--- a/doc/interpreter/stmt.txi
+++ b/doc/interpreter/stmt.txi
@@ -860,40 +860,46 @@
 In the Octave language, most statements end with a newline character and
 you must tell Octave to ignore the newline character in order to
 continue a statement from one line to the next.  Lines that end with the
-characters @code{...} or @code{\} are joined with the following line
-before they are divided into tokens by Octave's parser.  For example,
-the lines
+characters @code{...} are joined with the following line before they are
+divided into tokens by Octave's parser.  For example, the lines
 
 @example
 @group
 x = long_variable_name ...
-    + longer_variable_name \
+    + longer_variable_name ...
     - 42
 @end group
 @end example
 
 @noindent
-form a single statement.  The backslash character on the second line
-above is interpreted as a continuation character, @emph{not} as a division
-operator.
+form a single statement.
 
-For continuation lines that do not occur inside string constants,
-whitespace and comments may appear between the continuation marker and
-the newline character.  For example, the statement
+Any text between the continuation marker and the newline character is
+ignored.  For example, the statement
 
 @example
 @group
-x = long_variable_name ...     # comment one
-    + longer_variable_name \   # comment two
-    - 42                       # last comment
+x = long_variable_name ...    # comment one
+    + longer_variable_name ...comment two
+    - 42                      # last comment
 @end group
 @end example
 
 @noindent
-is equivalent to the one shown above.  Inside string constants, the
-continuation marker must appear at the end of the line just before the
-newline character.
+is equivalent to the one shown above.
+
+Inside double-quoted string constants, the character @code{\} has to be
+used as continuation marker.  The @code{\} must appear at the end of the
+line just before the newline character:
 
+@example
+@group
+s = "This text starts in the first line \
+and is continued in the second line."
+@end group
+@end example
+
+@noindent
 Input that occurs inside parentheses can be continued to the next line
 without having to use a continuation marker.  For example, it is
 possible to write statements like