diff --git a/Lib/sgmllib.py b/Lib/sgmllib.py
index 30acafd55b8..1f8f3b836a1 100644
--- a/Lib/sgmllib.py
+++ b/Lib/sgmllib.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 attrfind = re.compile(
     '[%s]*([a-zA-Z_][-.a-zA-Z_0-9]*)' % string.whitespace
     + ('([%s]*=[%s]*' % (string.whitespace, string.whitespace))
-    + r'(\'[^\']*\'|"[^"]*"|[-a-zA-Z0-9./:+*%?!&$\(\)_#=~]*))?')
+    + r'(\'[^\']*\'|"[^"]*"|[-a-zA-Z0-9./:;+*%?!&$\(\)_#=~]*))?')
 
 
 # SGML parser base class -- find tags and call handler functions.