diff -Pur mutt-1.3.23-base/muttlib.c mutt-1.3.23/muttlib.c
--- mutt-1.3.23-base/muttlib.c	Tue Sep  4 04:29:16 2001
+++ mutt-1.3.23/muttlib.c	Fri Oct 12 16:06:50 2001
@@ -955,6 +955,12 @@
 	count = 0;
         while (count < sizeof (ifstring) && *src && *src != '?' && *src != '&')
 	{
+	  if (*src == '\\')
+	  {
+	    src++;
+	    if (!*src)
+	      break;
+	  }
           *cp++ = *src++;
 	  count++;
 	}
@@ -967,7 +973,13 @@
 	count = 0;
 	while (count < sizeof (elsestring) && *src && *src != '?')
 	{
-	  *cp++ = *src++;
+	  if (*src == '\\')
+	  {
+	    src++;
+	    if (!*src)
+	      break;
+	  }
+          *cp++ = *src++;
 	  count++;
 	}
 	*cp = 0;