diff --git a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/check.sh b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/check.sh
index 73f2984f..da067791 100755
--- a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/check.sh
+++ b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/check.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 langs="c.lang cpp.lang changelog.lang def.lang \
        html.lang javascript.lang latex.lang \
        m4.lang makefile.lang xml.lang yacc.lang \
-       sh.lang python.lang"
+       sh.lang python.lang perl.lang"
 
 styles="gvim.styles kate.styles"
 
diff --git a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/perl.lang b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/perl.lang
index 262d35a2..2ce8a7a1 100644
--- a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/perl.lang
+++ b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/perl.lang
@@ -1,260 +1,295 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<!DOCTYPE language SYSTEM "language.dtd">
-<language _name="Perl" version="1.0" _section="Scripts" mimetypes="text/x-perl;application/x-perl" globs="*.pl;*.pm;*.al;*.perl">
-
-	<escape-char>\</escape-char>
-
-	<string _name = "POD" style = "Comment" end-at-line-end = "FALSE">
-		<start-regex>^=[a-z]</start-regex>
-		<end-regex>^=cut</end-regex>
-	</string>
-
-	<string _name = "String" style = "String" end-at-line-end = "FALSE">
-		<start-regex>&quot;</start-regex>
-		<end-regex>&quot;</end-regex>
-	</string>
-
-	<string _name = "String2" style = "String" end-at-line-end = "FALSE">
-		<start-regex>&apos;</start-regex>
-		<end-regex>&apos;</end-regex>
-	</string>
-
-	<string _name = "String3" style = "String" end-at-line-end = "FALSE">
-		<start-regex>`</start-regex>
-		<end-regex>`</end-regex>
-	</string>
-
-	<line-comment _name = "Line Comment" style= "Comment">
-		<start-regex>[^\$]#|^#</start-regex>
-	</line-comment>
-
-	<pattern-item _name = "Variables" style = "Data Type">
-		<regex>[$@%][$]?[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*</regex>
-	</pattern-item>
-
-	<pattern-item _name = "Function Call" style = "Others">
-		<regex>&amp;[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*</regex>
-	</pattern-item>
-
-	<pattern-item _name = "Method Call" style = "Others">
-		<regex>-&gt;[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*</regex>
-	</pattern-item>
-
-	<keyword-list _name = "Keywords" style = "Keyword" case-sensitive="TRUE">
-		<keyword>eq</keyword>
-		<keyword>ne</keyword>
-		<keyword>not</keyword>
-		<keyword>or</keyword>
-		<keyword>read</keyword>
-		<keyword>keys</keyword>
-		<keyword>chomp</keyword>
-		<keyword>if</keyword>
-		<keyword>else</keyword>
-		<keyword>elsif</keyword>
-		<keyword>unless</keyword>
-		<keyword>open</keyword>
-		<keyword>close</keyword>
-		<keyword>split</keyword>
-		<keyword>for</keyword>
-		<keyword>while</keyword>
-		<keyword>foreach</keyword>
-		<keyword>exit</keyword>
-		<keyword>sub</keyword>
-		<keyword>print</keyword>
-		<keyword>use</keyword>
-		<keyword>require</keyword>
-		<keyword>elseif</keyword>
-		<keyword>continue</keyword>
-		<keyword>until</keyword>
-		<keyword>do</keyword>
-		<keyword>last</keyword>
-		<keyword>next</keyword>
-		<keyword>redo</keyword>
-		<keyword>goto</keyword>
-		<keyword>chop</keyword>
-		<keyword>chr</keyword>
-		<keyword>crypt</keyword>
-		<keyword>hex</keyword>
-		<keyword>index</keyword>
-		<keyword>lc</keyword>
-		<keyword>lcfirst</keyword>
-		<keyword>length</keyword>
-		<keyword>oct</keyword>
-		<keyword>ord</keyword>
-		<keyword>reverse</keyword>
-		<keyword>rindex</keyword>
-		<keyword>printf</keyword>
-		<keyword>sprintf</keyword>
-		<keyword>substr</keyword>
-		<keyword>uc</keyword>
-		<keyword>ucfirst</keyword>
-		<keyword>pos</keyword>
-		<keyword>quotemeta</keyword>
-		<keyword>study</keyword>
-		<keyword>abs</keyword>
-		<keyword>atan2</keyword>
-		<keyword>cos</keyword>
-		<keyword>exp</keyword>
-		<keyword>int</keyword>
-		<keyword>log</keyword>
-		<keyword>rand</keyword>
-		<keyword>sin</keyword>
-		<keyword>sqrt</keyword>
-		<keyword>srand</keyword>
-		<keyword>pop</keyword>
-		<keyword>push</keyword>
-		<keyword>shift</keyword>
-		<keyword>splice</keyword>
-		<keyword>unshift</keyword>
-		<keyword>grep</keyword>
-		<keyword>join</keyword>
-		<keyword>map</keyword>
-		<keyword>sort</keyword>
-		<keyword>unpack</keyword>
-		<keyword>pack</keyword>
-		<keyword>delete</keyword>
-		<keyword>each</keyword>
-		<keyword>exists</keyword>
-		<keyword>values</keyword>
-		<keyword>binmode</keyword>
-		<keyword>closedir</keyword>
-		<keyword>dbmclose</keyword>
-		<keyword>dbmopen</keyword>
-		<keyword>die</keyword>
-		<keyword>eof</keyword>
-		<keyword>fileno</keyword>
-		<keyword>flock</keyword>
-		<keyword>format</keyword>
-		<keyword>getc</keyword>
-		<keyword>readdir</keyword>
-		<keyword>rewinddir</keyword>
-		<keyword>seek</keyword>
-		<keyword>seekdir</keyword>
-		<keyword>select</keyword>
-		<keyword>syscall</keyword>
-		<keyword>sysread</keyword>
-		<keyword>sysseek</keyword>
-		<keyword>syswrite</keyword>
-		<keyword>tell</keyword>
-		<keyword>telldir</keyword>
-		<keyword>truncate</keyword>
-		<keyword>warn</keyword>
-		<keyword>write</keyword>
-		<keyword>vec</keyword>
-		<keyword>chdir</keyword>
-		<keyword>chmod</keyword>
-		<keyword>chown</keyword>
-		<keyword>chroot</keyword>
-		<keyword>fcntl</keyword>
-		<keyword>glob</keyword>
-		<keyword>ioctl</keyword>
-		<keyword>link</keyword>
-		<keyword>lstat</keyword>
-		<keyword>mkdir</keyword>
-		<keyword>opendir</keyword>
-		<keyword>readlink</keyword>
-		<keyword>rename</keyword>
-		<keyword>rmdir</keyword>
-		<keyword>stat</keyword>
-		<keyword>symlink</keyword>
-		<keyword>umask</keyword>
-		<keyword>unlink</keyword>
-		<keyword>utime</keyword>
-		<keyword>caller</keyword>
-		<keyword>dump</keyword>
-		<keyword>eval</keyword>
-		<keyword>return</keyword>
-		<keyword>wantarray</keyword>
-		<keyword>import</keyword>
-		<keyword>local</keyword>
-		<keyword>my</keyword>
-		<keyword>our</keyword>
-		<keyword>package</keyword>
-		<keyword>defined</keyword>
-		<keyword>formline</keyword>
-		<keyword>prototype</keyword>
-		<keyword>reset</keyword>
-		<keyword>scalar</keyword>
-		<keyword>undef</keyword>
-		<keyword>alarm</keyword>
-		<keyword>exec</keyword>
-		<keyword>fork</keyword>
-		<keyword>getpgrp</keyword>
-		<keyword>getppid</keyword>
-		<keyword>getpriority</keyword>
-		<keyword>kill</keyword>
-		<keyword>pipe</keyword>
-		<keyword>setpgrp</keyword>
-		<keyword>setpriority</keyword>
-		<keyword>sleep</keyword>
-		<keyword>system</keyword>
-		<keyword>times</keyword>
-		<keyword>wait</keyword>
-		<keyword>waitpid</keyword>
-		<keyword>no</keyword>
-		<keyword>bless</keyword>
-		<keyword>ref</keyword>
-		<keyword>tie</keyword>
-		<keyword>tied</keyword>
-		<keyword>untie</keyword>
-		<keyword>accept</keyword>
-		<keyword>bind</keyword>
-		<keyword>connect</keyword>
-		<keyword>getpeername</keyword>
-		<keyword>getsockname</keyword>
-		<keyword>getsockopt</keyword>
-		<keyword>listen</keyword>
-		<keyword>recv</keyword>
-		<keyword>send</keyword>
-		<keyword>setsockopt</keyword>
-		<keyword>shutdown</keyword>
-		<keyword>socket</keyword>
-		<keyword>socketpair</keyword>
-		<keyword>msgctl</keyword>
-		<keyword>msgget</keyword>
-		<keyword>msgrcv</keyword>
-		<keyword>msgsnd</keyword>
-		<keyword>semctl</keyword>
-		<keyword>semget</keyword>
-		<keyword>semop</keyword>
-		<keyword>shmctl</keyword>
-		<keyword>shmget</keyword>
-		<keyword>shmread</keyword>
-		<keyword>shmwrite</keyword>
-		<keyword>endgrent</keyword>
-		<keyword>endhostent</keyword>
-		<keyword>endnetent</keyword>
-		<keyword>endpwent</keyword>
-		<keyword>getgrent</keyword>
-		<keyword>getgrgid</keyword>
-		<keyword>getgrnam</keyword>
-		<keyword>getlogin</keyword>
-		<keyword>getpwent</keyword>
-		<keyword>getpwnam</keyword>
-		<keyword>getpwuid</keyword>
-		<keyword>setgrent</keyword>
-		<keyword>setpwent</keyword>
-		<keyword>endprotoent</keyword>
-		<keyword>endservent</keyword>
-		<keyword>gethostbyaddr</keyword>
-		<keyword>gethostbyname</keyword>
-		<keyword>gethostent</keyword>
-		<keyword>getnetbyaddr</keyword>
-		<keyword>getnetbyname</keyword>
-		<keyword>getnetent</keyword>
-		<keyword>getprotobyname</keyword>
-		<keyword>getprotobynumber</keyword>
-		<keyword>getprotoent</keyword>
-		<keyword>getservbyname</keyword>
-		<keyword>getservbyport</keyword>
-		<keyword>getservent</keyword>
-		<keyword>sethostent</keyword>
-		<keyword>setnetent</keyword>
-		<keyword>setprotoent</keyword>
-		<keyword>setservent</keyword>
-		<keyword>gmtime</keyword>
-		<keyword>localtime</keyword>
-		<keyword>time</keyword>
-	</keyword-list>
+<language id="perl" _name="Perl" version="2.0" _section="Scripts">
+  <metadata>
+    <property name="mimetypes">text/x-perl;application/x-perl</property>
+    <property name="globs">*.pl;*.pm;*.al;*.perl</property>
+    <property name="line-comment-start">#</property>
+  </metadata>
 
+  <styles>
+    <style id="comment" name="Comment" map-to="def:comment"/>
+    <style id="data-type" name="Data Type" map-to="def:data-type"/>
+    <style id="string" name="String" map-to="def:string"/>
+    <style id="keyword" name="Keyword" map-to="def:keyword"/>
+    <style id="others" name="Others"/>
+  </styles>
+  <definitions>
+    <context id="pod" style-ref="comment">
+      <start>^=[a-z]</start>
+      <end>^=cut</end>
+      <include>
+        <context ref="def:escape"/>
+        <context ref="def:line-continue"/>
+      </include>
+    </context>
+    <context id="string" style-ref="string">
+      <start>"</start>
+      <end>"</end>
+      <include>
+        <context ref="def:escape"/>
+        <context ref="def:line-continue"/>
+      </include>
+    </context>
+    <context id="string2" style-ref="string">
+      <start>'</start>
+      <end>'</end>
+      <include>
+        <context ref="def:escape"/>
+        <context ref="def:line-continue"/>
+      </include>
+    </context>
+    <context id="string3" style-ref="string">
+      <start>`</start>
+      <end>`</end>
+      <include>
+        <context ref="def:escape"/>
+        <context ref="def:line-continue"/>
+      </include>
+    </context>
+    <context id="line-comment" style-ref="comment" end-at-line-end="true">
+      <start>[^\$]#|^#</start>
+      <include>
+        <context ref="def:escape"/>
+        <context ref="def:line-continue"/>
+      </include>
+    </context>
+    <context id="variables" style-ref="data-type">
+      <match>[$@%][$]?[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*</match>
+    </context>
+    <context id="function-call" style-ref="others">
+      <match>&amp;[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*</match>
+    </context>
+    <context id="method-call" style-ref="others">
+      <match>-&gt;[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*</match>
+    </context>
+    <context id="keywords" style-ref="keyword">
+      <keyword>eq</keyword>
+      <keyword>ne</keyword>
+      <keyword>not</keyword>
+      <keyword>or</keyword>
+      <keyword>read</keyword>
+      <keyword>keys</keyword>
+      <keyword>chomp</keyword>
+      <keyword>if</keyword>
+      <keyword>else</keyword>
+      <keyword>elsif</keyword>
+      <keyword>unless</keyword>
+      <keyword>open</keyword>
+      <keyword>close</keyword>
+      <keyword>split</keyword>
+      <keyword>for</keyword>
+      <keyword>while</keyword>
+      <keyword>foreach</keyword>
+      <keyword>exit</keyword>
+      <keyword>sub</keyword>
+      <keyword>print</keyword>
+      <keyword>use</keyword>
+      <keyword>require</keyword>
+      <keyword>elseif</keyword>
+      <keyword>continue</keyword>
+      <keyword>until</keyword>
+      <keyword>do</keyword>
+      <keyword>last</keyword>
+      <keyword>next</keyword>
+      <keyword>redo</keyword>
+      <keyword>goto</keyword>
+      <keyword>chop</keyword>
+      <keyword>chr</keyword>
+      <keyword>crypt</keyword>
+      <keyword>hex</keyword>
+      <keyword>index</keyword>
+      <keyword>lc</keyword>
+      <keyword>lcfirst</keyword>
+      <keyword>length</keyword>
+      <keyword>oct</keyword>
+      <keyword>ord</keyword>
+      <keyword>reverse</keyword>
+      <keyword>rindex</keyword>
+      <keyword>printf</keyword>
+      <keyword>sprintf</keyword>
+      <keyword>substr</keyword>
+      <keyword>uc</keyword>
+      <keyword>ucfirst</keyword>
+      <keyword>pos</keyword>
+      <keyword>quotemeta</keyword>
+      <keyword>study</keyword>
+      <keyword>abs</keyword>
+      <keyword>atan2</keyword>
+      <keyword>cos</keyword>
+      <keyword>exp</keyword>
+      <keyword>int</keyword>
+      <keyword>log</keyword>
+      <keyword>rand</keyword>
+      <keyword>sin</keyword>
+      <keyword>sqrt</keyword>
+      <keyword>srand</keyword>
+      <keyword>pop</keyword>
+      <keyword>push</keyword>
+      <keyword>shift</keyword>
+      <keyword>splice</keyword>
+      <keyword>unshift</keyword>
+      <keyword>grep</keyword>
+      <keyword>join</keyword>
+      <keyword>map</keyword>
+      <keyword>sort</keyword>
+      <keyword>unpack</keyword>
+      <keyword>pack</keyword>
+      <keyword>delete</keyword>
+      <keyword>each</keyword>
+      <keyword>exists</keyword>
+      <keyword>values</keyword>
+      <keyword>binmode</keyword>
+      <keyword>closedir</keyword>
+      <keyword>dbmclose</keyword>
+      <keyword>dbmopen</keyword>
+      <keyword>die</keyword>
+      <keyword>eof</keyword>
+      <keyword>fileno</keyword>
+      <keyword>flock</keyword>
+      <keyword>format</keyword>
+      <keyword>getc</keyword>
+      <keyword>readdir</keyword>
+      <keyword>rewinddir</keyword>
+      <keyword>seek</keyword>
+      <keyword>seekdir</keyword>
+      <keyword>select</keyword>
+      <keyword>syscall</keyword>
+      <keyword>sysread</keyword>
+      <keyword>sysseek</keyword>
+      <keyword>syswrite</keyword>
+      <keyword>tell</keyword>
+      <keyword>telldir</keyword>
+      <keyword>truncate</keyword>
+      <keyword>warn</keyword>
+      <keyword>write</keyword>
+      <keyword>vec</keyword>
+      <keyword>chdir</keyword>
+      <keyword>chmod</keyword>
+      <keyword>chown</keyword>
+      <keyword>chroot</keyword>
+      <keyword>fcntl</keyword>
+      <keyword>glob</keyword>
+      <keyword>ioctl</keyword>
+      <keyword>link</keyword>
+      <keyword>lstat</keyword>
+      <keyword>mkdir</keyword>
+      <keyword>opendir</keyword>
+      <keyword>readlink</keyword>
+      <keyword>rename</keyword>
+      <keyword>rmdir</keyword>
+      <keyword>stat</keyword>
+      <keyword>symlink</keyword>
+      <keyword>umask</keyword>
+      <keyword>unlink</keyword>
+      <keyword>utime</keyword>
+      <keyword>caller</keyword>
+      <keyword>dump</keyword>
+      <keyword>eval</keyword>
+      <keyword>return</keyword>
+      <keyword>wantarray</keyword>
+      <keyword>import</keyword>
+      <keyword>local</keyword>
+      <keyword>my</keyword>
+      <keyword>our</keyword>
+      <keyword>package</keyword>
+      <keyword>defined</keyword>
+      <keyword>formline</keyword>
+      <keyword>prototype</keyword>
+      <keyword>reset</keyword>
+      <keyword>scalar</keyword>
+      <keyword>undef</keyword>
+      <keyword>alarm</keyword>
+      <keyword>exec</keyword>
+      <keyword>fork</keyword>
+      <keyword>getpgrp</keyword>
+      <keyword>getppid</keyword>
+      <keyword>getpriority</keyword>
+      <keyword>kill</keyword>
+      <keyword>pipe</keyword>
+      <keyword>setpgrp</keyword>
+      <keyword>setpriority</keyword>
+      <keyword>sleep</keyword>
+      <keyword>system</keyword>
+      <keyword>times</keyword>
+      <keyword>wait</keyword>
+      <keyword>waitpid</keyword>
+      <keyword>no</keyword>
+      <keyword>bless</keyword>
+      <keyword>ref</keyword>
+      <keyword>tie</keyword>
+      <keyword>tied</keyword>
+      <keyword>untie</keyword>
+      <keyword>accept</keyword>
+      <keyword>bind</keyword>
+      <keyword>connect</keyword>
+      <keyword>getpeername</keyword>
+      <keyword>getsockname</keyword>
+      <keyword>getsockopt</keyword>
+      <keyword>listen</keyword>
+      <keyword>recv</keyword>
+      <keyword>send</keyword>
+      <keyword>setsockopt</keyword>
+      <keyword>shutdown</keyword>
+      <keyword>socket</keyword>
+      <keyword>socketpair</keyword>
+      <keyword>msgctl</keyword>
+      <keyword>msgget</keyword>
+      <keyword>msgrcv</keyword>
+      <keyword>msgsnd</keyword>
+      <keyword>semctl</keyword>
+      <keyword>semget</keyword>
+      <keyword>semop</keyword>
+      <keyword>shmctl</keyword>
+      <keyword>shmget</keyword>
+      <keyword>shmread</keyword>
+      <keyword>shmwrite</keyword>
+      <keyword>endgrent</keyword>
+      <keyword>endhostent</keyword>
+      <keyword>endnetent</keyword>
+      <keyword>endpwent</keyword>
+      <keyword>getgrent</keyword>
+      <keyword>getgrgid</keyword>
+      <keyword>getgrnam</keyword>
+      <keyword>getlogin</keyword>
+      <keyword>getpwent</keyword>
+      <keyword>getpwnam</keyword>
+      <keyword>getpwuid</keyword>
+      <keyword>setgrent</keyword>
+      <keyword>setpwent</keyword>
+      <keyword>endprotoent</keyword>
+      <keyword>endservent</keyword>
+      <keyword>gethostbyaddr</keyword>
+      <keyword>gethostbyname</keyword>
+      <keyword>gethostent</keyword>
+      <keyword>getnetbyaddr</keyword>
+      <keyword>getnetbyname</keyword>
+      <keyword>getnetent</keyword>
+      <keyword>getprotobyname</keyword>
+      <keyword>getprotobynumber</keyword>
+      <keyword>getprotoent</keyword>
+      <keyword>getservbyname</keyword>
+      <keyword>getservbyport</keyword>
+      <keyword>getservent</keyword>
+      <keyword>sethostent</keyword>
+      <keyword>setnetent</keyword>
+      <keyword>setprotoent</keyword>
+      <keyword>setservent</keyword>
+      <keyword>gmtime</keyword>
+      <keyword>localtime</keyword>
+      <keyword>time</keyword>
+    </context>
+    <context id="perl">
+      <include>
+        <context ref="pod"/>
+        <context ref="string"/>
+        <context ref="string2"/>
+        <context ref="string3"/>
+        <context ref="line-comment"/>
+        <context ref="variables"/>
+        <context ref="function-call"/>
+        <context ref="method-call"/>
+        <context ref="keywords"/>
+      </include>
+    </context>
+  </definitions>
 </language>