diff --git a/gas/ChangeLog b/gas/ChangeLog
index 1d08101fead..90b358bd70f 100644
--- a/gas/ChangeLog
+++ b/gas/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2015-10-10  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
+
+	PR gas/19113
+	* read.c (next_char_of_string): Mask char after escape.  Use
+	CHAR_MASK rather than 0xff.
+
 2015-10-07  Yao Qi  <yao.qi@linaro.org>
 
 	* config/tc-aarch64.c (md_begin): Access field 'name' rather
diff --git a/gas/read.c b/gas/read.c
index a3e83c3440c..53440de8c53 100644
--- a/gas/read.c
+++ b/gas/read.c
@@ -5415,7 +5415,7 @@ next_char_of_string (void)
 
 #ifndef NO_STRING_ESCAPES
     case '\\':
-      switch (c = *input_line_pointer++)
+      switch (c = *input_line_pointer++ & CHAR_MASK)
 	{
 	case 'b':
 	  c = '\b';
@@ -5466,7 +5466,7 @@ next_char_of_string (void)
 		number = number * 8 + c - '0';
 	      }
 
-	    c = number & 0xff;
+	    c = number & CHAR_MASK;
 	  }
 	  --input_line_pointer;
 	  break;
@@ -5488,7 +5488,7 @@ next_char_of_string (void)
 		  number = number * 16 + c - 'a' + 10;
 		c = *input_line_pointer++;
 	      }
-	    c = number & 0xff;
+	    c = number & CHAR_MASK;
 	    --input_line_pointer;
 	  }
 	  break;