diff --git a/doc/man/mcedit.1.in b/doc/man/mcedit.1.in
index 56bcaf17b..f92ffc82b 100644
--- a/doc/man/mcedit.1.in
+++ b/doc/man/mcedit.1.in
@@ -598,6 +598,12 @@ Use
 .B spell_language = NONE
 to disable aspell support. Default value is 'en'. Option must located
 in the [Misc] section.
+.TP
+.I editor_stop_format_chars
+Set of characters to stop paragraph formatting. If one of those characters
+is found in the begin of line, that line and all following lines of paragraph
+will be untouched. Default value is
+"\fB-\fR\fB+\fR\fB*\fR\fB\\\fR\fB,\fR\fB.\fR\fB;\fR\fB:\fR\fB&\fR\fB>\fR".
 .SH MISCELLANEOUS
 You can use scanf search and replace to search and replace a C format
 string.  First take a look at the
diff --git a/src/editor/edit.h b/src/editor/edit.h
index 5db38c7eb..0ff0af438 100644
--- a/src/editor/edit.h
+++ b/src/editor/edit.h
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ extern int option_syntax_highlighting;
 extern int option_group_undo;
 extern char *option_backup_ext;
 extern char *option_filesize_threshold;
+extern char *option_stop_format_chars;
 
 extern int edit_confirm_save;
 
diff --git a/src/editor/wordproc.c b/src/editor/wordproc.c
index 8c42ce962..9ac63244e 100644
--- a/src/editor/wordproc.c
+++ b/src/editor/wordproc.c
@@ -57,11 +57,12 @@
 
 /*** global variables ****************************************************************************/
 
+char *option_stop_format_chars = NULL;
+
 /*** file scope macro definitions ****************************************************************/
 
 #define tab_width option_tab_spacing
 
-#define NO_FORMAT_CHARS_START "-+*\\,.;:&>"
 #define FONT_MEAN_WIDTH 1
 
 /*** file scope type declarations ****************************************************************/
@@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ bad_line_start (const edit_buffer_t * buf, off_t p)
                  && edit_buffer_get_byte (buf, p + 2) == '-');
     }
 
-    return (strchr (NO_FORMAT_CHARS_START, c) != NULL);
+    return (option_stop_format_chars != NULL && strchr (option_stop_format_chars, c) != NULL);
 }
 
 /* --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
@@ -316,7 +317,6 @@ word_start (unsigned char *t, off_t q, off_t size)
             return (-1);
         if (c == ' ' || c == '\t')
             return i;
-        i--;
     }
 }
 
@@ -498,15 +498,29 @@ format_paragraph (WEdit * edit, gboolean force)
     if (!force)
     {
         off_t i;
+        char *stop_format_chars;
 
-        if (strchr (NO_FORMAT_CHARS_START, t->str[0]) == NULL)
-            for (i = 0; i < size - 1; i++)
-                if (t->str[i] == '\n'
-                    && strchr (NO_FORMAT_CHARS_START "\t ", t->str[i + 1]) != NULL)
-                    break;
+        if (option_stop_format_chars != NULL
+            && strchr (option_stop_format_chars, t->str[0]) != NULL)
+        {
+            g_string_free (t, TRUE);
+            return;
+        }
 
-        g_string_free (t, TRUE);
-        return;
+        if (option_stop_format_chars == NULL || *option_stop_format_chars == '\0')
+            stop_format_chars = g_strdup ("\t");
+        else
+            stop_format_chars = g_strconcat (option_stop_format_chars, "\t", (char *) NULL);
+
+        for (i = 0; i < size - 1; i++)
+            if (t->str[i] == '\n' && strchr (stop_format_chars, t->str[i + 1]) != NULL)
+            {
+                g_free (stop_format_chars);
+                g_string_free (t, TRUE);
+                return;
+            }
+
+        g_free (stop_format_chars);
     }
 
     t2 = (unsigned char *) g_string_free (t, FALSE);
diff --git a/src/setup.c b/src/setup.c
index 99b6c7f6b..20c71454d 100644
--- a/src/setup.c
+++ b/src/setup.c
@@ -376,6 +376,7 @@ static const struct
 #ifdef USE_INTERNAL_EDIT
     { "editor_backup_extension", &option_backup_ext, "~" },
     { "editor_filesize_threshold", &option_filesize_threshold, "64M" },
+    { "editor_stop_format_chars", &option_stop_format_chars, "-+*\\,.;:&>" },
 #endif
     { "mcview_eof", &mcview_show_eof, "" },
     {  NULL, NULL, NULL }