diff --git a/demo/kitchen-sink/docs/ruby.rb b/demo/kitchen-sink/docs/ruby.rb
index 48e26ae0..c4d73d19 100644
--- a/demo/kitchen-sink/docs/ruby.rb
+++ b/demo/kitchen-sink/docs/ruby.rb
@@ -20,4 +20,16 @@ class Range
   end
 end
 
-{:id => 34, :sdfasdfasdf => "asdasdads"}
\ No newline at end of file
+{:id => 34, :key => "value"}
+
+
+    herDocs = [<<'FOO', <<BAR, <<-BAZ, <<-`EXEC`] #comment
+  FOO #{literal}
+FOO
+  BAR #{fact(10)}
+BAR
+  BAZ indented
+    BAZ
+        echo hi
+    EXEC
+puts herDocs
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/lua_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/lua_highlight_rules.js
index 342eee47..77a29f97 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/lua_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/lua_highlight_rules.js
@@ -186,19 +186,7 @@ var LuaHighlightRules = function() {
         } ]
     };
     
-    var id = 0;
-    for (var key in this.$rules) {
-        var rule = this.$rules[key];
-        for (var i = 0; i < rule.length; i++) {
-            var state = rule[i];
-            if (state.next && Array.isArray(state.next)) {
-            console.log(state.next)
-                var stateName = state.stateName || ("state" + id++);
-                this.$rules[stateName] = state.next;
-                state.next = stateName;
-            }
-        }
-    }
+    this.normalizeRules();
 }
 
 oop.inherits(LuaHighlightRules, TextHighlightRules);
diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/ruby_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/ruby_highlight_rules.js
index 8c45c3ae..fa0c9546 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/ruby_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/ruby_highlight_rules.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  *
  * Copyright (c) 2010, Ajax.org B.V.
  * All rights reserved.
- * 
+ *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
  * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
  *     * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
  *     * Neither the name of Ajax.org B.V. nor the
  *       names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
  *       derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
- * 
+ *
  * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
  * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
  * WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
@@ -35,35 +35,35 @@ var oop = require("../lib/oop");
 var TextHighlightRules = require("./text_highlight_rules").TextHighlightRules;
 
 // exports is for Haml
-var constantOtherSymbol = exports.constantOtherSymbol = { 
-                token : "constant.other.symbol.ruby", // symbol
-                regex : "[:](?:[A-Za-z_]|[@$](?=[a-zA-Z0-9_]))[a-zA-Z0-9_]*[!=?]?"
-           };
+var constantOtherSymbol = exports.constantOtherSymbol = {
+    token : "constant.other.symbol.ruby", // symbol
+    regex : "[:](?:[A-Za-z_]|[@$](?=[a-zA-Z0-9_]))[a-zA-Z0-9_]*[!=?]?"
+};
 
 var qString = exports.qString = {
-                token : "string", // single line
-                regex : "['](?:(?:\\\\.)|(?:[^'\\\\]))*?[']"
-            };
+    token : "string", // single line
+    regex : "['](?:(?:\\\\.)|(?:[^'\\\\]))*?[']"
+};
 
 var qqString = exports.qqString = {
-                token : "string", // single line
-                regex : '["](?:(?:\\\\.)|(?:[^"\\\\]))*?["]'
-            };
+    token : "string", // single line
+    regex : '["](?:(?:\\\\.)|(?:[^"\\\\]))*?["]'
+};
 
 var tString = exports.tString = {
-                token : "string", // backtick string
-                regex : "[`](?:(?:\\\\.)|(?:[^'\\\\]))*?[`]"
-            };
+    token : "string", // backtick string
+    regex : "[`](?:(?:\\\\.)|(?:[^'\\\\]))*?[`]"
+};
 
 var constantNumericHex = exports.constantNumericHex = {
-                token : "constant.numeric", // hex
-                regex : "0[xX][0-9a-fA-F](?:[0-9a-fA-F]|_(?=[0-9a-fA-F]))*\\b"
-            };
+    token : "constant.numeric", // hex
+    regex : "0[xX][0-9a-fA-F](?:[0-9a-fA-F]|_(?=[0-9a-fA-F]))*\\b"
+};
 
 var constantNumericFloat = exports.constantNumericFloat = {
-                token : "constant.numeric", // float
-                regex : "[+-]?\\d(?:\\d|_(?=\\d))*(?:(?:\\.\\d(?:\\d|_(?=\\d))*)?(?:[eE][+-]?\\d+)?)?\\b"
-            };
+    token : "constant.numeric", // float
+    regex : "[+-]?\\d(?:\\d|_(?=\\d))*(?:(?:\\.\\d(?:\\d|_(?=\\d))*)?(?:[eE][+-]?\\d+)?)?\\b"
+};
 
 var RubyHighlightRules = function() {
 
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ var RubyHighlightRules = function() {
             }, {
                 token : "string.regexp",
                 regex : "[/](?:(?:\\[(?:\\\\]|[^\\]])+\\])|(?:\\\\/|[^\\]/]))*[/]\\w*\\s*(?=[).,;]|$)"
-            }, 
+            },
 
             qString,
             qqString,
@@ -154,12 +154,12 @@ var RubyHighlightRules = function() {
             }, {
                 token : "support.class", // class name
                 regex : "[A-Z][a-zA-Z_\\d]+"
-            }, 
+            },
 
             constantOtherSymbol,
             constantNumericHex,
             constantNumericFloat,
-            
+
             {
                 token : "constant.language.boolean",
                 regex : "(?:true|false)\\b"
@@ -171,6 +171,43 @@ var RubyHighlightRules = function() {
             }, {
                 token : "punctuation.separator.key-value",
                 regex : "=>"
+            }, {
+                stateName: "heredoc",
+                token : function(value, currentState, stack) {
+                    var next = value[0].length == 2 ? "heredoc" : "indentedHeredoc"
+                    stack.push(next, value[2])
+                    return ["constant", "string", "support.class", "string"]
+                },
+                regex : "(<<-?)(['\"`]?)([\\w]+)(['\"`]?)",
+                rules: {
+                    heredoc: [{
+                        token:  function(value, currentState, stack) {
+                            if (value == stack[1]) {
+                                stack.shift();
+                                stack.shift();
+                                return "support.class";
+                            }
+                            return "string";
+                        },
+                        regex: ".*$",
+                        "next": "start"
+                    }],
+                    indentedHeredoc: [{
+                        token: "string",
+                        regex: "^ +"
+                    }, {
+                        token:  function(value, currentState, stack) {
+                            if (value == stack[1]) {
+                                stack.shift();
+                                stack.shift();
+                                return "support.class";
+                            }
+                            return "string";
+                        },
+                        regex: ".*$",
+                        "next": "start"
+                    }]
+                }
             }, {
                 token : "keyword.operator",
                 regex : "!|\\$|%|&|\\*|\\-\\-|\\-|\\+\\+|\\+|~|===|==|=|!=|!==|<=|>=|<<=|>>=|>>>=|<>|<|>|!|&&|\\|\\||\\?\\:|\\*=|%=|\\+=|\\-=|&=|\\^=|\\b(?:in|instanceof|new|delete|typeof|void)"
@@ -196,6 +233,8 @@ var RubyHighlightRules = function() {
             }
         ]
     };
+
+    this.normalizeRules();
 };
 
 oop.inherits(RubyHighlightRules, TextHighlightRules);
diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/text_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/text_highlight_rules.js
index 2dd176f4..25a8bc87 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/text_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/text_highlight_rules.js
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ var TextHighlightRules = function() {
     this.addRules = function(rules, prefix) {
         for (var key in rules) {
             var state = rules[key];
-            for (var i=0; i<state.length; i++) {
+            for (var i = 0; i < state.length; i++) {
                 var rule = state[i];
                 if (rule.next) {
                     rule.next = prefix + rule.next;
@@ -94,7 +94,32 @@ var TextHighlightRules = function() {
 
     this.getEmbeds = function() {
         return this.$embeds;
-    }
+    };
+    
+    this.normalizeRules = function() {
+        var id = 0;
+        for (var key in this.$rules) {
+            var rule = this.$rules[key];
+            for (var i = 0; i < rule.length; i++) {
+                var state = rule[i];
+                if (state.next && Array.isArray(state.next)) {
+                    var stateName = state.stateName || ("state" + id++);
+                    this.$rules[stateName] = state.next;
+                    state.next = stateName;
+                }
+                if (state.rules) {
+                     for (var r in state.rules) {
+                        if (this.$rules[r]) {
+                            if (this.$rules[r].push)
+                                this.$rules[r].push.apply(this.$rules[r], state.rules[r]);
+                        } else {
+                            this.$rules[r] = state.rules[r];
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    };
 
     this.createKeywordMapper = function(map, defaultToken, ignoreCase, splitChar) {
         var keywords = Object.create(null);