diff --git a/autotests/html/test.octave.html b/autotests/html/test.octave.html
--- a/autotests/html/test.octave.html
+++ b/autotests/html/test.octave.html
@@ -53,17 +53,17 @@
 
       <span style="font-weight:bold;">if</span> (<span style="color:#644a9b;">nargin</span> == <span style="color:#b08000;">1</span>)
         <span style="font-weight:bold;">if</span> (<span style="color:#644a9b;">isa</span> (a, <span style="color:#bf0303;">&quot;polynomial2&quot;</span>))
-          p.<span style="color:#644a9b;">poly</span> = a.<span style="color:#644a9b;">poly</span>;
+          p.poly = a.poly;
         <span style="font-weight:bold;">elseif</span> (<span style="color:#644a9b;">isreal</span> (a) &amp;&amp; <span style="color:#644a9b;">isvector</span> (a))
-          p.<span style="color:#644a9b;">poly</span> = a(:).';  <span style="color:#898887;"># force row vector</span>
+          p.poly = a(:).';  <span style="color:#898887;"># force row vector</span>
         <span style="font-weight:bold;">else</span>
           <span style="color:#644a9b;">error</span> (<span style="color:#bf0303;">&quot;polynomial2: A must be a real vector&quot;</span>);
         <span style="font-weight:bold;">endif</span>
       <span style="font-weight:bold;">endif</span>
     <span style="font-weight:bold;">endfunction</span>
 
     <span style="font-weight:bold;">function</span> <span style="color:#644a9b;">disp</span> (p)
-      a = p.<span style="color:#644a9b;">poly</span>;
+      a = p.poly;
       first = <span style="color:#644a9b;">true</span>;
       <span style="font-weight:bold;">for</span> <span style="color:#644a9b;">i</span> = <span style="color:#b08000;">1</span> : <span style="color:#644a9b;">length</span> (a);
         <span style="font-weight:bold;">if</span> (a(<span style="color:#644a9b;">i</span>) != <span style="color:#b08000;">0</span>)
diff --git a/autotests/reference/test.octave.ref b/autotests/reference/test.octave.ref
--- a/autotests/reference/test.octave.ref
+++ b/autotests/reference/test.octave.ref
@@ -47,17 +47,17 @@
 <Normal Text></Normal Text><br/>
 <Normal Text>      </Normal Text><Keyword>if</Keyword><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Functions>nargin</Functions><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>==</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Number>1</Number><Delimiter>)</Delimiter><br/>
 <Normal Text>        </Normal Text><Keyword>if</Keyword><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Functions>isa</Functions><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Variable>a</Variable><Operator>,</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><String>"polynomial2"</String><Delimiter>))</Delimiter><br/>
-<Normal Text>          </Normal Text><Variable>p</Variable><Normal Text>.</Normal Text><Functions>poly</Functions><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>=</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Variable>a</Variable><Normal Text>.</Normal Text><Functions>poly</Functions><Operator>;</Operator><br/>
+<Normal Text>          </Normal Text><Variable>p</Variable><Normal Text>.</Normal Text><Variable>poly</Variable><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>=</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Variable>a</Variable><Normal Text>.</Normal Text><Variable>poly</Variable><Operator>;</Operator><br/>
 <Normal Text>        </Normal Text><Keyword>elseif</Keyword><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Functions>isreal</Functions><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Variable>a</Variable><Delimiter>)</Delimiter><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>&&</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Functions>isvector</Functions><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Variable>a</Variable><Delimiter>))</Delimiter><br/>
-<Normal Text>          </Normal Text><Variable>p</Variable><Normal Text>.</Normal Text><Functions>poly</Functions><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>=</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Variable>a</Variable><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Operator>:</Operator><Delimiter>)</Delimiter><Operator>.';</Operator><Normal Text>  </Normal Text><Comment># force row vector</Comment><br/>
+<Normal Text>          </Normal Text><Variable>p</Variable><Normal Text>.</Normal Text><Variable>poly</Variable><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>=</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Variable>a</Variable><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Operator>:</Operator><Delimiter>)</Delimiter><Operator>.';</Operator><Normal Text>  </Normal Text><Comment># force row vector</Comment><br/>
 <Normal Text>        </Normal Text><Keyword>else</Keyword><br/>
 <Normal Text>          </Normal Text><Functions>error</Functions><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><String>"polynomial2: A must be a real vector"</String><Delimiter>)</Delimiter><Operator>;</Operator><br/>
 <Normal Text>        </Normal Text><Keyword>endif</Keyword><br/>
 <Normal Text>      </Normal Text><Keyword>endif</Keyword><br/>
 <Normal Text>    </Normal Text><Keyword>endfunction</Keyword><br/>
 <Normal Text></Normal Text><br/>
 <Normal Text>    </Normal Text><Keyword>function</Keyword><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Functions>disp</Functions><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Variable>p</Variable><Delimiter>)</Delimiter><br/>
-<Normal Text>      </Normal Text><Variable>a</Variable><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>=</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Variable>p</Variable><Normal Text>.</Normal Text><Functions>poly</Functions><Operator>;</Operator><br/>
+<Normal Text>      </Normal Text><Variable>a</Variable><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>=</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Variable>p</Variable><Normal Text>.</Normal Text><Variable>poly</Variable><Operator>;</Operator><br/>
 <Normal Text>      </Normal Text><Variable>first</Variable><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>=</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Functions>true</Functions><Operator>;</Operator><br/>
 <Normal Text>      </Normal Text><Keyword>for</Keyword><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Functions>i</Functions><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>=</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Number>1</Number><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>:</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Functions>length</Functions><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Variable>a</Variable><Delimiter>)</Delimiter><Operator>;</Operator><br/>
 <Normal Text>        </Normal Text><Keyword>if</Keyword><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Variable>a</Variable><Delimiter>(</Delimiter><Functions>i</Functions><Delimiter>)</Delimiter><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Operator>!=</Operator><Normal Text> </Normal Text><Number>0</Number><Delimiter>)</Delimiter><br/>
diff --git a/data/syntax/octave.xml b/data/syntax/octave.xml
--- a/data/syntax/octave.xml
+++ b/data/syntax/octave.xml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 -->
 
 
-<language name="Octave" version="4" kateversion="5.0" section="Scientific" extensions="*.octave;*.m;*.M" mimetype="text/octave" casesensitive="1" license="GPL" author="Luis Silvestre and Federico Zenith">
+<language name="Octave" version="5" kateversion="5.0" section="Scientific" extensions="*.octave;*.m;*.M" mimetype="text/octave" casesensitive="1" license="GPL" author="Luis Silvestre and Federico Zenith">
 
   <highlighting>
 
@@ -2769,7 +2769,7 @@
         <RegExpr context="#stay" attribute="Variable" String="[a-zA-Z]\w*" />
         <RegExpr context="#stay" attribute="Number" String="(\d+(\.\d+)?|\.\d+)([eE][+-]?\d+)?[ij]?" />
         <AnyChar context="#stay" attribute="Delimiter" String="()[]{}"/>
-              
+
         <!-- Three- and two-character operators -->
         <StringDetect context="#stay" attribute="Operator" String="..."/>
         <StringDetect context="#stay" attribute="Operator" String="=="/>
@@ -2826,7 +2826,7 @@
       <comment name="singleLine" start="%" />
       <comment name="singleLine" start="#" />
     </comments>
-    <keywords casesensitive="1"/>
+    <keywords weakDeliminator="." casesensitive="1"/>
   </general>
 
 </language>