diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
index b772f759..b9492560 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
@@ -1058,8 +1058,8 @@ var PhpHighlightRules = function() {
     for (var i in this.$rules) {
         this.$rules[i].unshift({
             token : "support.php_tag", // php open tag
-            regex : "<\\?(?:php|\\=)?",
-            next  : "php-start"
+            regex : "<\\?(?:php|=)?",
+            next  : {push: "php-start"}
         });
     }
 
@@ -1068,8 +1068,9 @@ var PhpHighlightRules = function() {
     this.$rules["php-start"].unshift({
         token : "support.php_tag", // php close tag
         regex : "\\?>",
-        next  : "start"
+        next  : "pop"
     });
+    this.normalizeRules();
 };
 
 oop.inherits(PhpHighlightRules, HtmlHighlightRules);
diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/text_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/text_highlight_rules.js
index 2d11602c..c411e751 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/text_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/text_highlight_rules.js
@@ -43,8 +43,7 @@ var TextHighlightRules = function() {
             token : "empty_line",
             regex : '^$'
         }, {
-            token : "text",
-            regex : ".+"
+            defaultToken : "text"
         }]
     };
 };
@@ -96,35 +95,80 @@ var TextHighlightRules = function() {
         return this.$embeds;
     };
     
+    var pushState = function(currentState, stack) {
+        if (currentState != "start")
+            stack.unshift(this.nextState, currentState);
+        return this.nextState;
+    };
+    var popState = function(currentState, stack) {
+        if (stack[0] !== currentState)
+            return "start";
+        stack.shift();
+        return stack.shift();
+    };
+
     this.normalizeRules = function() {
         var id = 0;
-        for (var key in this.$rules) {
-            var state = this.$rules[key];
+        var rules = this.$rules;
+        function processState(key) {
+            var state = rules[key];
+            state.processed = true;
             for (var i = 0; i < state.length; i++) {
                 var rule = state[i];
+                if (!rule.regex && rule.start) {
+                    rule.regex = rule.start;
+                    if (!rule.next)
+                        rule.next = [];
+                    rule.next.push({
+                        defaultToken: rule.token
+                    }, {
+                        token: rule.token + ".end",
+                        regex: rule.end || rule.start,
+                        next: key
+                    });
+                    rule.token = rule.token + ".start";
+                }
                 if (rule.next && Array.isArray(rule.next)) {
-                    var stateName = rule.stateName || ("state" + id++);
-                    this.$rules[stateName] = rule.next;
+                    var stateName = rule.stateName || (rule.token + id++);
+                    rules[stateName] = rule.next;
                     rule.next = stateName;
+                    processState(stateName);
+                } else if (rule.next && typeof rule.next == "object") {
+                    var next = rule.next;
+                    rule.nextState = next.push;
+                    rule.next = pushState;
+                } else if (rule.next == "pop") {
+                    rule.next = popState;
                 }
                 if (rule.rules) {
-                     for (var r in rule.rules) {
-                        if (this.$rules[r]) {
-                            if (this.$rules[r].push)
-                                this.$rules[r].push.apply(this.$rules[r], rule.rules[r]);
+                    for (var r in rule.rules) {
+                        if (rules[r]) {
+                            if (rules[r].push)
+                                rules[r].push.apply(rules[r], rule.rules[r]);
                         } else {
-                            this.$rules[r] = rule.rules[r];
+                            rules[r] = rule.rules[r];
                         }
                     }
                 }
                 if (rule.include || typeof rule == "string") {
-                    var args = [i, 1].concat(this.$rules[rule.include || rule]);
+                    var includeName = rule.include || rule;
+                    var toInsert = rules[includeName];                    
+                } else if (Array.isArray(rule))
+                    toInsert = rule;
+
+                if (toInsert) {
+                    var args = [i, 1].concat(toInsert);
                     if (rule.noEscape)
                         args = args.filter(function(x) {return !x.next;});
                     state.splice.apply(state, args);
+                    // skip included rules since they are already processed
+                    //i += args.length - 3;
+                    i--;
+                    toInsert = null
                 }
             }
-        }
+        };
+        Object.keys(rules).forEach(processState);
     };
 
     this.createKeywordMapper = function(map, defaultToken, ignoreCase, splitChar) {
diff --git a/lib/ace/tokenizer.js b/lib/ace/tokenizer.js
index b94b53fe..3835e535 100644
--- a/lib/ace/tokenizer.js
+++ b/lib/ace/tokenizer.js
@@ -194,7 +194,11 @@ var Tokenizer = function(rules) {
                     : rule.token;
 
                 if (rule.next) {
-                    currentState = rule.next;
+                    if (typeof rule.next == "string")
+                        currentState = rule.next;
+                    else
+                        currentState = rule.next(currentState, stack);
+
                     state = this.states[currentState];
                     if (!state) {
                         window.console && console.error && console.error(currentState, "doesn't exist");