diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index cfb6b1795..399c59e04 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ The following submitted code, packages or analysis, and deserve special thanks:
   Jostein Berntsen
   Andraž 'ruskie' Levstik
   Irfan Siddiqui
+  Itay Perl
 
 Thanks to the following, who submitted detailed bug reports and excellent
 suggestions:
@@ -65,7 +66,6 @@ suggestions:
   Michelle Crane
   Elizabeth Maxson
   Peter De Poorter
-  Itay Perl
   Max Muller
   Sander Marechal
   Thomas Sattler
diff --git a/src/Att.cpp b/src/Att.cpp
index dbe0d6b28..983950e71 100644
--- a/src/Att.cpp
+++ b/src/Att.cpp
@@ -90,6 +90,22 @@ static const char* modifierNames[] =
 #define NUM_MODIFIABLE_NAMES (sizeof (modifiableNames) / sizeof (modifiableNames[0]))
 #define NUM_MODIFIER_NAMES   (sizeof (modifierNames)   / sizeof (modifierNames[0]))
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+static inline std::string& str_replace (
+  std::string &str,
+  const std::string& search,
+  const std::string& replacement)
+{
+  std::string::size_type pos = 0;
+  while ((pos = str.find (search, pos)) != std::string::npos)
+  {
+    str.replace (pos, search.length (), replacement);
+    pos += replacement.length ();
+  }
+
+  return str;
+}
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 Att::Att ()
 : mName ("")
@@ -917,9 +933,7 @@ void Att::enquote (std::string& value) const
 // that hand-editing the pending.data file could cause.
 void Att::dequote (std::string& value) const
 {
-  std::string::size_type quote;
-  while ((quote = value.find ('"')) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (quote, 1, "");
+  str_replace (value, "\"", "");
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -928,21 +942,14 @@ void Att::dequote (std::string& value) const
 //   "  -> &dquot;
 //   [  -> &open;
 //   ]  -> &close;
+//   \  -> \\               (extra chars to disambiguate multi-line comment)
 void Att::encode (std::string& value) const
 {
-  std::string::size_type i;
-
-  while ((i = value.find ('\t')) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 1, "&tab;"); // no i18n
-
-  while ((i = value.find ('"')) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 1, "&dquot;"); // no i18n
-
-  while ((i = value.find ('[')) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 1, "&open;"); // no i18n
-
-  while ((i = value.find (']')) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 1, "&close;"); // no i18n
+  str_replace (value, "\t", "&tab;");
+  str_replace (value, "\"", "&dquot;");
+  str_replace (value, "[",  "&open;");
+  str_replace (value, "]",  "&close;");
+  str_replace (value, "\\", "\\\\");
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -956,35 +963,19 @@ void Att::encode (std::string& value) const
 //   :  <- &colon;
 void Att::decode (std::string& value) const
 {
-  std::string::size_type i;
-
   // Supported encodings.
-  while ((i = value.find ("&tab;")) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 5, "\t");
-
-  while ((i = value.find ("&dquot;")) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 7, "\"");
-
-  while ((i = value.find ("&quot;")) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 6, "\"");
-
-  while ((i = value.find ("&open;")) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 6, "[");
-
-  while ((i = value.find ("&close;")) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 7, "]");
+  str_replace (value, "&tab;",   "\t");
+  str_replace (value, "&dquot;", "\"");
+  str_replace (value, "&quot;",  "'");
+  str_replace (value, "&open;",  "[");
+  str_replace (value, "&close;", "]");
 
   // Support for deprecated encodings.  These cannot be removed or old files
   // will not be parsable.  Not just old files - completed.data can contain
   // tasks formatted/encoded using these.
-  while ((i = value.find ("&squot;")) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 7, "'");
-
-  while ((i = value.find ("&comma;")) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 7, ",");
-
-  while ((i = value.find ("&colon;")) != std::string::npos)
-    value.replace (i, 7, ":");
+  str_replace (value, "&squot;", "'");
+  str_replace (value, "&comma;", ",");
+  str_replace (value, "&colon;", ":");
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/tests/backslash.t b/src/tests/backslash.t
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..8ecb4aced
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tests/backslash.t
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#! /usr/bin/perl
+################################################################################
+## taskwarrior - a command line task list manager.
+##
+## Copyright 2006 - 2010, Paul Beckingham, Federico Hernandez.
+## All rights reserved.
+##
+## This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+## the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
+## Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
+## version.
+##
+## This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+## ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
+## FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more
+## details.
+##
+## You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+## this program; if not, write to the
+##
+##     Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+##     51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+##     Boston, MA
+##     02110-1301
+##     USA
+##
+################################################################################
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+use Test::More tests => 3;
+
+# Create the rc file.
+if (open my $fh, '>', 'backslash.rc')
+{
+  print $fh "data.location=.\n";
+  close $fh;
+  ok (-r 'backslash.rc', 'Created backslash.rc');
+}
+
+# Add a description with a backslash.
+qx{../task rc:backslash.rc add foo\\\\bar};
+my $output = qx{../task rc:backslash.rc ls};
+like ($output, qr/foo\\bar/, 'Backslash preserved, no parsing issues');
+
+# Cleanup.
+unlink 'backslash.rc';
+ok (!-r 'backslash.rc', 'Removed backslash.rc');
+
+exit 0;
+
+################################################################################