diff --git a/src/Expr.cc b/src/Expr.cc
index 3a4e8add70..92fdf76a7d 100644
--- a/src/Expr.cc
+++ b/src/Expr.cc
@@ -2808,11 +2808,17 @@ IndexExpr::IndexExpr(Expr* arg_op1, ListExpr* arg_op2)
 		SetError("not an index type");
 
 	else if ( ! op1->Type()->YieldType() )
+		{
+		if ( IsString(op1->Type()->Tag()) &&
+		     match_type == MATCHES_INDEX_SCALAR )
+			SetType(base_type(TYPE_STRING));
+		else
 		// It's a set - so indexing it yields void.  We don't
 		// directly generate an error message, though, since this
 		// expression might be part of an add/delete statement,
 		// rather than yielding a value.
-		SetType(base_type(TYPE_VOID));
+			SetType(base_type(TYPE_VOID));
+		}
 
 	else if ( match_type == MATCHES_INDEX_SCALAR )
 		SetType(op1->Type()->YieldType()->Ref());
@@ -2888,6 +2894,9 @@ void IndexExpr::Delete(Frame* f)
 
 Expr* IndexExpr::MakeLvalue()
 	{
+	if ( IsString(op1->Type()->Tag()) )
+		ExprError("cannot assign to string index expression");
+
 	return new RefExpr(this);
 	}
 
@@ -2961,10 +2970,34 @@ Val* IndexExpr::Fold(Val* v1, Val* v2) const
 
 	Val* v = 0;
 
-	if ( v1->Type()->Tag() == TYPE_VECTOR )
+	switch ( v1->Type()->Tag() ) {
+	case TYPE_VECTOR:
 		v = v1->AsVectorVal()->Lookup(v2);
-	else
+		break;
+	case TYPE_TABLE:
 		v = v1->AsTableVal()->Lookup(v2);
+		break;
+	case TYPE_STRING:
+		{
+		const ListVal* lv = v2->AsListVal();
+		const BroString* s = v1->AsString();
+		int len = s->Len();
+		bro_int_t first = lv->Index(0)->AsInt();
+		bro_int_t last = lv->Length() > 1 ? lv->Index(1)->AsInt() : first;
+
+		if ( first < 0 )
+			first += len;
+		if ( last < 0 )
+			last += len;
+
+		BroString* substring = s->GetSubstring(first, last - first + 1);
+		return new StringVal(substring ? substring : new BroString(""));
+		break;
+		}
+	default:
+		Error("type cannot be indexed");
+		break;
+	}
 
 	if ( v )
 		return v->Ref();
@@ -2991,14 +3024,22 @@ void IndexExpr::Assign(Frame* f, Val* v, Opcode op)
 		return;
 		}
 
-	if ( v1->Type()->Tag() == TYPE_VECTOR )
-		{
+	switch ( v1->Type()->Tag() ) {
+	case TYPE_VECTOR:
 		if ( ! v1->AsVectorVal()->Assign(v2, v, this, op) )
 			Internal("assignment failed");
-		}
-
-	else if ( ! v1->AsTableVal()->Assign(v2, v, op) )
-		Internal("assignment failed");
+		break;
+	case TYPE_TABLE:
+		if ( ! v1->AsTableVal()->Assign(v2, v, op) )
+			Internal("assignment failed");
+		break;
+	case TYPE_STRING:
+		Internal("assignment via string index accessor not allowed");
+		break;
+	default:
+		Internal("bad index expression type in assignment");
+		break;
+	}
 
 	Unref(v1);
 	Unref(v2);
diff --git a/src/Type.cc b/src/Type.cc
index e9b0949d13..74c0eb05cb 100644
--- a/src/Type.cc
+++ b/src/Type.cc
@@ -114,8 +114,16 @@ BroType::~BroType()
 		delete [] type_id;
 	}
 
-int BroType::MatchesIndex(ListExpr*& /* index */) const
+int BroType::MatchesIndex(ListExpr*& index) const
 	{
+	if ( Tag() == TYPE_STRING )
+		{
+		if ( index->Exprs().length() != 1 && index->Exprs().length() != 2 )
+			return DOES_NOT_MATCH_INDEX;
+		if ( check_and_promote_exprs_to_type(index, ::base_type(TYPE_INT)) )
+			return MATCHES_INDEX_SCALAR;
+		}
+
 	return DOES_NOT_MATCH_INDEX;
 	}
 
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/language.string-indexing/out b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.string-indexing/out
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3359187d4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.string-indexing/out
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+1
+12
+123456
+0123456789
+8
+789
+9
+9
+9
+
+
+2
+1
diff --git a/testing/btest/core/leaks/string-indexing.bro b/testing/btest/core/leaks/string-indexing.bro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..40af2317e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/core/leaks/string-indexing.bro
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Needs perftools support.
+#
+# @TEST-GROUP: leaks
+#
+# @TEST-REQUIRES: bro  --help 2>&1 | grep -q mem-leaks
+#
+# @TEST-EXEC: HEAP_CHECK_DUMP_DIRECTORY=. HEAPCHECK=local bro -m -b -r $TRACES/wikipedia.trace %INPUT
+
+
+event new_connection(c: connection)
+	{
+	local s = "0123456789";
+	print s[1];
+	print s[1,2];
+	print s[1,6];
+	print s[0,20];
+	print s[-2];
+	print s[-3,-1];
+	print s[-1,-10];
+	print s[-1,0];
+	print s[-1,5];
+	print s[20, 23];
+	print s[-20, 23];
+	print s[0,5][2];
+	print s[0,5][1,3][0];
+	}
diff --git a/testing/btest/language/string-indexing.bro b/testing/btest/language/string-indexing.bro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d05c1b6c5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/language/string-indexing.bro
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# @TEST-EXEC: bro -b %INPUT >out
+# @TEST-EXEC: btest-diff out
+
+local s = "0123456789";
+print s[1];
+print s[1,2];
+print s[1,6];
+print s[0,20];
+print s[-2];
+print s[-3,-1];
+print s[-1,-10];
+print s[-1,0];
+print s[-1,5];
+print s[20, 23];
+print s[-20, 23];
+print s[0,5][2];
+print s[0,5][1,3][0];