diff --git a/pmd-cpp/etc/grammar/cpp.jj b/pmd-cpp/etc/grammar/cpp.jj
index a47a0b7ce3..b535533533 100644
--- a/pmd-cpp/etc/grammar/cpp.jj
+++ b/pmd-cpp/etc/grammar/cpp.jj
@@ -318,35 +318,9 @@ TOKEN [IGNORE_CASE] :
 TOKEN :
 {
 
-  <  CHARACTER : ("L")? "'"
-   (   (~["'","\\","\n","\r"])*
-   | ("\\" (
-             ["n","t","v","b","r","f","a","\\","?","'","\""]
-            |
-             "0" (["0"-"7"])*
-            |
-             ["1"-"9"] (["0"-"9"])*
-            |
-             ("x" | "X") (["0"-"9","a"-"f","A"-"F"])+
-           )
-     )
-   )
-   "'" >
+  <  CHARACTER : ("L")? "'" ( ( ~["'","\\","\r","\n"] ) | ( "\\" ( ~["\n","\r"] ) ) )* "'" >
 
-| <  STRING : ("L")? "\""
-   ( ( ~["\"","\\","\n","\r"])
-   | ("\\" (
-             ["n","t","v","b","r","f","a","\\","?","'","\"","\n"]
-            |
-             "0" (["0"-"7"])*
-            |
-             ["1"-"9"] (["0"-"9"])*
-            |
-             ("x" | "X") (["0"-"9","a"-"f","A"-"F"])+
-           )
-     )
-   )*
-   "\"" >
+| <  STRING : ("L")? "\"" ( ( ~["\"","\\","\r","\n"] ) | ( "\\" ( ~["\n","\r"] | "\n" | "\r\n" ) ) )* "\"" >
 }
 
 void translation_unit() :
diff --git a/pmd-cpp/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/CPPTokenizerTest.java b/pmd-cpp/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/CPPTokenizerTest.java
index aac224ce3b..4b78507736 100644
--- a/pmd-cpp/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/CPPTokenizerTest.java
+++ b/pmd-cpp/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/CPPTokenizerTest.java
@@ -113,6 +113,18 @@ public class CPPTokenizerTest {
         assertEquals(15, tokens.size());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testHexCharacter() {
+        Tokens tokens = parse("if (*pbuf == '\\0x05')" + PMD.EOL);
+        assertEquals(8, tokens.size());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWhiteSpaceEscape() {
+        Tokens tokens = parse("szPath = m_sdcacheDir + _T(\"\\    oMedia\");" + PMD.EOL);
+        assertEquals(10, tokens.size());
+    }
+
     private Tokens parse(String snippet) {
         return parse(snippet, false);
     }