The current implementation in python-mode fontifies only basic assignment statements. It makes mistakes on or entirely misses more complex ones such as [a, b, c] = 1, 2, 3 a, *b, c = range(10) inst.a, inst.b, inst.c = 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' (a, b, *c, d) = x, *y = 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 The patch attached below extends the fontification to work correctly with all these cases. I tested things as well as I could, but would appreciate further testing.