diff --git a/src/command_manager.cc b/src/command_manager.cc
index 947031c4..a636d852 100644
--- a/src/command_manager.cc
+++ b/src/command_manager.cc
@@ -153,16 +153,19 @@ TokenList parse(const String& line,
             }
         }
         else
-            while (pos != length and not is_horizontal_blank(line[pos]) and
-                   (not is_command_separator(line[pos]) or
-                    (pos != 0 and line[pos-1] == '\\')))
+            while (pos != length and
+                   ((not is_command_separator(line[pos]) and
+                     not is_horizontal_blank(line[pos]))
+                    or (pos != 0 and line[pos-1] == '\\')))
                 ++pos;
 
         if (token_start != pos)
         {
             if (opt_token_pos_info)
                 opt_token_pos_info->push_back({token_start, pos});
-            result.push_back({type, line.substr(token_start, pos - token_start)});
+            String token = line.substr(token_start, pos - token_start);
+            token = token.replace(R"(\\([ \t;\n]))", "\\1");
+            result.push_back({type, token});
         }
 
         if (is_command_separator(line[pos]))
diff --git a/src/string.cc b/src/string.cc
index 9e2d1507..042bba77 100644
--- a/src/string.cc
+++ b/src/string.cc
@@ -48,4 +48,11 @@ std::vector<String> split(const String& str, Character separator)
     return res;
 }
 
+String String::replace(const String& expression,
+                       const String& replacement) const
+{
+   boost::regex re(expression.m_content);
+   return String(boost::regex_replace(m_content, re, replacement.m_content));
+}
+
 }
diff --git a/src/string.hh b/src/string.hh
index a781b358..8676c5da 100644
--- a/src/string.hh
+++ b/src/string.hh
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ public:
    const char*      c_str() const { return m_content.c_str(); }
 
    String substr(CharCount pos, CharCount length = -1) const { return String(m_content.substr((int)pos, (int)length)); }
+   String replace(const String& expression, const String& replacement) const;
 
    class iterator
    {