diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/sh_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/sh_highlight_rules.js
index 14632c44..5551e766 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/sh_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/sh_highlight_rules.js
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ var ShHighlightRules = function() {
     var pointFloat = "(?:(?:" + intPart + "?" + fraction + ")|(?:" + intPart + "\\.))";
     var exponentFloat = "(?:(?:" + pointFloat + "|" +  intPart + ")" + ")";
     var floatNumber = "(?:" + exponentFloat + "|" + pointFloat + ")";
+    var fileDescriptor = "(?:&" + intPart + ")";
 
     this.$rules = {
         "start" : [ {
@@ -79,6 +80,9 @@ var ShHighlightRules = function() {
         }, {
             token : "string",           // " string
             regex : '"(?:[^\\\\]|\\\\.)*?"'
+        }, {
+            token : "support.function",
+            regex : fileDescriptor
         }, {
             token : "string",           // ' string
             regex : "'(?:[^\\\\]|\\\\.)*?'"