diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/php/php.js b/lib/ace/mode/php/php.js
index 75393d85..de5e5a99 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/php/php.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/php/php.js
@@ -816,7 +816,7 @@ PHP.Lexer = function( src, ini ) {
                     if ( heredoc !== undefined ) {
                         // we are in a heredoc
 
-                        var regexp = new RegExp('([\\S\\s]*)(\\r\\n|\\n|\\r)(' + heredoc + ')(;|\\r\\n|\\n)',"i");
+                        var regexp = new RegExp('([\\S\\s]*?)(\\r\\n|\\n|\\r)(' + heredoc + ')(;|\\r\\n|\\n)',"i");
 
 
 
diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
index 3828f20a..033671eb 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
@@ -988,7 +988,7 @@ var PhpLangHighlightRules = function() {
                 next: "heredoc"
             }, {
                 token : "keyword.operator",
-                regex : "::|!|\\$|%|&|\\*|\\-\\-|\\-|\\+\\+|\\+|~|===|==|=|!=|!==|<=|>=|<<=|>>=|>>>=|<>|<|>|!|&&|\\|\\||\\?\\:|\\*=|%=|\\+=|\\-=|&=|\\^=|\\b(?:in|instanceof|new|delete|typeof|void)"
+                regex : "::|!|\\$|%|&|\\*|\\-\\-|\\-|\\+\\+|\\+|~|===|==|!=|!==|<=|>=|=>|<<=|>>=|>>>=|<>|<|>|=|!|&&|\\|\\||\\?\\:|\\*=|%=|\\+=|\\-=|&=|\\^=|\\b(?:in|instanceof|new|delete|typeof|void)"
             }, {
                 token : "paren.lparen",
                 regex : "[[({]"
@@ -1003,13 +1003,13 @@ var PhpLangHighlightRules = function() {
         "heredoc" : [
             {
                 onMatch : function(value, currentSate, stack) {
-                    if (stack[1]  + ";" != value)
+                    if (stack[1] != value)
                         return "string";
                     stack.shift();
                     stack.shift();
                     return "markup.list"
                 },
-                regex : "^\\w+;$",
+                regex : "^\\w+(?=;?$)",
                 next: "start"
             }, {
                 token: "string",