diff --git a/libraries/stdlib/src/kotlin/text/Strings.kt b/libraries/stdlib/src/kotlin/text/Strings.kt
index 4194d12937e..b5405160d38 100644
--- a/libraries/stdlib/src/kotlin/text/Strings.kt
+++ b/libraries/stdlib/src/kotlin/text/Strings.kt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package kotlin
 
 import java.util.NoSuchElementException
+import kotlin.text.Pattern
 
 /** Returns the string with leading and trailing text matching the given string removed */
 deprecated("Use removeSurrounding(text, text) or removePrefix(text).removeSuffix(text)")
@@ -906,6 +907,11 @@ public fun String.splitToSequence(vararg delimiters: Char, ignoreCase: Boolean =
 public fun String.split(vararg delimiters: Char, ignoreCase: Boolean = false, limit: Int = 0): List<String> =
         splitToSequence(*delimiters, ignoreCase = ignoreCase, limit = limit).toList()
 
+/**
+ * Splits this string around matches of the given regular expression.
+ */
+public fun String.split(pattern: Pattern, limit: Int = 0): List<String> = pattern.split(this, limit)
+
 /**
  * Splits this string to a sequence of lines delimited by any of the following character sequences: CRLF, LF or CR.
  */
diff --git a/libraries/stdlib/src/kotlin/text/regex/Pattern.kt b/libraries/stdlib/src/kotlin/text/regex/Pattern.kt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1d597d232b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libraries/stdlib/src/kotlin/text/regex/Pattern.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2010-2015 JetBrains s.r.o.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package kotlin.text
+
+import java.util.ArrayList
+import java.util.regex.Pattern as NativePattern
+import java.util.regex.Matcher
+import kotlin.properties.Delegates
+
+private val TODO: Nothing get() = throw UnsupportedOperationException()
+
+public trait FlagEnum {
+    public val value: Int
+    public val mask: Int
+}
+public fun Iterable<FlagEnum>.toInt(): Int =
+        this.fold(0, { value, option -> value or option.value })
+public fun <T: FlagEnum> fromInt(value: Int, allValues: Array<T>): Set<T> =
+        allValues.filter({ value and it.mask == it.value }).toSet()
+
+
+public enum class PatternOptions(override val value: Int, override val mask: Int = value) : FlagEnum {
+    // common
+    IGNORE_CASE : PatternOptions(NativePattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE)
+    MULTILINE : PatternOptions(NativePattern.MULTILINE)
+
+    //jvm-specific
+    LITERAL : PatternOptions(NativePattern.LITERAL)
+    UNICODE_CASE: PatternOptions(NativePattern.UNICODE_CASE)
+    UNIX_LINES: PatternOptions(NativePattern.UNIX_LINES)
+    COMMENTS: PatternOptions(NativePattern.COMMENTS)
+    DOTALL: PatternOptions(NativePattern.DOTALL)
+    CANON_EQ: PatternOptions(NativePattern.CANON_EQ)
+}
+
+/* in JS
+public enum class PatternOptions(val value: String) {
+    IGNORE_CASE : PatternOptions("i")
+    MULTILINE : PatternOptions("m")
+}
+*/
+
+public trait MatchGroup {
+    public val range: IntRange
+    public val value: String
+}
+
+public trait MatchResult : MatchGroup {
+    public val groups: List<MatchGroup?>
+    public fun next(): MatchResult?
+}
+
+
+public class Pattern ( /* visibility? */ val nativePattern: NativePattern) {
+
+    public constructor(pattern: String, options: Set<PatternOptions>): this(NativePattern.compile(pattern, options.toInt()))
+    public constructor(pattern: String, vararg options: PatternOptions) : this(pattern, options.toSet())
+
+    public val pattern: String
+        get() = nativePattern.pattern()
+
+    public val options: Set<PatternOptions> = fromInt(nativePattern.flags(), PatternOptions.values())
+
+    public fun matches(input: CharSequence): Boolean = nativePattern.matcher(input).matches()
+
+    public fun match(input: CharSequence): MatchResult? = nativePattern.matcher(input).findNext(0)
+
+    public fun matchAll(input: CharSequence): Sequence<MatchResult> = sequence({ match(input) }, { match -> match.next() })
+
+    public fun replace(input: CharSequence, replacement: String): String = nativePattern.matcher(input).replaceAll(replacement)
+    public fun replace(input: CharSequence, evaluator: (MatchResult) -> String): String = TODO
+
+    public fun split(input: CharSequence, limit: Int = 0): List<String> = nativePattern.split(input, limit).asList() // TODO: require(limit>=0)
+
+    companion object {
+        public fun fromLiteral(literal: String): Pattern = Pattern(literal, PatternOptions.LITERAL)
+        public fun escape(literal: String): String = NativePattern.quote(literal)
+        public fun escapeReplacement(literal: String): String = Matcher.quoteReplacement(literal)
+    }
+
+}
+
+public fun String.toPattern(vararg options: PatternOptions): Pattern = Pattern(this, *options)
+public fun String.toPattern(options: Set<PatternOptions>): Pattern = Pattern(this, options)
+
+
+
+private fun Matcher.findNext(from: Int): MatchResult? {
+    if (!find(from))
+        return null
+
+    var matchResult = this as java.util.regex.MatchResult
+
+    return object: MatchResult {
+        override val range: IntRange
+            get() = matchResult.start()..matchResult.end()-1
+        override val value: String
+            get() = matchResult.group()
+
+        override val groups: List<MatchGroup?> by Delegates.lazy {
+            // TODO:  wrap
+            val groups = ArrayList<MatchGroup?>(matchResult.groupCount())
+            for (groupIndex in 1..groupCount()) {
+                val range = matchResult.start(groupIndex)..matchResult.end(groupIndex)-1
+                if (range.start >= 0)
+                    groups.add(object: MatchGroup {
+                        override val range: IntRange = range
+                        override val value: String
+                            get() = matchResult.group(groupIndex)
+                    })
+                else
+                    groups.add(null)
+            }
+            groups
+        }
+
+        override fun next(): MatchResult? {
+            matchResult = this@findNext.toMatchResult()
+            return this@findNext.findNext(matchResult.end()) // TODO: advance next
+        }
+    }
+}