diff --git a/contrib/pgbench/pgbench.c b/contrib/pgbench/pgbench.c
index 4aa8a50..b2b003d 100644
--- a/contrib/pgbench/pgbench.c
+++ b/contrib/pgbench/pgbench.c
@@ -2047,6 +2047,13 @@ read_line_from_file(FILE *fd)
 	{
 		size_t		thislen = strlen(tmpbuf);
 
+		/* allow line continuation with escape character '\' */
+		if(tmpbuf[thislen - 2] == '\\')
+		{
+			tmpbuf[thislen - 2] = '\0';
+			thislen -= 2;
+		}
+
 		/* Append tmpbuf to whatever we had already */
 		memcpy(buf + used, tmpbuf, thislen + 1);
 		used += thislen;