diff --git a/lapis.c b/lapis.c
index c3b55ca..78cd9e8 100644
--- a/lapis.c
+++ b/lapis.c
@@ -81,8 +81,12 @@ lapis_token_t *lapis_parse_tokens(size_t *ntokens, FILE *f) {
     lapis_token_t *tokens = NULL;
     lapis_token_t tmptok = { .type = LAPIS_TTYPE_NONE, .str = NULL, .len = 0 };
 
+    _Bool end_of_expression = false;
+
     int c;
-    while ( (c = fgetc(f)) != EOF ) {
+    while ( (c = fgetc(f)) != EOF && !end_of_expression ) {
+
+        _Bool in_escape = false;
 
         // skip over comments
         if ( c == '#' ) {
@@ -90,6 +94,18 @@ lapis_token_t *lapis_parse_tokens(size_t *ntokens, FILE *f) {
             if ( c == EOF ) break;
         }
 
+        // detect line escapes
+        if ( c == '\\' ) {
+            in_escape = true;
+            c = fgetc(f);
+            if ( c == EOF ) break;
+        }
+
+        if ( c == ';' || (!in_escape && c == '\n') ) {
+            c = ' ';
+            if ( num_tokens ) end_of_expression = true;
+        }
+
         enum lapis_ttype cur_ttype;
 
         if ( (tmptok.type == LAPIS_TTYPE_IDENT && isdigit(c)) || isalpha(c) || c == '_' ) {