diff --git a/.rubocop.yml b/.rubocop.yml
index 4189be7b..50e89d45 100644
--- a/.rubocop.yml
+++ b/.rubocop.yml
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@ AllCops:
   - lib/jekyll/site.rb
   - lib/jekyll/static_file.rb
   - lib/jekyll/stevenson.rb
-  - lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
   - lib/jekyll/tags/include.rb
   - lib/jekyll/tags/link.rb
   - lib/jekyll/tags/post_url.rb
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
index a7dbd519..550b3522 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
@@ -14,22 +14,9 @@ module Jekyll
         super
         if markup.strip =~ SYNTAX
           @lang = Regexp.last_match(1).downcase
-          @highlight_options = {}
-          if defined?(Regexp.last_match(2)) && Regexp.last_match(2) != ''
-            # Split along 3 possible forms -- key="<quoted list>", key=value, or key
-            Regexp.last_match(2).scan(/(?:\w="[^"]*"|\w=\w|\w)+/) do |opt|
-              key, value = opt.split('=')
-              # If a quoted list, convert to array
-              if value && value.include?("\"")
-                value.delete!('"')
-                  value = value.split
-              end
-              @highlight_options[key.to_sym] = value || true
-            end
-          end
-          @highlight_options[:linenos] = "inline" if @highlight_options.key?(:linenos) && @highlight_options[:linenos] == true
+          @highlight_options = parse_options(Regexp.last_match(2))
         else
-          raise SyntaxError.new <<-eos
+          raise SyntaxError, <<-eos
 Syntax Error in tag 'highlight' while parsing the following markup:
 
   #{markup}
@@ -42,15 +29,15 @@ eos
       def render(context)
         prefix = context["highlighter_prefix"] || ""
         suffix = context["highlighter_suffix"] || ""
-        code = super.to_s.gsub(/\A(\n|\r)+|(\n|\r)+\z/, '')
+        code = super.to_s.gsub(/\A(\n|\r)+|(\n|\r)+\z/, "")
 
         is_safe = !!context.registers[:site].safe
 
         output =
           case context.registers[:site].highlighter
-          when 'pygments'
+          when "pygments"
             render_pygments(code, is_safe)
-          when 'rouge'
+          when "rouge"
             render_rouge(code)
           else
             render_codehighlighter(code)
@@ -66,7 +53,7 @@ eos
             [:startinline, opts.fetch(:startinline, nil)],
             [:hl_lines,    opts.fetch(:hl_lines, nil)],
             [:linenos,     opts.fetch(:linenos, nil)],
-            [:encoding,    opts.fetch(:encoding, 'utf-8')],
+            [:encoding,    opts.fetch(:encoding, "utf-8")],
             [:cssclass,    opts.fetch(:cssclass, nil)]
           ].reject { |f| f.last.nil? }]
         else
@@ -74,8 +61,30 @@ eos
         end
       end
 
+      private
+
+      def parse_options(input)
+        options = {}
+        if defined?(input) && input != ""
+          # Split along 3 possible forms -- key="<quoted list>", key=value, or key
+          input.scan(/(?:\w="[^"]*"|\w=\w|\w)+/) do |opt|
+            key, value = opt.split("=")
+            # If a quoted list, convert to array
+            if value && value.include?("\"")
+              value.delete!('"')
+              value = value.split
+            end
+            options[key.to_sym] = value || true
+          end
+        end
+        if options.key?(:linenos) && options[:linenos] == true
+          options[:linenos] = "inline"
+        end
+        options
+      end
+
       def render_pygments(code, is_safe)
-        Jekyll::External.require_with_graceful_fail('pygments')
+        Jekyll::External.require_with_graceful_fail("pygments")
 
         highlighted_code = Pygments.highlight(
           code,
@@ -84,22 +93,26 @@ eos
         )
 
         if highlighted_code.nil?
-          Jekyll.logger.error "There was an error highlighting your code:"
-          puts
-          Jekyll.logger.error code
-          puts
-          Jekyll.logger.error "While attempting to convert the above code, Pygments.rb" \
-            " returned an unacceptable value."
-          Jekyll.logger.error "This is usually a timeout problem solved by running `jekyll build` again."
-          raise ArgumentError.new("Pygments.rb returned an unacceptable value when attempting to highlight some code.")
+          Jekyll.logger.error <<-eos
+There was an error highlighting your code:
+
+#{code}
+
+While attempting to convert the above code, Pygments.rb returned an unacceptable value.
+This is usually a timeout problem solved by running `jekyll build` again.
+eos
+          raise ArgumentError, "Pygments.rb returned an unacceptable value "\
+          "when attempting to highlight some code."
         end
 
-        highlighted_code.sub('<div class="highlight"><pre>', '').sub('</pre></div>', '')
+        highlighted_code.sub('<div class="highlight"><pre>', "").sub("</pre></div>", "")
       end
 
       def render_rouge(code)
-        Jekyll::External.require_with_graceful_fail('rouge')
-        formatter = Rouge::Formatters::HTML.new(:line_numbers => @highlight_options[:linenos], :wrap => false)
+        Jekyll::External.require_with_graceful_fail("rouge")
+        formatter = Rouge::Formatters::HTML.new(
+          :line_numbers => @highlight_options[:linenos], :wrap => false
+        )
         lexer = Rouge::Lexer.find_fancy(@lang, code) || Rouge::Lexers::PlainText
         formatter.format(lexer.lex(code))
       end
@@ -110,13 +123,14 @@ eos
 
       def add_code_tag(code)
         code_attributes = [
-          "class=\"language-#{@lang.to_s.tr('+', '-')}\"",
+          "class=\"language-#{@lang.to_s.tr("+", "-")}\"",
           "data-lang=\"#{@lang}\""
         ].join(" ")
-        "<figure class=\"highlight\"><pre><code #{code_attributes}>#{code.chomp}</code></pre></figure>"
+        "<figure class=\"highlight\"><pre><code #{code_attributes}>"\
+        "#{code.chomp}</code></pre></figure>"
       end
     end
   end
 end
 
-Liquid::Template.register_tag('highlight', Jekyll::Tags::HighlightBlock)
+Liquid::Template.register_tag("highlight", Jekyll::Tags::HighlightBlock)