diff --git a/src/rc/kakrc.kak b/src/rc/kakrc.kak
index 302ded11..fe8ffb96 100644
--- a/src/rc/kakrc.kak
+++ b/src/rc/kakrc.kak
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ hook global WinSetOption filetype=kak %{
     addhl -group kak-highlight regex (?<=\<hook)\h+((global|buffer|window)|(\S+))\h+(\S+)\h+(\H+) 2:attribute 3:error 4:identifier 5:string
     addhl -group kak-highlight regex (?<=\<set)\h+((global|buffer|window)|(\S+))\h+(\S+)\h+(\S+) 2:attribute 3:error 4:identifier 5:value
     addhl -group kak-highlight regex (?<=\<regex)\h+(\S+) 1:string
-    addhl -group kak-highlight regex (["'])(?:\\\1|.)*?\1 0:string
+    addhl -group kak-highlight regex (?<!\\)(["'])(?:\\\1|.)*?\1 0:string
     addhl -group kak-highlight regex (^|\h)\#[^\n]*\n 0:comment
 }