diff --git a/Text/Highlighting/Kate/Syntax/Perl.hs b/Text/Highlighting/Kate/Syntax/Perl.hs
--- a/Text/Highlighting/Kate/Syntax/Perl.hs
+++ b/Text/Highlighting/Kate/Syntax/Perl.hs
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@
 regex_'5b'24'40'5d'5b'5e'5d'5cs'7b'7d'28'29'7c'3e'27'5d = compileRegex True "[$@][^]\\s{}()|>']"
 regex_'5c'23'5b'5e'29'5d'2a = compileRegex True "\\#[^)]*"
 regex_'5b'3a'3d'21'3e'3c'5d'2b = compileRegex True "[:=!><]+"
-regex_'5c'5b'3a'5e'3f'5ba'2dz'5d'2b'3a'5c'5d = compileRegex True "\\[:^?[a-z]+:\\]"
+regex_'5c'5b'3a'5c'5e'3f'5ba'2dz'5d'2b'3a'5c'5d = compileRegex True "\\[:\\^?[a-z]+:\\]"
 regex_'5c'24'5b0'2d9'5d'2b = compileRegex True "\\$[0-9]+"
 regex_'5b'40'5c'24'5d'28'3f'3a'5b'5c'2b'5c'2d'5f'5d'5cB'7cARGV'5cb'7cINC'5cb'29 = compileRegex True "[@\\$](?:[\\+\\-_]\\B|ARGV\\b|INC\\b)"
 regex_'5b'25'5c'24'5d'28'3f'3aINC'5cb'7cENV'5cb'7cSIG'5cb'29 = compileRegex True "[%\\$](?:INC\\b|ENV\\b|SIG\\b)"
@@ -726,7 +726,7 @@
    <|>
    ((pDetect2Chars False '\\' ']' >>= withAttribute BaseNTok))
    <|>
-   ((pRegExpr regex_'5c'5b'3a'5e'3f'5ba'2dz'5d'2b'3a'5c'5d >>= withAttribute BaseNTok))
+   ((pRegExpr regex_'5c'5b'3a'5c'5e'3f'5ba'2dz'5d'2b'3a'5c'5d >>= withAttribute BaseNTok))
    <|>
    ((pDetectChar False ']' >>= withAttribute CharTok) >>~ (popContext))
    <|>
diff --git a/changelog b/changelog
--- a/changelog
+++ b/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+highlighting-kate 0.5.8.2 (27 May 2014)
+
+  * Updated perl xml file for regex syntax compatibility (pandoc #1317).
+
 highlighting-kate 0.5.8.1 (14 May 2014)
 
   * Update fsharp and ocaml xml files for regex syntax compatibility (#44).
diff --git a/highlighting-kate.cabal b/highlighting-kate.cabal
--- a/highlighting-kate.cabal
+++ b/highlighting-kate.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                highlighting-kate
-Version:             0.5.8.1
+Version:             0.5.8.2
 Cabal-Version:       >= 1.10
 Build-Type:          Simple
 Category:            Text
diff --git a/xml/perl.xml b/xml/perl.xml
--- a/xml/perl.xml
+++ b/xml/perl.xml
@@ -658,7 +658,8 @@
         <DetectChar attribute="Pattern Internal Operator" context="#stay" char="^" />
         <Detect2Chars attribute="Pattern Character Class" context="#stay" char="\" char1="\" />
         <Detect2Chars attribute="Pattern Character Class" context="#stay" char="\" char1="]" />
-        <RegExpr attribute="Pattern Character Class" context="#stay" String="\[:^?[a-z]+:\]" />
+        <!-- JGM:  added \ before ^ in the following regex -->
+        <RegExpr attribute="Pattern Character Class" context="#stay" String="\[:\^?[a-z]+:\]" />
         <DetectChar attribute="Pattern Internal Operator" context="#pop" char="]" />
       </context>