1 files changed, 3 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/lisp/files.el b/lisp/files.el
index e226461bd83..42eea31d170 100644
--- a/lisp/files.el
+++ b/lisp/files.el
@@ -966,7 +966,9 @@ If `enable-local-variables' is nil, this function does not check for a
                  ;; Find all specifications for the `mode:' variable
                  ;; and execute them left to right.
                  (while (let ((case-fold-search t))
-                          (search-forward "mode:" end t))
+                          (or (and (looking-at "mode:")
+                                   (goto-char (match-end 0)))
+                              (re-search-forward "[ \t;]mode:" end t)))
                    (skip-chars-forward " \t")
                    (setq beg (point))
                    (if (search-forward ";" end t)