diff --git a/rc/base/perl.kak b/rc/base/perl.kak
index 97c8c0fa..cba11bd2 100644
--- a/rc/base/perl.kak
+++ b/rc/base/perl.kak
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ add-highlighter -group /perl/code regex \b-(B|b|C|c|d|e|f|g|k|l|M|O|o|p|r|R|S|s|
 add-highlighter -group /perl/code regex %{(?:\b[stqrmwy]+)?/[^\n/]*/([msixpodualngecr]+\b)?} 0:magenta
 add-highlighter -group /perl/code regex %{(?:\b[stqrmwy]+)?/[^\n/]+/[^\n/]*/([msixpeodualngcr]+\b)?} 0:magenta
 
-add-highlighter -group /perl/code regex \$[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]* 0:blue
+add-highlighter -group /perl/code regex \$[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]* 0:identifier
 
 add-highlighter -group /perl/code regex \$(a|b|LAST_REGEXP_CODE_RESULT|LIST_SEPARATOR|MATCH|MULTILINE_MATCHING|NR|OFMT|OFS|ORS|OS_ERROR|OSNAME|OUTPUT_AUTO_FLUSH|OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR|OUTPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR)\b 0:value
 add-highlighter -group /perl/code regex \$(LAST_REGEXP_CODE_RESULT|LIST_SEPARATOR|MATCH|MULTILINE_MATCHING|NR|OFMT|OFS|ORS|OS_ERROR|OSNAME|OUTPUT_AUTO_FLUSH|OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR|OUTPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR|PERL_VERSION|ACCUMULATOR|PERLDB|ARG|PID|ARGV|POSTMATCH|PREMATCH|BASETIME|PROCESS_ID|CHILD_ERROR|PROGRAM_NAME|COMPILING|REAL_GROUP_ID|DEBUGGING|REAL_USER_ID|EFFECTIVE_GROUP_ID|RS|EFFECTIVE_USER_ID|SUBSCRIPT_SEPARATOR|EGID|SUBSEP|ERRNO|SYSTEM_FD_MAX|EUID|UID|EVAL_ERROR|WARNING|EXCEPTIONS_BEING_CAUGHT|EXECUTABLE_NAME|EXTENDED_OS_ERROR|FORMAT_FORMFEED|FORMAT_LINE_BREAK_CHARACTERS|FORMAT_LINES_LEFT|FORMAT_LINES_PER_PAGE|FORMAT_NAME|FORMAT_PAGE_NUMBER|FORMAT_TOP_NAME|GID|INPLACE_EDIT|INPUT_LINE_NUMBER|INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR|LAST_MATCH_END|LAST_PAREN_MATCH)\b 0:value