diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/yaml_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/yaml_highlight_rules.js
index ccf3ad8c..cf946577 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/yaml_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/yaml_highlight_rules.js
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ var YamlHighlightRules = function() {
                 regex : '["](?:(?:\\\\.)|(?:[^"\\\\]))*?["]'
             }, {
                 token : "string", // multi line string start
-                regex : '[\\|>]\\w*',
+                regex : '[|>][-+\\d\\s]*$',
                 next : "qqstring"
             }, {
                 token : "string", // single quoted string