diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index d29abe6f891c79ac8c1ecb1d557e64a910afe37d..d742efa873b589471ca8150c22db3435b1ea13ac 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -136,6 +136,10 @@ CVS code -
 	  (DLR)
 	- Don't set current_len until after it's been asserted that both
 	  current and current->data aren't NULL. (DLR)
+- rcfile.c:
+  parse_colors()
+	- Properly parse a background color without a foreground color.
+	  (DLR)
 - search.c:
   do_gotoline()
 	- Properly show an error message if we try to go to line 0,
@@ -197,6 +201,10 @@ CVS code -
 - doc/faq.html:
 	- Update the question about the FAQ to mention the current
 	  maintainer. (DLR)
+- doc/nanorc.sample:
+	- In the "nanorc" regexes, tweak the "color" regex to properly
+	  color a line that specifies a background color without a
+	  foreground color, and update the associated comments. (DLR)
 - doc/man/fr/Makefile.am:
 	- Set mandir to @mandir@/fr, so French manpages get installed
 	  where they belong (Jordi).
diff --git a/doc/nanorc.sample b/doc/nanorc.sample
index d1596b392c8c0fa5cf5654e47397cc6c6a47d493..de77e5cf0ce4ee6218860e99831e2b062f664c2c 100644
--- a/doc/nanorc.sample
+++ b/doc/nanorc.sample
@@ -133,9 +133,10 @@
 ##
 ## To use multi-line regexes use the start="regex" end="regex" format.
 ##
-## If your system supports transparency, not specifying a background
-## color will use a transparent color.  If you don't want this, be sure
-## to set the background color to black or white.
+## Not specifying a foreground color will use the default foreground
+## color.  If your system supports transparency, not specifying a
+## background color will use a transparent color.  If you don't want the
+## latter, be sure to set the background color to black or white.
 ##
 # syntax "c-file" "\.(c|C|cc|cpp|h|H|hh|hpp)$"
 # color red "\<[A-Z_]{2,}\>" 
@@ -264,7 +265,7 @@
 # color cyan "^ *(set|unset) +(view|whitespace)"
 # color green "^ *(set|unset|syntax)\>"
 ## colors
-# color yellow "^ *color +(bright)?(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan)(,(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan))?\>"
+# color yellow "^ *color *(bright)?(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan)(,(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan))?\>"
 # color magenta "^ *color\>" "\<(start|end)="
 ## strings
 # color white "\"(\\.|[^\"])*\""
diff --git a/src/rcfile.c b/src/rcfile.c
index a6285124e48d84c137b16ac77b9290c5be103a4b..3e5bd78c8f079f820e66cb0af007c536d713ada9 100644
--- a/src/rcfile.c
+++ b/src/rcfile.c
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ void parse_syntax(char *ptr)
 void parse_colors(char *ptr)
 {
     int fg, bg;
-    bool bright = FALSE;
+    bool bright = FALSE, no_fgcolor = FALSE;
     char *fgstr;
 
     assert(ptr != NULL);
@@ -368,8 +368,15 @@ void parse_colors(char *ptr)
 
     if (strchr(fgstr, ',') != NULL) {
 	char *bgcolorname;
+
 	strtok(fgstr, ",");
 	bgcolorname = strtok(NULL, ",");
+	if (bgcolorname == NULL) {
+	    /* If we have a background color without a foreground color,
+	     * parse it properly. */
+	    bgcolorname = fgstr + 1;
+	    no_fgcolor = TRUE;
+	}
 	if (strncasecmp(bgcolorname, "bright", 6) == 0) {
 	    rcfile_error(
 		N_("Background color %s cannot be bright"),
@@ -380,11 +387,14 @@ void parse_colors(char *ptr)
     } else
 	bg = -1;
 
-    fg = color_to_int(fgstr, &bright);
+    if (!no_fgcolor) {
+	fg = color_to_int(fgstr, &bright);
 
-    /* Don't try to parse screwed-up foreground colors. */
-    if (fg == -1)
-	return;
+	/* Don't try to parse screwed-up foreground colors. */
+	if (fg == -1)
+	    return;
+    } else
+	fg = -1;
 
     if (syntaxes == NULL) {
 	rcfile_error(