendsyntax[[:space:]]+[[:alpha:]]+[[:space:]]+(i?color|header|magic|comment|formatter|linter|tabgives)[[:space:]]+.*"
-color brightgreen "^[[:space:]]*(syntax[[:space:]]+[^[:blank:]]+|(formatter|linter)[[:space:]]+.+)"
-color green "^[[:space:]]*((un)?(bind|set)|include|syntax|header|magic|comment|formatter|linter|tabgives|extendsyntax)\>"
+color brightgreen "^[[:blank:]]*(set|unset)[[:blank:]]+(afterends|allow_insecure_backup|atblanks|autoindent|backup|boldtext|bookstyle|breaklonglines|casesensitive|constantshow|cutfromcursor|emptyline|historylog|indicator|jumpyscrolling|linenumbers|locking|magic|minibar|mouse|multibuffer|noconvert|nohelp|nonewlines|positionlog|preserve|quickblank|rawsequences|rebinddelete|regexp|saveonexit|showcursor|smarthome|softwrap|stateflags|suspendable|tabstospaces|trimblanks|unix|wordbounds|zap)\>"
+color yellow "^[[:blank:]]*set[[:blank:]]+((error|function|key|number|prompt|scroller|selected|spotlight|status|stripe|title)color)[[:blank:]]+(bold,)?(italic,)?(bright|light)?(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan|normal|pink|purple|mauve|lagoon|mint|lime|peach|orange|latte)?(,(light)?(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan|normal|pink|purple|mauve|lagoon|mint|lime|peach|orange|latte))?\>"
+color brightgreen "^[[:blank:]]*set[[:blank:]]+(backupdir|brackets|errorcolor|functioncolor|keycolor|matchbrackets|numbercolor|operatingdir|promptcolor|punct|quotestr|scrollercolor|selectedcolor|speller|spotlightcolor|statuscolor|stripecolor|titlecolor|whitespace|wordchars)[[:blank:]]+"
+color brightgreen "^[[:blank:]]*set[[:blank:]]+(fill[[:blank:]]+-?[[:digit:]]+|(guidestripe|tabsize)[[:blank:]]+[1-9][0-9]*)\>"
+color brightgreen "^[[:blank:]]*bind[[:blank:]]+((\^([A-Za-z]|[]/@\^_`]|Space)|([Ss][Hh]-)?[Mm]-[A-Za-z]|[Mm]-([][!"#$%&'()*+,./0-9:;<=>?@\^_`{|}~-]|Space))|F([1-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-4])|Ins|Del)[[:blank:]]+([a-z]+|".*")[[:blank:]]+(main|help|search|replace(with)?|yesno|gotoline|writeout|insert|browser|whereisfile|gotodir|execute|spell|linter|all)([[:blank:]]+#|[[:blank:]]*$)"
+color brightgreen "^[[:blank:]]*unbind[[:blank:]]+((\^([A-Za-z]|[]/@\^_`]|Space)|([Ss][Hh]-)?[Mm]-[A-Za-z]|[Mm]-([][!"#$%&'()*+,./0-9:;<=>?@\^_`{|}~-]|Space))|F([1-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-4])|Ins|Del)[[:blank:]]+(all|main|search|replace(with)?|yesno|gotoline|writeout|insert|ext(ernal)?cmd|help|spell|linter|browser|whereisfile|gotodir)([[:blank:]]+#|[[:blank:]]*$)"
+color brightgreen "^[[:blank:]]*extendsyntax[[:blank:]]+[[:alpha:]]+[[:blank:]]+(i?color|header|magic|comment|formatter|linter|tabgives)[[:blank:]]+.*"
+color brightgreen "^[[:blank:]]*(syntax[[:blank:]]+[^[:space:]]+|(formatter|linter)[[:blank:]]+.+)"
+color green "^[[:blank:]]*((un)?(bind|set)|include|syntax|header|magic|comment|formatter|linter|tabgives|extendsyntax)\>"
 
 # Strings
-color brightmagenta "([[:space:]]|(start|end)=)".+"([[:space:]]|$)"
+color brightmagenta "([[:blank:]]|(start|end)=)".+"([[:blank:]]|$)"
 
 # Colors
-color yellow "^[[:space:]]*i?color[[:space:]]*(bold,)?(italic,)?(bright|light)?(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan|normal|pink|purple|mauve|lagoon|mint|lime|peach|orange|latte)?(,(light)?(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan|normal|pink|purple|mauve|lagoon|mint|lime|peach|orange|latte))?\>"
-color magenta "^[[:space:]]*i?color\>" "\<(start|end)="
+color yellow "^[[:blank:]]*i?color[[:blank:]]*(bold,)?(italic,)?(bright|light)?(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan|normal|pink|purple|mauve|lagoon|mint|lime|peach|orange|latte)?(,(light)?(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan|normal|pink|purple|mauve|lagoon|mint|lime|peach|orange|latte))?\>"
+color magenta "^[[:blank:]]*i?color\>" "\<(start|end)="
 
 # Comments
-color brightblue "(^|[[:space:]]+)#.*"
-color cyan "^[[:space:]]*##.*"
+color brightblue "(^|[[:blank:]]+)#.*"
+color cyan "^[[:blank:]]*##.*"
 
 # Trailing whitespace
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"
diff --git a/syntax/nftables.nanorc b/syntax/nftables.nanorc
index f3ccc96d..a5dcf769 100644
--- a/syntax/nftables.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/nftables.nanorc
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ color red "\<(drop|reject)\>"
 color brightblue "\<(accept|continue|(d|s)nat|goto|jump|masquerade|return)\>"
 
 # Comments
-color cyan "(^|[[:space:]])#.*"
+color cyan "(^|[[:blank:]])#.*"
 
 # Trailing whitespace
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"
diff --git a/syntax/objc.nanorc b/syntax/objc.nanorc
index f35f60db..6d2a1c9a 100644
--- a/syntax/objc.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/objc.nanorc
@@ -15,13 +15,13 @@ color brightgreen "\<(goto|continue|break|return)\>"
 color brightgreen "@(encode|end|implementation|interface)|selector)\>"
 
 # GCC builtins.
-color cyan "__attribute__[[:space:]]*\(\([^)]*\)\)" "__(aligned|asm|builtin|hidden|inline|packed|restrict|section|typeof|weak)__"
+color cyan "__attribute__[[:blank:]]*\(\([^)]*\)\)" "__(aligned|asm|builtin|hidden|inline|packed|restrict|section|typeof|weak)__"
 
 # Selector/method.
-color brightmagenta "(^|[[:space:]])\[.*[[:space:]].*\]"
+color brightmagenta "(^|[[:blank:]])\[.*[[:blank:]].*\]"
 color white ":[[:alnum:]]*"
 color magenta "[[:alnum:]]*:"
-color white "\[[^][:space:]]*\]"
+color white "\[[^][:blank:]]*\]"
 
 # Strings.
 color brightblack "'([^'\]|(\\["'abfnrtv\\]))'" "'\\(([0-3]?[0-7]{1,2}))'" "'\\x[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,2}'"
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ color brightblack "<[^= 	]*>" ""(\\.|[^"])*""
 color brightblue "@"(\\.|[^"])*""
 
 # Preprocessor commands.
-color brightblue "^[[:space:]]*#[[:space:]]*(define|include|import|(un|ifn?)def|endif|el(if|se)|if|warning|error)"
+color brightblue "^[[:blank:]]*#[[:blank:]]*(define|include|import|(un|ifn?)def|endif|el(if|se)|if|warning|error)"
 
 # Comments.
 color yellow "//.*"
diff --git a/syntax/perl.nanorc b/syntax/perl.nanorc
index 1457d7db..5f742fd3 100644
--- a/syntax/perl.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/perl.nanorc
@@ -12,13 +12,13 @@ color magenta "\<(continue|else|elsif|do|for|foreach|if|unless|until|while|eq|ne
 color cyan "[$%&@]([A-Za-z_][0-9A-Za-z_]*|\^[][A-Z?\^_]|[0-9]+)\>"
 color cyan "[$%&@]\{(\^?[A-Za-z_][0-9A-Za-z_]*|\^[][?\^][0-9]+)\}"
 color cyan "[$%&@]([][!"#'()*+,.:;<=>?`|~-]|\{[][!-/:-@\`|~]\})|\$[$%&@]"
-color cyan "(^|[[:space:]])[$%@][/\]"
+color cyan "(^|[[:blank:]])[$%@][/\]"
 
 color yellow "".*"|qq\|.*\|"
 color white "[sm]/.*/"
 color white start="(^use| = new)" end=";"
 
 # Comments.
-color green "(^|[[:space:]])#.*"
+color green "(^|[[:blank:]])#.*"
 
 color yellow start="<< 'STOP'" end="STOP"
diff --git a/syntax/php.nanorc b/syntax/php.nanorc
index 668b9d3a..eda74704 100644
--- a/syntax/php.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/php.nanorc
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ color magenta "\<(break|continue|goto|return)\>"
 color brightyellow ""(\.|[^"])*"" "'(\.|[^'])*'"
 
 # Comments.
-color brightblue "(^|[[:space:]]+)//.*"
+color brightblue "(^|[[:blank:]]+)//.*"
 color brightblue start="/\*" end="\*/"
 
 # Trailing whitespace.
diff --git a/syntax/sh.nanorc b/syntax/sh.nanorc
index 00e9670e..75c54f77 100644
--- a/syntax/sh.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/sh.nanorc
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ## Syntax highlighting for Bourne shell scripts.
 
 syntax sh "(\.sh|(\.|/)(a|ba|c|da|k|mk|pdk|tc|z)sh(rc|_profile)?|/(etc/|\.)profile)$"
-header "^#!.*/((env\s+)?((a|ba|c|da|k|mk|pdk|tc|z)?sh)|busybox\s+sh|openrc-run|runscript)\>"
+header "^#!.*/((env[[:blank:]]+)?((a|ba|c|da|k|mk|pdk|tc|z)?sh)|busybox[[:blank:]]+sh|openrc-run|runscript)\>"
 header "-\*-.*shell-script.*-\*-"
 magic "(POSIX|Bourne-Again) shell script.*text"
 comment "#"
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ color normal "[.-]tar\>"
 # Basic variable names (no braces).
 color brightred "\$[-0-9@*#?$!]" "\$[[:alpha:]_][[:alnum:]_]*"
 # More complicated variable names; handles braces and replacements and arrays.
-color brightred "\$\{[#!]?([-@*#?$!]|[0-9]+|[[:alpha:]_][[:alnum:]_]*)(\[([[:space:]]*[[:alnum:]_]+[[:space:]]*|@)\])?(([#%/]|:?[-=?+])[^}]*\}|\[|\})"
+color brightred "\$\{[#!]?([-@*#?$!]|[0-9]+|[[:alpha:]_][[:alnum:]_]*)(\[([[:blank:]]*[[:alnum:]_]+[[:blank:]]*|@)\])?(([#%/]|:?[-=?+])[^}]*\}|\[|\})"
 
 # Comments.
-color cyan "(^|[[:space:]])#.*"
+color cyan "(^|[[:blank:]])#.*"
 
 # Strings.
 color brightyellow ""(\\.|[^"])*"" "'(\\.|[^'])*'"
diff --git a/syntax/tcl.nanorc b/syntax/tcl.nanorc
index 41af06d1..055b1470 100644
--- a/syntax/tcl.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/tcl.nanorc
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ color green "\<string (bytelength|compare|equal|first|index|is|last|length|map|m
 color green "\<(alarm|auto_load_pkg|bsearch|catclose|catgets|catopen|ccollate|cconcat|cequal|chgrp|chmod|chown|chroot|cindex|clength|cmdtrace|commandloop|crange|csubstr|ctoken|ctype|dup|echo|execl|fcntl|flock|fork|fstat|ftruncate|funlock|host_info|id|infox|keyldel|keylget|keylkeys|keylset|kill|lassign|lcontain|lempty|lgets|link|lmatch|loadlibindex|loop|lvarcat|lvarpop|lvarpush|max|min|nice|pipe|profile|random|readdir|replicate|scancontext|scanfile|scanmatch|select|server_accept|server_create|signal|sleep|sync|system|tclx_findinit|tclx_fork|tclx_load_tndxs|tclx_sleep|tclx_system|tclx_wait|times|translit|try_eval|umask|wait)\>"
 
 # Syntax:
-color brightblue "\<proc[[:space:]]|\{|\}"
+color brightblue "\<proc[[:blank:]]|\{|\}"
 color green "\(|\)|\;|`|\\|\$|<|>|!|=|&|\|"
 color brightyellow ""(\\.|[^"])*"" "'(\\.|[^'])*'"
 color brightred "\$\{?[0-9A-Za-z_!@#$*?-]+\}?"
@@ -24,4 +24,4 @@ color brightred "\$\{?[0-9A-Za-z_!@#$*?-]+\}?"
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"
 
 # Comments:
-color cyan "^[[:space:]]*#.*"
+color cyan "^[[:blank:]]*#.*"