diff --git a/lib/libedit/editrc.5 b/lib/libedit/editrc.5
index 64aa34ff321b..0efe1db1cc45 100644
--- a/lib/libedit/editrc.5
+++ b/lib/libedit/editrc.5
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\"	$NetBSD: editrc.5,v 1.2 1997/01/11 06:47:52 lukem Exp $
+.\"	$NetBSD: editrc.5,v 1.3 1997/01/11 09:57:06 lukem Exp $
 .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 1997 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
 .\" All rights reserved.
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ to
 Options include:
 .Bl -tag -width 4n
 .It Fl e
-Bind all keys to the standard GNU Emacss-like bindings.
+Bind all keys to the standard GNU Emacs-like bindings.
 .It Fl v
 Bind all keys to the standard 
 .Xr vi 1 -like
@@ -146,6 +146,50 @@ Bound keys in
 are themselves reinterpreted, and this continues for ten levels of
 interpretation.
 .El
+.Pp
+.Ar key
+and
+.Ar command
+can contain control characters of the form
+.Sm off
+.Sq No ^ Ar character
+.Sm on
+.Po
+e.g.
+.Sq ^A
+.Pc ,
+and the following backslashed escape sequences:
+.Pp
+.Bl -tag -compact -offset indent -width 4n
+.It Ic \ea
+Bell
+.It Ic \eb
+Backspace
+.It Ic \ee
+Escape
+.It Ic \ef
+Formfeed
+.It Ic \en
+Newline
+.It Ic \er
+Carriage return
+.It Ic \et
+Horizontal tab
+.It Ic \ev
+Vertical tab
+.Sm off
+.It Sy \e Ar nnn
+.Sm on
+The ASCII character corresponding to the octal number
+.Ar nnn .
+.El
+.Pp
+.Sq \e
+nullifies the special meaning of the following character,
+if it has any, notably
+.Sq \e
+and
+.Sq ^ .
 .It Ic echotc Xo
 .Op Fl sv
 .Ar arg
diff --git a/lib/libedit/parse.c b/lib/libedit/parse.c
index c15cf274d97e..ee37c14195f5 100644
--- a/lib/libedit/parse.c
+++ b/lib/libedit/parse.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: parse.c,v 1.4 1997/01/11 06:48:02 lukem Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: parse.c,v 1.5 1997/01/11 09:57:08 lukem Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 1992, 1993
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 #if 0
 static char sccsid[] = "@(#)parse.c	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93";
 #else
-static char rcsid[] = "$NetBSD: parse.c,v 1.4 1997/01/11 06:48:02 lukem Exp $";
+static char rcsid[] = "$NetBSD: parse.c,v 1.5 1997/01/11 09:57:08 lukem Exp $";
 #endif
 #endif /* not lint && not SCCSID */
 
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ parse__escape(ptr)
 	    break;
 	}
     }
-    else if (*p == '^' && isalpha((unsigned char) *p)) {
+    else if (*p == '^' && isalpha((unsigned char) p[1])) {
 	p++;
 	c = (*p == '?') ? '\177' : (*p & 0237);
     }