diff --git a/src/color.c b/src/color.c
index 2211ceb86112da19d3b6f8b37f3b6109b429c591..25c9603a16eb6fa9f39da3a6cf55ac70c1910e2c 100644
--- a/src/color.c
+++ b/src/color.c
@@ -260,9 +260,10 @@ void reset_multis_after(filestruct *fileptr, int mindex)
 {
     filestruct *oof;
     for (oof = fileptr->next; oof != NULL; oof = oof->next) {
+	alloc_multidata_if_needed(oof);
 	if (oof->multidata == NULL)
 	    continue;
-	if (oof->multidata[mindex] != 0)
+	if (oof->multidata[mindex] != CNONE)
 	    oof->multidata[mindex] = -1;
 	else
 	    break;
@@ -273,9 +274,10 @@ void reset_multis_before(filestruct *fileptr, int mindex)
 {
     filestruct *oof;
     for (oof = fileptr->prev; oof != NULL; oof = oof->prev) {
+	alloc_multidata_if_needed(oof);
 	if (oof->multidata == NULL)
 	    continue;
-	if (oof->multidata[mindex] != 0)
+	if (oof->multidata[mindex] != CNONE)
 	    oof->multidata[mindex] = -1;
 	else
 	    break;
@@ -299,6 +301,7 @@ void reset_multis(filestruct *fileptr)
 	if (tmpcolor->end == NULL)
 	    continue;
 
+	alloc_multidata_if_needed(fileptr);
 	/* Figure out where the first begin and end are to determine if
 	   things changed drastically for the precalculated multi values */
         nobegin = regexec(tmpcolor->start, fileptr->data, 1, &startmatch, 0);
diff --git a/src/nano.h b/src/nano.h
index e4beb8dc686ec96ccfd4182137d57d2bbbf168d1..0d725de57a8a4056cf74fc216ec57a2302d0c352 100644
--- a/src/nano.h
+++ b/src/nano.h
@@ -224,17 +224,17 @@ typedef struct syntaxtype {
 	/* Next syntax. */
 } syntaxtype;
 
-#define CNONE 		(1<<0)
+#define CNONE 		(1<<1)
 	/* Yay, regex doesn't apply to this line at all! */
-#define CBEGINBEFORE 	(1<<1)
+#define CBEGINBEFORE 	(1<<2)
 	/* regex starts on an earlier line, ends on this one */
-#define CENDAFTER 	(1<<2)
+#define CENDAFTER 	(1<<3)
 	/* regex sraers on this line and ends on a later one */
-#define CWHOLELINE 	(1<<3)
+#define CWHOLELINE 	(1<<4)
 	/* whole line engulfed by the regex  start < me, end > me */
-#define CSTARTENDHERE 	(1<<4)
+#define CSTARTENDHERE 	(1<<5)
 	/* regex starts and ends within this line */
-#define CWTF		(1<<5)
+#define CWTF		(1<<6)
 	/* Something else */
 
 #endif /* ENABLE_COLOR */
diff --git a/src/proto.h b/src/proto.h
index 0e9622759d3d714ce22911a774cb9a3340e77d2e..2328cc13af7d1d4cb178506af9b972aa5d7b1d54 100644
--- a/src/proto.h
+++ b/src/proto.h
@@ -544,6 +544,7 @@ void parse_include(char *ptr);
 short color_to_short(const char *colorname, bool *bright);
 void parse_colors(char *ptr, bool icase);
 void reset_multis(filestruct *fileptr);
+void alloc_multidata_if_needed(filestruct *fileptr);
 #endif
 void parse_rcfile(FILE *rcstream
 #ifdef ENABLE_COLOR
diff --git a/src/winio.c b/src/winio.c
index 39a89811c35042e27973734d8b01a917f64df5ea..759b69e6899d6e856caa502714d18ad994b2c027 100644
--- a/src/winio.c
+++ b/src/winio.c
@@ -2551,7 +2551,7 @@ void edit_draw(filestruct *fileptr, const char *converted, int
 		    }
 		    k = startmatch.rm_eo;
 		}
-	    } else if (fileptr->multidata != NULL && fileptr->multidata[tmpcolor->id] != 0) {
+	    } else if (fileptr->multidata != NULL && fileptr->multidata[tmpcolor->id] != CNONE) {
 		/* This is a multi-line regex.  There are two steps.
 		 * First, we have to see if the beginning of the line is
 		 * colored by a start on an earlier line, and an end on
@@ -2571,7 +2571,7 @@ void edit_draw(filestruct *fileptr, const char *converted, int
 		short md = fileptr->multidata[tmpcolor->id];
 
 		if (md == -1)
-		    fileptr->multidata[tmpcolor->id] = 0; /* until we find out otherwise */
+		    fileptr->multidata[tmpcolor->id] = CNONE; /* until we find out otherwise */
 		else if (md == CNONE)
 		    continue;
 		else if (md == CWHOLELINE) {