diff --git a/parser/parser.lex b/parser/parser.lex
index 15c486a..9ea6d71 100644
--- a/parser/parser.lex
+++ b/parser/parser.lex
@@ -4,14 +4,20 @@
 
 %{
 
+#include <string>
+
 #include "nodes.h"
 #include "parser.h"
 #include "parser.tab.hh"
 
 #define YY_USER_ACTION yylloc->first_column += yyleng;
 
+static std::string build_string;
+
 %}
 
+%x str
+
 %%
 
 \+                  return PLUS;
@@ -36,8 +42,6 @@
 \?                  return QUESTION;
 \$                  return DOLLAR;
 \.                  return DOT;
-\"                  return DQUOTE;
-\'                  return SQUOTE;
 ,                   return COMMA;
 
 \{                  return LCURLY;
@@ -119,6 +123,33 @@ local               return LOCAL;
 }
 [ \t\v]             /* ignore whitespace */
 
+    /* strings */
+\"          build_string = ""; BEGIN(str);
+
+<str>{
+
+\" {
+            /* end of the string literal */
+            BEGIN(INITIAL);
+            *yylval = new IdentifierNode(build_string);
+            return STRING;
+}
+\\x[0-9A-Fa-f]{2} {
+            /* hexadecimal escape code */
+            unsigned int val;
+            (void) sscanf(yytext + 2, "%x", &val);
+            build_string += (char) val;
+}
+\\n         build_string += '\n';
+\\t         build_string += '\t';
+\\r         build_string += '\r';
+\\b         build_string += '\b';
+\\f         build_string += '\f';
+\\(.|\n)    build_string += yytext[1];
+[^\\\"]+    build_string += yytext;
+
+}
+
 .                   return yytext[0];
 
 %%
diff --git a/parser/parser.yy b/parser/parser.yy
index f824953..573dfed 100644
--- a/parser/parser.yy
+++ b/parser/parser.yy
@@ -55,8 +55,6 @@ refptr<Scope> parser_scope;
 %token QUESTION;
 %token DOLLAR;
 %token DOT;
-%token DQUOTE;
-%token SQUOTE;
 %token COMMA;
 
 %token LCURLY;
@@ -67,6 +65,7 @@ refptr<Scope> parser_scope;
 %token RPAREN;
 
 %token REAL_NUMBER;
+%token STRING;
 
 %token AMBIENT;
 %token AMBIENT_OCCLUSION;