diff --git a/doc/manual/source/language/string-literals.md b/doc/manual/source/language/string-literals.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ca064989a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/source/language/string-literals.md
@@ -0,0 +1,205 @@
+# String literals
+
+A *string literal* represents a [string](types.md#type-string) value.
+
+> **Syntax**
+>
+> *expression* → *string*
+>
+> *string* → `"` ( *string_char*\* [*interpolation_element*][string interpolation] )* *string_char*\* `"`
+>
+> *string* → `''` ( *indented_string_char*\* [*interpolation_element*][string interpolation] )* *indented_string_char*\* `''`
+>
+> *string* → *uri*
+>
+> *string_char* ~ `[^"$\\]|\$(?!\{)|\\.`
+>
+> *indented_string_char* ~ `[^$']|\$\$|\$(?!\{)|''[$']|''\\.|'(?!')`
+>
+> *uri* ~ `[A-Za-z][+\-.0-9A-Za-z]*:[!$%&'*+,\-./0-9:=?@A-Z_a-z~]+`
+
+Strings can be written in three ways.
+
+The most common way is to enclose the string between double quotes, e.g., `"foo bar"`.
+Strings can span multiple lines.
+The results of other expressions can be included into a string by enclosing them in `${ }`, a feature known as [string interpolation].
+
+[string interpolation]: ./string-interpolation.md
+
+The following must be escaped to represent them within a string, by prefixing with a backslash (`\`):
+
+- Double quote (`"`)
+
+> **Example**
+>
+> ```nix
+> "\""
+> ```
+>
+>     "\""
+
+- Backslash (`\`)
+
+> **Example**
+>
+> ```nix
+> "\\"
+> ```
+>
+>     "\\"
+
+- Dollar sign followed by an opening curly bracket (`${`) – "dollar-curly"
+
+> **Example**
+>
+> ```nix
+> "\${"
+> ```
+>
+>     "\${"
+
+The newline, carriage return, and tab characters can be written as `\n`, `\r` and `\t`, respectively.
+
+A "double-dollar-curly" (`$${`) can be written literally.
+
+> **Example**
+>
+> ```nix
+> "$${"
+> ```
+>
+>     "$\${"
+
+String values are output on the terminal with Nix-specific escaping.
+Strings written to files will contain the characters encoded by the escaping.
+
+The second way to write string literals is as an *indented string*, which is enclosed between pairs of *double single-quotes* (`''`), like so:
+
+```nix
+''
+This is the first line.
+This is the second line.
+  This is the third line.
+''
+```
+
+This kind of string literal intelligently strips indentation from
+the start of each line. To be precise, it strips from each line a
+number of spaces equal to the minimal indentation of the string as a
+whole (disregarding the indentation of empty lines). For instance,
+the first and second line are indented two spaces, while the third
+line is indented four spaces. Thus, two spaces are stripped from
+each line, so the resulting string is
+
+```nix
+"This is the first line.\nThis is the second line.\n  This is the third line.\n"
+```
+
+> **Note**
+>
+> Whitespace and newline following the opening `''` is ignored if there is no non-whitespace text on the initial line.
+
+> **Warning**
+>
+> Prefixed tab characters are not stripped.
+>
+> > **Example**
+> >
+> > The following indented string is prefixed with tabs:
+> >
+> > <pre><code class="nohighlight">''
+> > 	all:
+> > 		@echo hello
+> > ''
+> > </code></pre>
+> >
+> >     "\tall:\n\t\t@echo hello\n"
+
+Indented strings support [string interpolation].
+
+The following must be escaped to represent them in an indented string:
+
+- `$` is escaped by prefixing it with two single quotes (`''`)
+
+> **Example**
+>
+> ```nix
+> ''
+>   ''$
+> ''
+> ```
+>
+>     "$\n"
+
+- `''` is escaped by prefixing it with one single quote (`'`)
+
+> **Example**
+>
+> ```nix
+> ''
+>   '''
+> ''
+> ```
+>
+>     "''\n"
+
+These special characters are escaped as follows:
+- Linefeed (`\n`): `''\n`
+- Carriage return (`\r`): `''\r`
+- Tab (`\t`): `''\t`
+
+`''\` escapes any other character.
+
+A "dollar-curly" (`${`) can be written as follows: 
+> **Example**
+>
+> ```nix
+> ''
+>   echo ''${PATH}
+> ''
+> ```
+>
+>     "echo ${PATH}\n"
+
+> **Note**
+>
+> This differs from the syntax for escaping a dollar-curly within double quotes (`"\${"`). Be aware of which one is needed at a given moment.
+
+A "double-dollar-curly" (`$${`) can be written literally.
+
+> **Example**
+>
+> ```nix
+> ''
+>   $${
+> ''
+> ```
+>
+>     "$\${\n"
+
+Indented strings are primarily useful in that they allow multi-line
+string literals to follow the indentation of the enclosing Nix
+expression, and that less escaping is typically necessary for
+strings representing languages such as shell scripts and
+configuration files because `''` is much less common than `"`.
+Example:
+
+```nix
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+...
+postInstall =
+  ''
+    mkdir $out/bin $out/etc
+    cp foo $out/bin
+    echo "Hello World" > $out/etc/foo.conf
+    ${if enableBar then "cp bar $out/bin" else ""}
+  '';
+...
+}
+```
+
+Finally, as a convenience, *URIs* as defined in appendix B of
+[RFC 2396](http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt) can be written *as
+is*, without quotes. For instance, the string
+`"http://example.org/foo.tar.bz2"` can also be written as
+`http://example.org/foo.tar.bz2`.