diff --git a/contrib/check-code.py b/contrib/check-code.py
--- a/contrib/check-code.py
+++ b/contrib/check-code.py
@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@
 import sys, re, glob
 
 def repquote(m):
-    t = re.sub(r"\w", "x", m.group(2))
+    t = re.sub(r"\w", "x", m.group('text'))
     t = re.sub(r"[^\sx]", "o", t)
-    return m.group(1) + t + m.group(1)
+    return m.group('quote') + t + m.group('quote')
 
 def repcomment(m):
     return m.group(1) + "#" * len(m.group(2))
@@ -96,10 +96,9 @@ pypats = [
 ]
 
 pyfilters = [
-    (r'''(?<!")(")(([^"\n]|\\")+)"(?!")''', repquote),
-    (r"""(?<!')(')(([^'\n]|\\')+)'(?!')""", repquote),
-    (r"""(''')(([^']|\\'|'{1,2}(?!'))*)'''""", repquote),
-    (r'''(""")(([^"]|\\"|"{1,2}(?!"))*)"""''', repquote),
+    (r"""(?msx)(?P<quote>('''|\"\"\"|(?<!')'(?!')|(?<!")"(?!")))
+         (?P<text>(.*?))
+         (?<!\\)(?P=quote)""", repquote),
     (r"( *)(#([^\n]*\S)?)", repcomment),
 ]
 
@@ -123,7 +122,7 @@ cpats = [
 
 cfilters = [
     (r'(/\*)(((\*(?!/))|[^*])*)\*/', repccomment),
-    (r'''(?<!")(")(([^"]|\\")+"(?!"))''', repquote),
+    (r'''(?P<quote>(?<!")")(?P<text>([^"]|\\")+)"(?!")''', repquote),
     (r'''(#\s*include\s+<)([^>]+)>''', repinclude),
     (r'(\()([^)]+\))', repcallspaces),
 ]
diff --git a/tests/test-check-code b/tests/test-check-code
--- a/tests/test-check-code
+++ b/tests/test-check-code
@@ -12,5 +12,13 @@ def toto( arg1, arg2):
     return ( 5+6, 9)
 EOF
 
+cat > quote.py <<EOF
+(''' ( 4x5 )
+but """\''' and finally''',
+"""let's fool checkpatch""", '1+2',
+'"""', 42+1, """and
+( 4-1 ) """, "( 1+1 )\" and ")
+EOF
+
 check_code=`dirname $0`/../contrib/check-code.py
-${check_code} ./wrong.py ./correct.py
+${check_code} ./wrong.py ./correct.py ./quote.py
diff --git a/tests/test-check-code.out b/tests/test-check-code.out
--- a/tests/test-check-code.out
+++ b/tests/test-check-code.out
@@ -8,3 +8,6 @@
  >     return ( 5+6, 9)
  missing whitespace in expression
  gratuitous whitespace in () or []
+./quote.py:4:
+ > '"""', 42+1, """and
+ missing whitespace in expression