diff --git a/pmd-matlab/etc/grammar/Matlab.jj b/pmd-matlab/etc/grammar/Matlab.jj
index d83368fc73b..c9b168dc641 100644
--- a/pmd-matlab/etc/grammar/Matlab.jj
+++ b/pmd-matlab/etc/grammar/Matlab.jj
@@ -136,21 +136,8 @@ PARSER_END(MatlabParserImpl)
 
 <DEFAULT> TOKEN :
 {
-    < STRING: "'" ( <ESC_SEQ> | "'" "'" | ~["\\","'","\n"] )* "'" >
+    < STRING: "'" ( "\\" | "'" "'" | ~["\\","'","\n"] )* "'" >
 |   < DSTRING: "\"" ( "\\" | "\"" "\"" | ~["\\","\"","\n"] )* "\"" >
-|   < #ESC_SEQ:
-      "\\" ( "b" | "t" | "n" | "f" | "r" | "\"" | "'" | "\\" )
-    | <UNICODE_ESC>
-    | <OCTAL_ESC>
-  >
-|   < #UNICODE_ESC: "\\" "u" <HEX_DIGIT> <HEX_DIGIT> <HEX_DIGIT> <HEX_DIGIT> >
-|   < #OCTAL_ESC:
-      "\\" ["0" - "3"] <OCTAL_DIGIT> <OCTAL_DIGIT>
-    | "\\" <OCTAL_DIGIT> <OCTAL_DIGIT>
-    | "\\" <OCTAL_DIGIT>
-    >
-|   < #HEX_DIGIT: ["0"-"9", "a"-"f", "A"-"F"] >
-|   < #OCTAL_DIGIT: ["0"-"7"] >
 }
 
 <DEFAULT, TRANSPOSE> TOKEN :
diff --git a/pmd-matlab/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/matlab/cpd/MatlabCpdLexerTest.java b/pmd-matlab/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/matlab/cpd/MatlabCpdLexerTest.java
index 39b56ccfd29..c6c96713003 100644
--- a/pmd-matlab/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/matlab/cpd/MatlabCpdLexerTest.java
+++ b/pmd-matlab/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/matlab/cpd/MatlabCpdLexerTest.java
@@ -49,4 +49,9 @@ void testDoubleQuotedStrings() {
     void testTabWidth() {
         doTest("tabWidth");
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void testBackslash() {
+        doTest("stringsWithBackslash");
+    }
 }
diff --git a/pmd-matlab/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/matlab/cpd/testdata/stringsWithBackslash.m b/pmd-matlab/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/matlab/cpd/testdata/stringsWithBackslash.m
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..10dbe95d1c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmd-matlab/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/matlab/cpd/testdata/stringsWithBackslash.m
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+error('$\phi$');
+error('\\192.168.1.1\Disk');
+error('\');
diff --git a/pmd-matlab/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/matlab/cpd/testdata/stringsWithBackslash.txt b/pmd-matlab/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/matlab/cpd/testdata/stringsWithBackslash.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3f6fad23002
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmd-matlab/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/matlab/cpd/testdata/stringsWithBackslash.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+    [Image] or [Truncated image[            Bcol      Ecol
+L1
+    [error]                                 1         6
+    [(]                                     6         7
+    ['$\\phi$']                             7         15
+    [)]                                     15        16
+    [;]                                     16        17
+L2
+    [error]                                 1         6
+    [(]                                     6         7
+    ['\\\\192.168.1.1\\Disk']               7         27
+    [)]                                     27        28
+    [;]                                     28        29
+L3
+    [error]                                 1         6
+    [(]                                     6         7
+    ['\\']                                  7         10
+    [)]                                     10        11
+    [;]                                     11        12
+EOF