diff --git a/syntax/c.nanorc b/syntax/c.nanorc
index b7e0ee93..8cb81b15 100644
--- a/syntax/c.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/c.nanorc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ## Here is an example for C/C++.
 
-syntax c "\.(c(c|pp|xx|\+\+)?|C)$" "\.(h(h|pp|xx)?|H)$" "\.ii?$"
+syntax c "\.([ch](pp|xx)?|C|cc|c\+\+|H|hh|ii?)$"
 magic "^(C|C\+\+) (source|program)"
 comment "//"
 
diff --git a/syntax/changelog.nanorc b/syntax/changelog.nanorc
index 91ed5bb5..cd76d1a9 100644
--- a/syntax/changelog.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/changelog.nanorc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ## Colouring for Changelogs.
 
-syntax changelog "Change[Ll]og.*"
+syntax changelog "Change[Ll]og[^/]*$"
 
 # Author lines.
 color green "^(19|20).*$"
diff --git a/syntax/debian.nanorc b/syntax/debian.nanorc
index c3b1d537..3ec1393a 100644
--- a/syntax/debian.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/debian.nanorc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ## Here is an example for apt's sources.list.
 
-syntax sources.list "sources\.list(~|\.old|\.save)?$" "sources\.list\.d/.*\.list(~|\.old|\.save)?$"
+syntax sources.list "sources\.list(\.d/.*\.list)?(~|\.old|\.save)?$"
 comment "#"
 
 # Coloring the deb lines, working from tail to head.  First the
diff --git a/syntax/groff.nanorc b/syntax/groff.nanorc
index 01eebec9..00c9a964 100644
--- a/syntax/groff.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/groff.nanorc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ## Here is an example for groff.
 
-syntax groff "\.m[ems]$" "\.rof" "\.tmac$" "^tmac."
+syntax groff "(/tmac\.[^/]+$|\.(m[ems]|rof|tmac)$)"
 comment ".\""
 
 # The argument of .ds or .nr
diff --git a/syntax/makefile.nanorc b/syntax/makefile.nanorc
index 33ee070f..4676473d 100644
--- a/syntax/makefile.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/makefile.nanorc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ## Here is an example for Makefiles.
 
-syntax makefile "Makefile[^/]*$" "\.(make|mk)$"
+syntax makefile "(Makefile[^/]*$|\.(make|mk)$)"
 magic "makefile script"
 comment "#"
 
diff --git a/syntax/rust.nanorc b/syntax/rust.nanorc
index f7e27566..aca2b9c4 100644
--- a/syntax/rust.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/rust.nanorc
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 ## NOTE: Rules are applied in order: later rules re-colorize matching text.
 
-syntax rust "\.rs"
+syntax rust "\.(rlib|rs)$"
 comment "//"
 
 # Function definitions
diff --git a/syntax/spec.nanorc b/syntax/spec.nanorc
index 210415e3..bab50420 100644
--- a/syntax/spec.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/spec.nanorc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ## Syntax highlighting for RPM spec files.
 
-syntax spec "\.(spec$|spec\.*)"
+syntax spec "\.spec(\.[^/]+)?$"
 comment "#"
 
 # Main tags.