diff --git a/doc/src/fix_rigid_meso.rst b/doc/src/fix_rigid_meso.rst
index 2acd81a268..dea2354bad 100644
--- a/doc/src/fix_rigid_meso.rst
+++ b/doc/src/fix_rigid_meso.rst
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@ Examples
    fix 1 ellipsoid rigid/meso single
    fix 1 rods      rigid/meso molecule
    fix 1 spheres   rigid/meso single force 1 off off on
-   fix 1 particles rigid/meso molecule force 1\*5 off off off force 6\*10 off off on
-   fix 2 spheres   rigid/meso group 3 sphere1 sphere2 sphere3 torque \* off off off
+   fix 1 particles rigid/meso molecule force 1*5 off off off force 6*10 off off on
+   fix 2 spheres   rigid/meso group 3 sphere1 sphere2 sphere3 torque * off off off
 
 Description
 """""""""""
diff --git a/doc/src/group.rst b/doc/src/group.rst
index 6371a030ee..3ce885bdc5 100644
--- a/doc/src/group.rst
+++ b/doc/src/group.rst
@@ -120,12 +120,12 @@ specified atom types, atom IDs, or molecule IDs into the group.  These
 The first format is a list of values (types or IDs).  For example, the
 second command in the examples above puts all atoms of type 3 or 4 into
 the group named *water*\ .  Each entry in the list can be a
-colon-separated sequence A:B or A:B:C, as in two of the examples
+colon-separated sequence ``A:B`` or ``A:B:C``, as in two of the examples
 above.  A "sequence" generates a sequence of values (types or IDs),
-with an optional increment.  The first example with 500:1000 has the
+with an optional increment.  The first example with ``500:1000`` has the
 default increment of 1 and would add all atom IDs from 500 to 1000
 (inclusive) to the group sub, along with 10,25,50 since they also
-appear in the list of values.  The second example with 100:10000:10
+appear in the list of values.  The second example with ``100:10000:10``
 uses an increment of 10 and would thus would add atoms IDs
 100,110,120, ... 9990,10000 to the group sub.
 
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ group and running further.
 .. code-block:: LAMMPS
 
    variable        nsteps equal 5000
-   variable        rad equal 18-(step/v_nsteps)\*(18-5)
+   variable        rad equal 18-(step/v_nsteps)*(18-5)
    region          ss sphere 20 20 0 v_rad
    group           mobile dynamic all region ss
    fix             1 mobile nve
diff --git a/doc/src/kim_commands.rst b/doc/src/kim_commands.rst
index 295c6a5e40..f116a70922 100644
--- a/doc/src/kim_commands.rst
+++ b/doc/src/kim_commands.rst
@@ -1205,7 +1205,7 @@ coordinates of atoms in the unit cell of the cubic crystal.  In the case of,
 e.g. a conventional fcc unit cell, the "source-value" key in the map associated
 with this key should be assigned the following value:
 
-.. code-block:: LAMMPS
+.. code-block:: text
 
    [[0.0, 0.0, 0.0],
     [0.5, 0.5, 0.0],
diff --git a/doc/utils/sphinx-config/LAMMPSLexer.py b/doc/utils/sphinx-config/LAMMPSLexer.py
index ae40b094c2..6e611f9f74 100644
--- a/doc/utils/sphinx-config/LAMMPSLexer.py
+++ b/doc/utils/sphinx-config/LAMMPSLexer.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class LAMMPSLexer(RegexLexer):
             (r'compute\s+', Keyword, 'compute'),
             (r'dump\s+', Keyword, 'dump'),
             (r'region\s+', Keyword, 'region'),
-            (r'variable\s+', Keyword, 'variable'),
+            (r'^\s*variable\s+', Keyword, 'variable_cmd'),
             (r'group\s+', Keyword, 'group'),
             (r'change_box\s+', Keyword, 'change_box'),
             (r'uncompute\s+', Keyword, 'uncompute'),
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ class LAMMPSLexer(RegexLexer):
             (r'#.*?\n', Comment),
             ('"', String, 'string'),
             ('\'', String, 'single_quote_string'),
+            (r'[0-9]+:[0-9]+(:[0-9]+)?', Number),
             (r'[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?([eE]\-?[0-9]+)?', Number),
             ('\$?\(', Name.Variable, 'expression'),
             ('\$\{', Name.Variable, 'variable'),
@@ -58,6 +59,7 @@ class LAMMPSLexer(RegexLexer):
             (r'\$[\w_]+', Name.Variable),
             (r'\s+', Whitespace),
             (r'[\+\-\*\^\|\/\!%&=<>]', Operator),
+            (r'[\~\.\w_:,@\-\/\\0-9]+', Text),
         ],
         'keywords' : [
             (words(LAMMPS_COMMANDS, suffix=r'\b', prefix=r'^'), Keyword)
@@ -99,7 +101,7 @@ class LAMMPSLexer(RegexLexer):
             (r'[\w_\-\.\[\]]+', Name.Variable.Identifier),
             default('#pop')
         ],
-        'variable' : [
+        'variable_cmd' : [
             (r'[\w_\-\.\[\]]+', Name.Variable.Identifier),
             default('#pop')
         ],