--- a/src/data.cc
+++ b/src/data.cc
@@ -592,17 +592,23 @@
   return retval;
 }
 
-DEFUN ("size", Fsize, Ssize, 1, 1,
-  "[m, n] = size (x): return rows and columns of X")
+DEFUN ("size", Fsize, Ssize, 2, 1,
+[m, n] = size (x): return rows and columns of X\n\
+\n\
+d = size (x): return number of rows and columns of x as a row vector\n\
+\n\
+m = size (x, 1): return number of rows in x\n\
+m = size (x, 2): return number of columns in x")
 {
   Octave_object retval;
 
   int nargin = args.length ();
 
-  if (nargin == 1 && args(0).is_defined ())
+  if (nargin == 1 && nargout < 3)
     {
       int nr = args(0).rows ();
       int nc = args(0).columns ();
+
       if (nargout == 0 || nargout == 1)
 	{
 	  Matrix m (1, 2);
@@ -615,8 +621,22 @@
 	  retval(1) = (double) nc;
 	  retval(0) = (double) nr;
 	}
+    }
+  else if (nargin == 2 && nargout < 2)
+    {
+      int nd = NINT (args(1).double_value ());
+
+      if (error_state)
+	error ("size: expecting scalar as second argument");
       else
-	print_usage ("size");
+	{
+	  if (nd == 1)
+	    retval(0) = (double) (args(0).rows ());
+	  else if (nd == 2)
+	    retval(0) = (double) (args(0).columns ());
+	  else
+	    error ("size: invalid second argument -- expecting 1 or 2");
+	}
     }
   else
     print_usage ("size");

--- a/src/lex.l
+++ b/src/lex.l
@@ -1526,7 +1526,7 @@
   ostrstream buf;
 
   int c;
-  int prev = 0;
+  int escape_pending = 0;
 
   while ((c = yyinput ()) != EOF)
     {
@@ -1536,13 +1536,14 @@
 	{
 	  if (! have_continuation ())
 	    buf << (char) c;
-	  goto next;
+
+	  escape_pending = ! escape_pending;
+	  continue;
 	}
       else if (c == '.')
 	{
 	  if (! have_ellipsis_continuation ())
 	    buf << (char) c;
-	  goto next;
 	}
       else if (c == '\n')
 	{
@@ -1550,7 +1551,7 @@
 	}
       else if (c == delim)
 	{
-	  if (prev == '\\')
+	  if (escape_pending)
 	    buf << (char) c;
 	  else
 	    {
@@ -1597,8 +1598,7 @@
 	  buf << (char) c;
 	}
 
-    next:
-      prev = c;
+      escape_pending = 0;
     }
 
   return LEXICAL_ERROR;

--- a/src/pt-exp-base.cc
+++ b/src/pt-exp-base.cc
@@ -2656,8 +2656,7 @@
     return retval;
 
   Octave_object tmp_args;
-  tmp_args.resize (1);
-  Octave_object tmp = eval (print, 1, tmp_args);
+  Octave_object tmp = eval (print, 0, tmp_args);
 
   if (! error_state && tmp.length () > 0)
     retval = tmp(0);