diff --git a/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/AvoidUsingOctalValuesTest.java b/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/AvoidUsingOctalValuesTest.java
index 4d9855ef3f..3072cbbba0 100644
--- a/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/AvoidUsingOctalValuesTest.java
+++ b/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/AvoidUsingOctalValuesTest.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ public class AvoidUsingOctalValuesTest extends SimpleAggregatorTst {
             new TestDescriptor(TEST2, "OK, hex value", 0, rule),
             new TestDescriptor(TEST3, "OK, long value", 0, rule),
             new TestDescriptor(TEST4, "OK, double value", 0, rule),
+            new TestDescriptor(TEST5, "OK, double value", 0, rule),
         });
     }
 
@@ -43,4 +44,9 @@ public class AvoidUsingOctalValuesTest extends SimpleAggregatorTst {
     "  double d = 0.1;" + PMD.EOL +
     "}";
 
+    private static final String TEST5 =
+    "public class Foo {" + PMD.EOL +
+    "  float f = 0f;" + PMD.EOL +
+    "}";
+
 }
diff --git a/pmd/rulesets/basic.xml b/pmd/rulesets/basic.xml
index 4f595b13bf..e664303578 100644
--- a/pmd/rulesets/basic.xml
+++ b/pmd/rulesets/basic.xml
@@ -1087,26 +1087,12 @@ public class Test {
 
     <rule   name="AvoidUsingOctalValues"
             message="Do not start a literal by 0 unless it's an octal value"
-            class="net.sourceforge.pmd.rules.XPathRule"
+            class="net.sourceforge.pmd.rules.basic.AvoidUsingOctalValues"
             externalInfoUrl="http://pmd.sourceforge.net/rules/basic.html#AvoidUsingOctalValues">
     <description>
     Integer literals should not start with zero.
     Zero means that the rest of literal will be interpreted as an octal value.
     </description>
-    <properties>
-        <property name="xpath">
-            <value>
-<![CDATA[
-//Literal
- [(starts-with(@Image, 0))]
- [string-length(@Image)>1]
- [not(contains(@Image, '.'))]
- [not(substring(@Image, 2, 1) = 'x')]
- [not(substring(@Image, 2, 1) = 'L')]
-]]>
-            </value>
-        </property>
-    </properties>
     <priority>3</priority>
     <example>
     <![CDATA[
diff --git a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/basic/AvoidUsingOctalValues.java b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/basic/AvoidUsingOctalValues.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..408e7f313a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/basic/AvoidUsingOctalValues.java
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package net.sourceforge.pmd.rules.basic;
+
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.AbstractRule;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTLiteral;
+
+public class AvoidUsingOctalValues extends AbstractRule {
+
+    public static final Pattern OCTAL_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("0[0-7]+");
+
+    public Object visit(ASTLiteral node, Object data) {
+        Matcher m = OCTAL_PATTERN.matcher(node.getImage());
+
+        if (m.matches()) {
+            addViolation(data, node);
+        }
+        return data;
+    }
+
+}