Index: docs/CommandGuide/FileCheck.rst
===================================================================
--- docs/CommandGuide/FileCheck.rst
+++ docs/CommandGuide/FileCheck.rst
@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@
   -verify``. With this option FileCheck will verify that input does not contain
   warnings not covered by any ``CHECK:`` patterns.
 
+.. option:: --match-new-line-characters
+
+  When this option is specified, the string ``\n`` in regular expression
+  patterns matches newline characters.
+
 .. option:: -version
 
  Show the version number of this program.
@@ -460,23 +465,3 @@
    // CHECK-NEXT: {{^     \^}}
    // CHECK-NEXT: {{^     ;}}
    int a
-
-Matching Newline Characters
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-To match newline characters in regular expressions the character class
-``[[:space:]]`` can be used. For example, the following pattern:
-
-.. code-block:: c++
-
-   // CHECK: DW_AT_location [DW_FORM_sec_offset] ([[DLOC:0x[0-9a-f]+]]){{[[:space:]].*}}"intd"
-
-matches output of the form (from llvm-dwarfdump):
-
-.. code-block:: text
-
-       DW_AT_location [DW_FORM_sec_offset]   (0x00000233)
-       DW_AT_name [DW_FORM_strp]  ( .debug_str[0x000000c9] = "intd")
-
-letting us set the :program:`FileCheck` variable ``DLOC`` to the desired value 
-``0x00000233``, extracted from the line immediately preceding "``intd``".
Index: test/FileCheck/explicit-newlines.txt
===================================================================
--- test/FileCheck/explicit-newlines.txt
+++ test/FileCheck/explicit-newlines.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+; Test that a literal new line only matches if switch is specified
+; RUN: not FileCheck %s -input-file=%s -check-prefix=NEWLINE
+; RUN: FileCheck %s -input-file=%s -check-prefix=NEWLINE -match-new-line-characters
+; NEWLINE: a{{\n}}newline
+a
+newline
+
+; Test that backslash escape behaviour functions correctly before 'n'
+; RUN: FileCheck %s -input-file=%s -check-prefix=BACKSLASHES
+; RUN: FileCheck %s -input-file=%s -check-prefix=BACKSLASHES -match-new-line-characters
+; BACKSLASHES: {{^\\n}}
+; BACKSLASHES: {{^\\\\n}}
+\n
+\\n
+
+; RUN: not FileCheck %s -input-file=%s -check-prefix=ODDSLASH
+; RUN: FileCheck %s -input-file=%s -check-prefix=ODDSLASH -match-new-line-characters
+; ODDSLASH: the{{\\\n}}next line
+the\
+next line
Index: utils/FileCheck/FileCheck.cpp
===================================================================
--- utils/FileCheck/FileCheck.cpp
+++ utils/FileCheck/FileCheck.cpp
@@ -73,6 +73,11 @@
              "Allows leading and trailing whitespace if --strict-whitespace\n"
              "is not also passed."));
 
+static cl::opt<bool>
+    MatchNewLineChars("match-new-line-characters", cl::init(false),
+                      cl::desc("Treats \"\\n\" in regular expression patterns "
+                               "as a literal newline character."));
+
 typedef cl::list<std::string>::const_iterator prefix_iterator;
 
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
@@ -155,6 +160,34 @@
   size_t FindRegexVarEnd(StringRef Str, SourceMgr &SM);
 };
 
+/// Converts instances of the substring "\n" into a literal '\n'. \p PatternStr
+/// is the string to modify. Returns the modified string.
+std::string ParseNewLineCharacters(StringRef PatternStr) {
+  std::string ParsedStr;
+  std::size_t Prev = 0;
+  std::size_t Size = PatternStr.size();
+  for (std::size_t Pos = 0; Pos < Size; ++Pos) {
+    if (PatternStr[Pos] != '\\' || Pos + 1 == Size ||
+        (PatternStr[Pos + 1] != '\\' && PatternStr[Pos + 1] != 'n')) {
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    ParsedStr += PatternStr.substr(Prev, Pos - Prev);
+    // We explicitly skip over pairs of backslashes, so that the second '\' in
+    // "\\n" does not get used to form a newline character.
+    if (PatternStr[Pos + 1] == '\\')
+      ParsedStr += "\\\\";
+    else
+      ParsedStr += '\n';
+
+    ++Pos;
+    Prev = Pos + 1;
+  }
+
+  ParsedStr += PatternStr.substr(Prev, Size - Prev);
+  return ParsedStr;
+}
+
 /// Parses the given string into the Pattern.
 ///
 /// \p Prefix provides which prefix is being matched, \p SM provides the
@@ -220,7 +253,11 @@
       RegExStr += '(';
       ++CurParen;
 
-      if (AddRegExToRegEx(PatternStr.substr(2, End - 2), CurParen, SM))
+      std::string ParsedStr = PatternStr.substr(2, End - 2);
+      if (MatchNewLineChars)
+        ParsedStr = ParseNewLineCharacters(ParsedStr);
+
+      if (AddRegExToRegEx(ParsedStr, CurParen, SM))
         return true;
       RegExStr += ')';