diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/CharacterIndex.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/CharacterIndex.java
index bd35ba6a..503c1dde 100644
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/CharacterIndex.java
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/CharacterIndex.java
@@ -77,51 +77,22 @@ public class CharacterIndex {
         int readPosition = startPosition + 1;
         while (inBounds(readPosition)) {
             if (skipStrings) {
-                if (charAt(readPosition) == SINGLE_QUOTE) {
-                    boolean escaped = false;
-                    while (inBounds(readPosition)) {
-                        readPosition++;
-                        if (escaped) {
-                            escaped = false;
-                            continue;
-                        }
-                        if (charAt(readPosition) == ESCAPE) {
-                            escaped = true;
-                            continue;
-                        }
-                        if (charAt(readPosition) == SINGLE_QUOTE) {
-                            readPosition++;
-                            break;
-                        }
-                    }
-                } else if (charAt(readPosition) == DOUBLE_QUOTE) {
-                    boolean escaped = false;
-                    while (inBounds(readPosition)) {
-                        readPosition++;
-                        if (escaped) {
-                            escaped = false;
-                            continue;
-                        }
-                        if (charAt(readPosition) == ESCAPE) {
-                            escaped = true;
-                            continue;
-                        }
-                        if (charAt(readPosition) == DOUBLE_QUOTE) {
-                            readPosition++;
-                            break;
-                        }
+                char quoteChar = charAt(readPosition);
+                if (quoteChar == SINGLE_QUOTE || quoteChar == DOUBLE_QUOTE){
+                    readPosition = nextIndexOfUnescaped(readPosition, quoteChar);
+                    if(readPosition == -1){
+                        throw new InvalidPathException("Could not find matching close quote for " + quoteChar + " when parsing : " + charSequence);
                     }
+                    readPosition++;
                 }
             }
             if (skipRegex) {
                 if (charAt(readPosition) == REGEX) {
-                    while (inBounds(readPosition)) {
-                        readPosition++;
-                        if (charAt(readPosition) == REGEX) {
-                            readPosition++;
-                            break;
-                        }
+                    readPosition = nextIndexOfUnescaped(readPosition, REGEX);
+                    if(readPosition == -1){
+                        throw new InvalidPathException("Could not find matching close for " + REGEX + " when parsing regex in : " + charSequence);
                     }
+                    readPosition++;
                 }
             }
             if (charAt(readPosition) == openChar) {
@@ -174,23 +145,22 @@ public class CharacterIndex {
     }
 
     public int nextIndexOfUnescaped(char c) {
-        return nextIndexOfUnescaped(position + 1, c);
+        return nextIndexOfUnescaped(position, c);
     }
 
     public int nextIndexOfUnescaped(int startPosition, char c) {
-        int readPosition = startPosition;
-        char prev1;
-        char prev2;
-        while (!isOutOfBounds(readPosition)) {
-            prev1 = charAtOr(readPosition - 1, ' ');
-            prev2 = charAtOr(readPosition - 2, ' ');
-            boolean ignore = (prev1 == '\\' && prev2 == '\\');
-            boolean escaped = (prev1 == '\\' && !ignore);
 
-            if (charAt(readPosition) == c && !escaped) {
+        int readPosition = startPosition + 1;
+        boolean inEscape = false;
+        while (!isOutOfBounds(readPosition)) {
+            if(inEscape){
+                inEscape = false;
+            } else if('\\' == charAt(readPosition)){
+                inEscape = true;
+            } else if (c == charAt(readPosition) && !inEscape){
                 return readPosition;
             }
-            readPosition++;
+            readPosition ++;
         }
         return -1;
     }
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/PathRef.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/PathRef.java
index 0ca3eaaf..1b42be31 100644
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/PathRef.java
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/PathRef.java
@@ -218,8 +218,6 @@ public abstract class PathRef implements Comparable<PathRef>  {
         }
     }
 
-
-
     private static class ObjectPropertyPathRef extends PathRef {
 
         private String property;
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/filter/ValueNode.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/filter/ValueNode.java
index 7352fa04..ffbe0241 100644
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/filter/ValueNode.java
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/filter/ValueNode.java
@@ -174,8 +174,8 @@ public abstract class ValueNode {
         if(o instanceof ValueNode) return (ValueNode)o;
         if(o instanceof Class) return createClassNode((Class)o);
         else if(isPath(o)) return new PathNode(o.toString(), false, false);
-        else if(isJson(o)) return createStringNode(o.toString(), false);
-        else if(o instanceof String) return createStringNode(o.toString(), false);
+        else if(isJson(o)) return createJsonNode(o.toString());
+        else if(o instanceof String) return createStringNode(o.toString(), true);
         else if(o instanceof Character) return createStringNode(o.toString(), false);
         else if(o instanceof Number) return createNumberNode(o.toString());
         else if(o instanceof Boolean) return createBooleanNode(o.toString());
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/path/PathCompiler.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/path/PathCompiler.java
index eccd1189..4a8af920 100644
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/path/PathCompiler.java
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/path/PathCompiler.java
@@ -256,7 +256,6 @@ public class PathCompiler {
 
 
         Predicate predicate = FilterCompiler.compile(criteria);
-        //Predicate predicate = Filter.parse(criteria);
         appender.appendPathToken(PathTokenFactory.createPredicatePathToken(predicate));
 
         path.setPosition(closeStatementBracketIndex + 1);
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/json/TapestryJsonProvider.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/json/TapestryJsonProvider.java
index 55563c88..92cd1ef8 100644
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/json/TapestryJsonProvider.java
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/json/TapestryJsonProvider.java
@@ -1,14 +1,13 @@
 package com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.json;
 
-import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.util.Collection;
-import java.util.Scanner;
-
+import com.jayway.jsonpath.InvalidJsonException;
 import org.apache.tapestry5.json.JSONArray;
 import org.apache.tapestry5.json.JSONCollection;
 import org.apache.tapestry5.json.JSONObject;
 
-import com.jayway.jsonpath.InvalidJsonException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Scanner;
 
 public class TapestryJsonProvider extends AbstractJsonProvider {
 
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/mapper/TapestryMappingProvider.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/mapper/TapestryMappingProvider.java
index 7c284cfb..41ff4ffe 100644
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/mapper/TapestryMappingProvider.java
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/mapper/TapestryMappingProvider.java
@@ -14,11 +14,11 @@
  */
 package com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.mapper;
 
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.Configuration;
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.TypeRef;
 
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+
 public class TapestryMappingProvider implements MappingProvider {
 
   @Override
diff --git a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/FilterCompilerTest.java b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/FilterCompilerTest.java
index 104ddd08..ce744e38 100644
--- a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/FilterCompilerTest.java
+++ b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/FilterCompilerTest.java
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ public class FilterCompilerTest {
             compile(filter);
             throw new AssertionError("Expected " + filter + " to throw InvalidPathException");
         } catch (InvalidPathException e){
-            e.printStackTrace();
+            //e.printStackTrace();
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/InlineFilterTest.java b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/InlineFilterTest.java
index 28d9674a..5f19a8df 100644
--- a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/InlineFilterTest.java
+++ b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/InlineFilterTest.java
@@ -186,6 +186,27 @@ public class InlineFilterTest extends BaseTest {
 
         assertHasOneResult("[{\"value\":5.1}]", "$[?(@.value<7)]", conf);
         assertHasNoResults("[{\"value\":7.1}]", "$[?(@.value<5)]", conf);
+    }
 
+    @Test
+    public void escaped_literals() {
+        if(conf.jsonProvider().getClass().getSimpleName().startsWith("Jackson")){
+            return;
+        }
+        assertHasOneResult("[\"\\'foo\"]", "$[?(@ == '\\'foo')]", conf);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void escaped_literals2() {
+        if(conf.jsonProvider().getClass().getSimpleName().startsWith("Jackson")){
+            return;
+        }
+        assertHasOneResult("[\"\\\\'foo\"]", "$[?(@ == \"\\\\'foo\")]", conf);
+    }
+
+
+    @Test
+    public void escape_pattern() {
+        assertHasOneResult("[\"x\"]", "$[?(@ =~ /\\/|x/)]", conf);
     }
 }