diff --git a/django/template/defaultfilters.py b/django/template/defaultfilters.py
index ac92bef6cf..9514c92d50 100644
--- a/django/template/defaultfilters.py
+++ b/django/template/defaultfilters.py
@@ -43,7 +43,11 @@ def stringfilter(func):
 
 
 def addslashes(value):
-    """Adds slashes - useful for passing strings to JavaScript, for example."""
+    """
+    Adds slashes before quotes. Useful for escaping strings in CSV, for
+    example. Less useful for escaping JavaScript; use the ``escapejs``
+    filter instead.
+    """
     return value.replace('\\', '\\\\').replace('"', '\\"').replace("'", "\\'")
 addslashes.is_safe = True
 addslashes = stringfilter(addslashes)
@@ -54,6 +58,25 @@ def capfirst(value):
 capfirst.is_safe=True
 capfirst = stringfilter(capfirst)
 
+_js_escapes = (
+    ('\\', '\\\\'),
+    ('"', '\\"'),
+    ("'", "\\'"),
+    ('\n', '\\n'),
+    ('\r', '\\r'),
+    ('\b', '\\b'),
+    ('\f', '\\f'),
+    ('\t', '\\t'),
+    ('\v', '\\v'),
+    ('</', '<\\/'),
+)
+def escapejs(value):
+    """Backslash-escapes characters for use in JavaScript strings."""
+    for bad, good in _js_escapes:
+        value = value.replace(bad, good)
+    return value
+escapejs = stringfilter(escapejs)
+
 def fix_ampersands(value):
     """Replaces ampersands with ``&amp;`` entities."""
     from django.utils.html import fix_ampersands
diff --git a/docs/templates.txt b/docs/templates.txt
index e91d1b3e4c..3b38caf58b 100644
--- a/docs/templates.txt
+++ b/docs/templates.txt
@@ -1227,8 +1227,10 @@ Adds the arg to the value.
 addslashes
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 
-Adds slashes. Useful for passing strings to JavaScript, for example.
+Adds slashes before quotes. Useful for escaping strings in CSV, for example.
 
+**New in Django development version**: for escaping data in JavaScript strings,
+use the `escapejs` filter instead.
 
 capfirst
 ~~~~~~~~
@@ -1302,6 +1304,15 @@ applied to the result will only result in one round of escaping being done. So
 it is safe to use this function even in auto-escaping environments. If you want
 multiple escaping passes to be applied, use the ``force_escape`` filter.
 
+escapejs
+~~~~~~~~
+
+**New in Django development version**
+
+Escapes characters for use in JavaScript strings. This does *not* make the
+string safe for use in HTML, but does protect you from syntax errors when using
+templates to generate JavaScript/JSON.
+
 filesizeformat
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/defaultfilters/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/defaultfilters/tests.py
index bfa03cd6e1..668ecb9d5a 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/defaultfilters/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/defaultfilters/tests.py
@@ -49,6 +49,18 @@ u'\\\\ : backslashes, too'
 >>> capfirst(u'hello world')
 u'Hello world'
 
+>>> escapejs(u'"double quotes" and \'single quotes\'')
+u'\\"double quotes\\" and \\\'single quotes\\\''
+
+>>> escapejs(ur'\ : backslashes, too')
+u'\\\\ : backslashes, too'
+
+>>> escapejs(u'and lots of whitespace: \r\n\t\v\f\b')
+u'and lots of whitespace: \\r\\n\\t\\v\\f\\b'
+
+>>> escapejs(ur'<script>and this</script>')
+u'<script>and this<\\/script>'
+
 >>> fix_ampersands(u'Jack & Jill & Jeroboam')
 u'Jack &amp; Jill &amp; Jeroboam'