diff --git a/lisp/progmodes/etags.el b/lisp/progmodes/etags.el
index 144e143090e..3f25c09a9e1 100644
--- a/lisp/progmodes/etags.el
+++ b/lisp/progmodes/etags.el
@@ -986,8 +986,8 @@ See documentation of variable `tags-file-name'."
       ;;   \6 is the line to start searching at;
       ;;   \7 is the char to start searching at.
       (while (re-search-forward
-	      "^\\(\\(.+[^-a-zA-Z0-9_$]+\\)?\\([-a-zA-Z0-9_$]+\\)\
-\[^-a-zA-Z0-9_$]*\\)\177\\(\\([^\n\001]+\\)\001\\)?\
+	      "^\\(\\(.+[^-a-zA-Z0-9_$]+\\)?\\([-a-zA-Z0-9_$?:]+\\)\
+\[^-a-zA-Z0-9_$?:]*\\)\177\\(\\([^\n\001]+\\)\001\\)?\
 \\([0-9]+\\)?,\\([0-9]+\\)?\n"
 	      nil t)
 	(intern	(if (match-beginning 5)