diff --git a/platform/util/src/com/intellij/openapi/util/text/StringUtil.java b/platform/util/src/com/intellij/openapi/util/text/StringUtil.java
index b765c62fae48..767ed7679ee7 100644
--- a/platform/util/src/com/intellij/openapi/util/text/StringUtil.java
+++ b/platform/util/src/com/intellij/openapi/util/text/StringUtil.java
@@ -570,6 +570,7 @@ public class StringUtil {
                                                      @Nullable String additionalChars,
                                                      boolean escapeSlash,
                                                      @NotNull @NonNls StringBuilder buffer) {
+    char prev = 0;
     for (int idx = 0; idx < length; idx++) {
       char ch = str.charAt(idx);
       switch (ch) {
@@ -597,7 +598,7 @@ public class StringUtil {
           if (escapeSlash && ch == '\\') {
             buffer.append("\\\\");
           }
-          else if (additionalChars != null && additionalChars.indexOf(ch) > -1) {
+          else if (additionalChars != null && additionalChars.indexOf(ch) > -1 && (escapeSlash || prev != '\\')) {
             buffer.append("\\").append(ch);
           }
           else if (Character.isISOControl(ch)) {
@@ -613,6 +614,7 @@ public class StringUtil {
             buffer.append(ch);
           }
       }
+      prev = ch;
     }
     return buffer;
   }
diff --git a/platform/util/testSrc/com/intellij/util/text/StringUtilTest.java b/platform/util/testSrc/com/intellij/util/text/StringUtilTest.java
index 84d5b70d8d47..3179e96c3768 100644
--- a/platform/util/testSrc/com/intellij/util/text/StringUtilTest.java
+++ b/platform/util/testSrc/com/intellij/util/text/StringUtilTest.java
@@ -111,4 +111,10 @@ public class StringUtilTest extends TestCase {
   public void testTitleCase() {
     assertEquals("Couldn't Connect to Debugger", StringUtil.wordsToBeginFromUpperCase("Couldn't connect to debugger"));
   }
+
+  public void testEscapeStringCharacters() {
+    assertEquals("\\\"\\n", StringUtil.escapeStringCharacters(3, "\\\"\n", "\"", false, new StringBuilder()).toString());
+    assertEquals("\\\"\\n", StringUtil.escapeStringCharacters(2, "\"\n", "\"", false, new StringBuilder()).toString());
+    assertEquals("\\\\\\\"\\n", StringUtil.escapeStringCharacters(3, "\\\"\n", "\"", true, new StringBuilder()).toString());
+  }
 }