diff --git a/Config_File.class.php b/Config_File.class.php
index 6688bb47..bf8b14b9 100644
--- a/Config_File.class.php
+++ b/Config_File.class.php
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<?
+<?php
 
 require_once "PEAR.php";
 
diff --git a/FAQ b/FAQ
index 17c73a34..f0850e0c 100644
--- a/FAQ
+++ b/FAQ
@@ -88,3 +88,10 @@ Q: I get this error when passing variables to {include}:
    /path/to/Smarty/templates_c/index.tpl.php on line 8
 A: get_defined_vars() was added to PHP 4.0.4. If you plan on passing
    variables to included templates, you will need PHP 4.0.4 or later.
+
+Q: I get PHP errors in my {if} tag logic.
+A: All conditional qualifiers must be separated by spaces. This syntax will not
+   work: {if $name=="Wilma"} You must instead do this: {if $name == "Wilma"}.
+   The reason for this is syntax ambiguity. Both "==" and "eq" are equivalent
+   in the template parser, so something like {if $nameeq"Wilma"} wouldn't be
+   parsable by the tokenizer.
diff --git a/Smarty.class.php b/Smarty.class.php
index 86f68898..85edd0bd 100644
--- a/Smarty.class.php
+++ b/Smarty.class.php
@@ -505,8 +505,9 @@ class Smarty
                                           '{literal}', $template_contents);
 
         /* Gather all template tags. */
-        preg_match_all("!{$ldq}\s*(.*?)\s*{$rdq}!s", $template_contents, $match);
+        preg_match_all("!{$ldq}\s*(.*?)\s*{$rdq}(\n)?!s", $template_contents, $match);
         $template_tags = $match[1];
+        $template_newlines = $match[2];
         /* Split content by template tags to obtain non-template content. */
         $text_blocks = preg_split("!{$ldq}.*?{$rdq}!s", $template_contents);
 
@@ -515,12 +516,12 @@ class Smarty
         /* loop through text blocks */
         for($curr_tb = 0; $curr_tb <= count($text_blocks); $curr_tb++) {
             /* match anything within <? ?> */
-            if(preg_match_all('!(<\?[^?]*?\?>|<script\s+language\s*=\s*[\"\']?php[\"\']?\s*>)!i',$text_blocks[$curr_tb],$sp_match)) {
+            if(preg_match_all('!(<\?[^?]*?\?>|<script\s+language\s*=\s*[\"\']?php[\"\']?\s*>)(\n)?!i',$text_blocks[$curr_tb],$sp_match)) {
                 /* found at least one match, loop through each one */
-                foreach($sp_match[0] as $curr_sp) {
+                for($curr_sp = 0; $curr_sp <= count($sp_match[0]); $curr_sp++) {
                     if(!$this->allow_php) {
                         /* we don't allow php, so echo everything */
-                        $text_blocks[$curr_tb] = str_replace($curr_sp,'<?php echo \''.str_replace("'","\'",$curr_sp).'\'; ?>',$text_blocks[$curr_tb]);
+                        $text_blocks[$curr_tb] = str_replace($sp_match[0][$curr_sp],'<?php echo \''.str_replace("'","\'",$sp_match[0][$curr_sp]).'\'; ?>',$text_blocks[$curr_tb]);
                     }                    
                     elseif(!preg_match("!^(<\?(php | )|<script\s*language\s*=\s*[\"\']?php[\"\']?\s*>)!i",$curr_sp))
                         /* we allow php, so echo only non-php tags */
diff --git a/demo/index.php b/demo/index.php
index 3794acb0..d784a5af 100644
--- a/demo/index.php
+++ b/demo/index.php
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<?
+<?php
 
 require("Smarty.class.php");
 
diff --git a/docs.sgml b/docs.sgml
index a534846e..58002c26 100644
--- a/docs.sgml
+++ b/docs.sgml
@@ -1242,7 +1242,8 @@ Intro = """This is a value that spans more
 			"gt", "lt", "lte", "le", "gte" "ge","is even","is odd", "is not
 			even","is not odd","not","mod","div by","even by","odd
 			by","==","!=",">", "<","<=",">=" are all valid conditional
-			qualifiers.
+            qualifiers, and must be separated from surrounding elements by
+            spaces.
 			</para>
 <example>
 <title>if statements</title>
@@ -1266,6 +1267,12 @@ Intro = """This is a value that spans more
 	...
 {/if}
 
+{* the following syntax will NOT work, conditional qualifiers
+   must be separated from surrounding elements by spaces *}
+{if $name=="Fred" || $name=="Wilma"}
+	...
+{/if}
+
 
 {* parenthesis are allowed *}
 {if ( $amount < 0 or $amount > 1000 ) and $volume >= #minVolAmt#}
diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index 3794acb0..d784a5af 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<?
+<?php
 
 require("Smarty.class.php");
 
diff --git a/libs/Config_File.class.php b/libs/Config_File.class.php
index 6688bb47..bf8b14b9 100644
--- a/libs/Config_File.class.php
+++ b/libs/Config_File.class.php
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<?
+<?php
 
 require_once "PEAR.php";
 
diff --git a/libs/Smarty.class.php b/libs/Smarty.class.php
index 86f68898..85edd0bd 100644
--- a/libs/Smarty.class.php
+++ b/libs/Smarty.class.php
@@ -505,8 +505,9 @@ class Smarty
                                           '{literal}', $template_contents);
 
         /* Gather all template tags. */
-        preg_match_all("!{$ldq}\s*(.*?)\s*{$rdq}!s", $template_contents, $match);
+        preg_match_all("!{$ldq}\s*(.*?)\s*{$rdq}(\n)?!s", $template_contents, $match);
         $template_tags = $match[1];
+        $template_newlines = $match[2];
         /* Split content by template tags to obtain non-template content. */
         $text_blocks = preg_split("!{$ldq}.*?{$rdq}!s", $template_contents);
 
@@ -515,12 +516,12 @@ class Smarty
         /* loop through text blocks */
         for($curr_tb = 0; $curr_tb <= count($text_blocks); $curr_tb++) {
             /* match anything within <? ?> */
-            if(preg_match_all('!(<\?[^?]*?\?>|<script\s+language\s*=\s*[\"\']?php[\"\']?\s*>)!i',$text_blocks[$curr_tb],$sp_match)) {
+            if(preg_match_all('!(<\?[^?]*?\?>|<script\s+language\s*=\s*[\"\']?php[\"\']?\s*>)(\n)?!i',$text_blocks[$curr_tb],$sp_match)) {
                 /* found at least one match, loop through each one */
-                foreach($sp_match[0] as $curr_sp) {
+                for($curr_sp = 0; $curr_sp <= count($sp_match[0]); $curr_sp++) {
                     if(!$this->allow_php) {
                         /* we don't allow php, so echo everything */
-                        $text_blocks[$curr_tb] = str_replace($curr_sp,'<?php echo \''.str_replace("'","\'",$curr_sp).'\'; ?>',$text_blocks[$curr_tb]);
+                        $text_blocks[$curr_tb] = str_replace($sp_match[0][$curr_sp],'<?php echo \''.str_replace("'","\'",$sp_match[0][$curr_sp]).'\'; ?>',$text_blocks[$curr_tb]);
                     }                    
                     elseif(!preg_match("!^(<\?(php | )|<script\s*language\s*=\s*[\"\']?php[\"\']?\s*>)!i",$curr_sp))
                         /* we allow php, so echo only non-php tags */