diff -r 8ddf40f68def Doc/library/re.rst
--- a/Doc/library/re.rst	Fri Jun 01 00:07:28 2012 -0500
+++ b/Doc/library/re.rst	Fri Jun 01 09:39:49 2012 +0300
@@ -414,8 +414,8 @@
 accepted by the regular expression parser::
 
    \a      \b      \f      \n
-   \r      \t      \v      \x
-   \\
+   \r      \t      \u      \U
+   \v      \x      \\
 
 (Note that ``\b`` is used to represent word boundaries, and means "backspace"
 only inside character classes.)
diff -r 8ddf40f68def Lib/sre_parse.py
--- a/Lib/sre_parse.py	Fri Jun 01 00:07:28 2012 -0500
+++ b/Lib/sre_parse.py	Fri Jun 01 09:39:49 2012 +0300
@@ -247,6 +247,25 @@
             if len(escape) != 2:
                 raise error("bogus escape: %s" % repr("\\" + escape))
             return LITERAL, int(escape, 16) & 0xff
+        elif c == "u":
+            # unicode escape (exactly four digits)
+            while source.next in HEXDIGITS and len(escape) < 6:
+                escape = escape + source.get()
+            if len(escape) != 6:
+                raise error("bogus escape: %s" % repr(escape))
+            return LITERAL, int(escape[2:], 16)
+        elif c == "U":
+            # unicode escape (exactly eight digits)
+            while source.next in HEXDIGITS and len(escape) < 10:
+                escape = escape + source.get()
+            if len(escape) != 10:
+                raise error("bogus escape: %s" % repr(escape))
+            c = int(escape[2:], 16)
+            if c > sys.maxunicode:
+                raise error("bogus escape: %s" % repr(escape)) 
+            if c > 0x10FFFF:
+                raise ValueError
+            return LITERAL, c
         elif c in OCTDIGITS:
             # octal escape (up to three digits)
             while source.next in OCTDIGITS and len(escape) < 4:
@@ -278,6 +297,23 @@
             if len(escape) != 4:
                 raise ValueError
             return LITERAL, int(escape[2:], 16) & 0xff
+        elif c == "u":
+            # unicode escape (exactly four digits)
+            while source.next in HEXDIGITS and len(escape) < 6:
+                escape = escape + source.get()
+            if len(escape) != 6:
+                raise ValueError
+            return LITERAL, int(escape[2:], 16)
+        elif c == "U":
+            # unicode escape (exactly eight digits)
+            while source.next in HEXDIGITS and len(escape) < 10:
+                escape = escape + source.get()
+            if len(escape) != 10:
+                raise ValueError
+            c = int(escape[2:], 16)
+            if c > 0x10FFFF:
+                raise ValueError
+            return LITERAL, c
         elif c == "0":
             # octal escape
             while source.next in OCTDIGITS and len(escape) < 4:
@@ -457,6 +493,9 @@
                             raise error("bad character range")
                         lo = code1[1]
                         hi = code2[1]
+                        
+                        if lo > sys.maxunicode or hi > sys.maxunicode:
+                            raise error("bad character range")
                         if hi < lo:
                             raise error("bad character range")
                         setappend((RANGE, (lo, hi)))
@@ -660,7 +699,18 @@
 
         elif this and this[0] == "\\":
             code = _escape(source, this, state)
-            subpatternappend(code)
+            if code[0] == LITERAL and code[1] > sys.maxunicode:
+                # translate from 10000..10FFFF to 0..FFFF
+                c = code[1] - 0x10000
+                # high surrogate = top 10 bits added to D800
+                c1 = 0xD800 + (c >> 10)
+                # low surrogate = bottom 10 bits added to DC00
+                c2 = 0xDC00 + (c & 0x03FF)
+
+                subpatternappend((LITERAL, c1))
+                subpatternappend((LITERAL, c2))
+            else:
+                subpatternappend(code)
 
         else:
             raise error("parser error")
diff -r 8ddf40f68def Lib/test/test_re.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_re.py	Fri Jun 01 00:07:28 2012 -0500
+++ b/Lib/test/test_re.py	Fri Jun 01 09:39:49 2012 +0300
@@ -533,8 +533,12 @@
             self.assertNotEqual(re.match(r"\x%02x" % i, chr(i)), None)
             self.assertNotEqual(re.match(r"\x%02x0" % i, chr(i)+"0"), None)
             self.assertNotEqual(re.match(r"\x%02xz" % i, chr(i)+"z"), None)
+        self.assertNotEqual(re.match(r"\u1234", "\u1234"), None)
+        self.assertNotEqual(re.match(r"\U00001234", "\u1234"), None)
         self.assertRaises(re.error, re.match, "\911", "")
-
+        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.match, r"\U00110000", "")
+        self.assertEqual(re.match(r"\U00100000", "\U00100000").group(), "\U00100000")
+            
     def test_sre_character_class_literals(self):
         for i in [0, 8, 16, 32, 64, 127, 128, 255]:
             self.assertNotEqual(re.match(r"[\%03o]" % i, chr(i)), None)
@@ -543,8 +547,14 @@
             self.assertNotEqual(re.match(r"[\x%02x]" % i, chr(i)), None)
             self.assertNotEqual(re.match(r"[\x%02x0]" % i, chr(i)), None)
             self.assertNotEqual(re.match(r"[\x%02xz]" % i, chr(i)), None)
+        self.assertNotEqual(re.match(r"[\u1234-\u1236]", "\u1235"), None)
+        self.assertNotEqual(re.match(r"[\U00001234]", "\u1234"), None)
         self.assertRaises(re.error, re.match, "[\911]", "")
-
+        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.match, r"[\U0011ffff]", "")
+        if sys.maxunicode <= 0xffff:
+            self.assertRaises(re.error, re.match, r"[\U00100000]", "")
+            self.assertRaises(re.error, re.match, "r[\U00100000-\U001000FF]", "")
+            
     def test_bug_113254(self):
         self.assertEqual(re.match(r'(a)|(b)', 'b').start(1), -1)
         self.assertEqual(re.match(r'(a)|(b)', 'b').end(1), -1)