diff --git a/libpoke/pkl-trans.c b/libpoke/pkl-trans.c
index 18366ca0..f3195820 100644
--- a/libpoke/pkl-trans.c
+++ b/libpoke/pkl-trans.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 #include <gettext.h>
 #define _(str) gettext (str)
+#include <ctype.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <xalloc.h>
@@ -304,6 +305,8 @@ PKL_PHASE_BEGIN_HANDLER (pkl_trans1_ps_string)
   size_t string_length, i;
   bool found_backslash = false;
 
+#define isodigit(c) ((unsigned)c - '0' < 8) // is octal digit
+
   /* Please keep this code in sync with the string printer in
      pvm-val.c:pvm_print_val.  */
 
@@ -311,27 +314,46 @@ PKL_PHASE_BEGIN_HANDLER (pkl_trans1_ps_string)
      \-expansion, and report errors in the contents of the string.  */
   for (p = string_pointer, string_length = 0; *p != '\0'; ++p)
     {
-      if (p[0] == '\\')
+      string_length++;
+      if (*p != '\\')
+        continue;
+
+      found_backslash = true;
+      ++p;
+
+      if (isodigit (p[0]))
+        {
+          if (isodigit (p[1]))
+            p += isodigit (p[2]) && p[0] <= '3' ? 2 // reason: 0377 == 0xff
+                                                : 1;
+          continue;
+        }
+
+      switch (*p)
         {
-          switch (p[1])
+        case '\\':
+        case 'n':
+        case 't':
+        case '"':
+          break;
+        case 'x':
+          ++p;
+          if (!isxdigit (p[0]))
             {
-            case '\\':
-            case 'n':
-            case 't':
-            case '"':
-              string_length++;
-              break;
-            default:
               PKL_ERROR (PKL_AST_LOC (string),
-                         "invalid \\%c sequence in string", p[1]);
+                         _ ("\\x used with no following hex digits"));
               PKL_TRANS_PAYLOAD->errors++;
               PKL_PASS_ERROR;
             }
-          p++;
-          found_backslash = true;
+          if (isxdigit (p[1]))
+            ++p;
+          break;
+        default:
+          PKL_ERROR (PKL_AST_LOC (string), "invalid \\%c sequence in string",
+                     *p);
+          PKL_TRANS_PAYLOAD->errors++;
+          PKL_PASS_ERROR;
         }
-      else
-        string_length++;
     }
 
   if (!found_backslash)
@@ -342,24 +364,57 @@ PKL_PHASE_BEGIN_HANDLER (pkl_trans1_ps_string)
 
   for (p = string_pointer, i = 0; *p != '\0'; ++p, ++i)
     {
-      if (p[0] == '\\')
+      if (*p != '\\')
         {
-          switch (p[1])
+          new_string_pointer[i] = *p;
+          continue;
+        }
+      ++p;
+
+      // octal escape sequence
+      if (isodigit (p[0]))
+        {
+          new_string_pointer[i] = p[0] - '0';
+          if (isodigit (p[1]))
             {
-            case '\\': new_string_pointer[i] = '\\'; break;
-            case 'n':  new_string_pointer[i] = '\n'; break;
-            case 't':  new_string_pointer[i] = '\t'; break;
-            case '"':  new_string_pointer[i] = '"'; break;
-            default:
-              assert (0);
+              new_string_pointer[i]
+                  = (new_string_pointer[i] << 3) | (p[1] - '0');
+              ++p;
+              if (isodigit (p[1]) && p[-1] <= '3')
+                {
+                  new_string_pointer[i]
+                      = (new_string_pointer[i] << 3) | (p[1] - '0');
+                  ++p;
+                }
             }
-          p++;
+          continue;
+        }
+
+      switch (*p)
+        {
+        case '\\': new_string_pointer[i] = '\\'; break;
+        case 'n': new_string_pointer[i] = '\n'; break;
+        case 't': new_string_pointer[i] = '\t'; break;
+        case '"': new_string_pointer[i] = '"'; break;
+        case 'x':
+#define xd(x) ((unsigned)(x) - '0' < 10 ? (x) - '0' : ((x) | 0x20) - 'a' + 10)
+          ++p;
+          new_string_pointer[i] = xd (p[0]);
+          if (isxdigit (p[1]))
+            {
+              new_string_pointer[i] = (xd (p[0]) << 4) | xd (p[1]);
+              ++p;
+            }
+          break;
+#undef xd
+        default:
+          assert (0);
         }
-      else
-        new_string_pointer[i] = p[0];
     }
   new_string_pointer[i] = '\0';
 
+#undef isodigit
+
   free (string_pointer);
   PKL_AST_STRING_POINTER (string) = new_string_pointer;
 }