diff --git a/engine-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/BindingEscapingTest.java b/engine-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/BindingEscapingTest.java
index a1abf0750..b2442635a 100644
--- a/engine-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/BindingEscapingTest.java
+++ b/engine-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/BindingEscapingTest.java
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ public class BindingEscapingTest {
 
     @Test
     public void testEscapedBindings() {
-        DataMapper<String> mapper = VirtData.getMapper("Template('\"-{}-\"Func(234)\\\"\\)',NumberNameToString());'",String.class);
+        DataMapper<String> mapper = VirtData.getMapper("Template('\"-{}-\"Func(234)\\\\\"\\\\)',NumberNameToString())" +
+            ";'",String.class);
         String s = mapper.get(234);
         assertThat(s).isEqualTo("\"-two hundred and thirty four-\"Func(234)\\\"\\)");
     }
diff --git a/virtdata-lib-basics/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/virtdata/library/basics/shared/from_long/to_string/Template.java b/virtdata-lib-basics/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/virtdata/library/basics/shared/from_long/to_string/Template.java
index 26a9bbd1f..f108946be 100644
--- a/virtdata-lib-basics/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/virtdata/library/basics/shared/from_long/to_string/Template.java
+++ b/virtdata-lib-basics/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/virtdata/library/basics/shared/from_long/to_string/Template.java
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ public class Template implements LongFunction<String> {
     public String unescape(String partial) {
         StringBuilder unescaped = new StringBuilder();
         try {
-            Pattern escapes = Pattern.compile("\\\\[^\\\\]");
+            Pattern escapes = Pattern.compile("\\\\.");
             Matcher m = escapes.matcher(partial);
             int pos = 0;
 
diff --git a/virtdata-lib-basics/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/virtdata/library/basics/shared/unary_string/TemplateTest.java b/virtdata-lib-basics/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/virtdata/library/basics/shared/unary_string/TemplateTest.java
index c9ea92050..ffa77efbb 100644
--- a/virtdata-lib-basics/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/virtdata/library/basics/shared/unary_string/TemplateTest.java
+++ b/virtdata-lib-basics/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/virtdata/library/basics/shared/unary_string/TemplateTest.java
@@ -64,4 +64,13 @@ public class TemplateTest {
         assertThat(unescaped2).isEqualTo("' one ' two '");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testBackslashUnescaping() {
+        String escaped="front \\\\\" back";
+        LongFunction<String> func = String::valueOf;
+        Template template = new Template("{} extra", func);
+        String unescaped = template.unescape(escaped);
+        assertThat(unescaped).isEqualTo("front \\\" back");
+
+    }
 }