diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
index f8d5e29e..d0419aca 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
@@ -973,7 +973,7 @@ var PhpLangHighlightRules = function() {
                             return "variable";
                         return "identifier";
                 },
-                regex : "[a-zA-Z_\x7f-\xff][a-zA-Z0-9_\x7f-\xff]*\\b"
+                regex : "[a-zA-Z_$\x7f-\xff][a-zA-Z0-9_\x7f-\xff]*\\b"
             }, {
                 onMatch : function(value, currentSate, state) {
                     value = value.substr(3);