diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/xquery_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/xquery_highlight_rules.js
index 856fc32f..79a99685 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/xquery_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/xquery_highlight_rules.js
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ var XQueryHighlightRules = function() {
             next: "cdata"
         }, {
             token: "xml-pe",
-            regex: "<\\?.*?\\?>"
+            regex: "<\\?",
+            next: "pi"
         }, {
             token: "comment",
             regex: "<\\!--",
@@ -124,7 +125,17 @@ var XQueryHighlightRules = function() {
             token: "string",
             regex: "'.*?'"
         }],
-    
+        
+        pi: [{
+          token: "xml-pe",
+          regex: ".*\\?>",
+          next: "start"
+        },
+        {
+          token: "xml-pe",
+          regex: ".*"
+        }],
+
         cdata: [{
             token: "support.type",
             regex: "\\]\\]>",