diff --git a/lib/linguist/strategy/modeline.rb b/lib/linguist/strategy/modeline.rb
index 58f75b63..f8b58ecf 100644
--- a/lib/linguist/strategy/modeline.rb
+++ b/lib/linguist/strategy/modeline.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 module Linguist
   module Strategy
     class Modeline
-      EmacsModeline = /-\*-\s*((?!mode)[\w-]+\s*:\s*([\w+-]+)\s*;?\s*)*(mode\s*:)?\s*([\w+-]+)\s*(;\s*(?!mode)[\w-]+\s*:\s*([\w+-]+)\s*)*;?\s*-\*-/i
+      EmacsModeline = /-\*-\s*(?:(?!mode)[\w-]+\s*:\s*(?:[\w+-]+)\s*;?\s*)*(?:mode\s*:)?\s*([\w+-]+)\s*(?:;\s*(?!mode)[\w-]+\s*:\s*[\w+-]+\s*)*;?\s*-\*-/i
       VimModeline = /\/\*\s*vim:\s*set\s*(?:ft|filetype)=(\w+):\s*\*\//i
 
       # Public: Detects language based on Vim and Emacs modelines
@@ -22,13 +22,8 @@ module Linguist
       #
       # Returns a String or nil
       def self.modeline(data)
-        match = data.match(EmacsModeline)
-        if match
-          match[4]
-        else
-          match = data.match(VimModeline)
-          match[1] if match
-        end
+        match = data.match(EmacsModeline) | data.match(VimModeline)
+        match[1] if match
       end
     end
   end