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 09:39:29 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 09:39:29 2012 +0300
@@ -247,6 +247,20 @@
             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))
+            return LITERAL, int(escape[2:], 16)
         elif c in OCTDIGITS:
             # octal escape (up to three digits)
             while source.next in OCTDIGITS and len(escape) < 4:
@@ -278,6 +292,20 @@
             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
+            return LITERAL, int(escape[2:], 16)
         elif c == "0":
             # octal escape
             while source.next in OCTDIGITS and len(escape) < 4:
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 09:39:29 2012 +0300
@@ -533,6 +533,8 @@
             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", "")
 
     def test_sre_character_class_literals(self):
@@ -543,6 +545,8 @@
             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]", "")
 
     def test_bug_113254(self):