In ZSH globs can have optional modifiers before globs (as well as after). Usually, the format is (#). The leading pound symbol confuses sh-mode syntax highlighting, making it appear to be a comment. As these modifiers usually appear in a conditional expression (they are used for group capture), they also break indentation. I've attached a file that demonstrates this. In GNU Emacs 24.4.1 (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.14.3) of 2014-10-21 on bitzer.hoetzel.info Windowing system distributor `The Cygwin/X Project', version 11.0.11602000 Configured using: `configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --libexecdir=/usr/lib --localstatedir=/var --with-x-toolkit=gtk3 --with-xft 'CFLAGS=-march=x86-64 -mtune=generic -O2 -pipe -fstack-protector-strong --param=ssp-buffer-size=4' CPPFLAGS=-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 LDFLAGS=-Wl,-O1,--sort-common,--as-needed,-z,relro' Important settings: value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8 locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix Major mode: λ Minor modes in effect: ido-vertical-mode: t flx-ido-mode: t minibuffer-depth-indicate-mode: t magit-auto-revert-mode: t diff-auto-refine-mode: t shell-dirtrack-mode: t helm-match-plugin-mode: t helm-occur-match-plugin-mode: t aggressive-indent-mode: t global-flycheck-mode: t flyspell-mode: t ido-ubiquitous-mode: t auto-indent-global-mode: t auto-indent-mode: t global-auto-complete-mode: t auto-complete-mode: t cua-mode: t adaptive-wrap-prefix-mode: t show-paren-mode: t rainbow-delimiters-mode: t smartparens-global-mode: t smartparens-mode: t linum-mode: t global-evil-surround-mode: t evil-surround-mode: t evil-leader-mode: t evil-mode: t global-undo-tree-mode: t undo-tree-mode: t evil-local-mode: t savehist-mode: t global-hl-line-mode: t delete-selection-mode: t tooltip-mode: t electric-indent-mode: t mouse-wheel-mode: t file-name-shadow-mode: t global-font-lock-mode: t font-lock-mode: t auto-composition-mode: t auto-encryption-mode: t auto-compression-mode: t column-number-mode: t line-number-mode: t global-visual-line-mode: t visual-line-mode: t transient-mark-mode: t Recent input: M-x r e p o r t - e m a Recent messages: Loading /home/pythonnut/.emacs.d/.mc-lists.el (source)...done idle-require: require windmove idle-require: require framemove Loading easy-kill...done idle-require: require flx-isearch idle-require: require whole-line-or-region Loading smex...done idle-require: require psvn idle-require finished (No files need saving) Load-path shadows: ~/.emacs.d/personal/ws-butler hides /home/pythonnut/.emacs.d/elpa/ws-butler-20140816.1448/ws-butler ~/.emacs.d/personal/edmacro hides /usr/share/emacs/24.4/lisp/edmacro Features: (shadow sort mail-extr emacsbug sendmail ido-vertical-mode flx-ido mb-depth psvn smex whole-line-or-region flx-isearch flx easy-kill framemove multiple-cursors mc-hide-unmatched-lines-mode mc-separate-operations rectangular-region-mode mc-mark-pop mc-mark-more mc-cycle-cursors mc-edit-lines multiple-cursors-core magit-filenotify icicles icicles-mode icicles-cmd2 icicles-cmd1 icicles-mcmd icicles-fn icicles-var icicles-opt cus-theme cus-edit wid-edit hexrgb icicles-face helm-ag helm-semantic helm-imenu imenu semantic/util-modes semantic/util semantic semantic/tag semantic/lex semantic/fw mode-local cedet helm-projectile helm-config async-bytecomp async helm-aliases magit-key-mode magit view epa derived epg diff-git diff-mode autorevert filenotify git-rebase-mode git-commit-mode server log-edit message idna rfc822 mml mml-sec mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums mailabbrev mail-utils gmm-utils mailheader pcvs-util add-log projectile ibuf-ext ibuffer pkg-info lisp-mnt epl f s ucs-normalize helm-ring helm-elisp helm-eval eldoc helm-files image-dired tramp tramp-compat tramp-loaddefs trampver shell dired-x dired-aux ffap helm-buffers helm-elscreen helm-tags helm-bookmark helm-adaptive helm-info helm-net browse-url xml url url-proxy url-privacy url-expand url-methods url-history url-cookie url-domsuf url-util url-parse auth-source gnus-util mm-util mail-prsvr password-cache url-vars mailcap bookmark pp helm-locate helm-help helm-org org org-macro org-footnote org-pcomplete pcomplete org-list org-faces org-entities noutline outline org-version ob-emacs-lisp ob ob-tangle ob-ref ob-lob ob-table ob-exp org-src ob-keys ob-comint ob-core ob-eval org-compat org-macs org-loaddefs format-spec cal-menu calendar cal-loaddefs helm-match-plugin helm-grep helm-regexp helm-plugin grep helm-external helm-utils ls-lisp dired helm helm-source eieio eieio-core idle-require flymake compile comint ansi-color aggressive-indent easy-mmode names edebug flycheck find-func help-mode rx pcase subr-x flyspell ispell load-dir config-solarized solarized-dark-theme solarized config-intel config-minibuffer config-icicles config-helm config-ido ido-ubiquitous warnings auto-indent-mode auto-complete-config auto-complete popup ido config-vcs config-auto-complete config-paste cua-base config-whitespace adaptive-wrap config-indent config-ui paren config-rainbow-delimiters rainbow-delimiters config-smartparens smartparens-config smartparens dash config-undo diminish config-ace-easymotion evil-easymotion noflet cl-indent cl-macs ace-jump-mode cl gv config-line-numbers linum-relative linum config-scroll config-evil config-evil-textobjects config-evil-modules evil-surround evil-leader evil evil-integration undo-tree diff evil-maps evil-commands evil-command-window evil-types evil-search evil-ex evil-macros evil-repeat evil-states evil-core evil-common windmove thingatpt rect evil-digraphs evil-vars ring config-safety config-desktop savehist config-modes key-chord hl-line config-package finder-inf edmacro kmacro cl-loaddefs cl-lib info easymenu package epg-config config-setq delsel cus-start cus-load byte-opt bytecomp byte-compile cconv advice help-fns time-date tooltip electric uniquify ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel x-win x-dnd tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe tabulated-list newcomment lisp-mode prog-mode register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core frame cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev minibuffer nadvice loaddefs button faces cus-face macroexp files text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote make-network-process dbusbind gfilenotify dynamic-setting system-font-setting font-render-setting move-toolbar gtk x-toolkit x multi-tty emacs) Memory information: ((conses 16 782052 178836) (symbols 48 58485 0) (miscs 40 120 268) (strings 32 135655 141330) (string-bytes 1 4259469) (vectors 16 110096) (vector-slots 8 2260594 96673) (floats 8 10670 428) (intervals 56 550 248) (buffers 960 12) (heap 1024 63413 7100))