diff --git a/ext/standard/string.c b/ext/standard/string.c
index 1c096fbfe51..6679b227a14 100644
--- a/ext/standard/string.c
+++ b/ext/standard/string.c
@@ -3496,6 +3496,8 @@ PHPAPI void php_strip_tags(char *rbuf, int len, int *stateptr, char *allow, int
 				/* JavaScript & Other HTML scripting languages */
 				if (state == 1 && *(p-1) == '<') { 
 					state = 3;
+				} else {
+					*(rp++) = c;
 				}	
 				break;
 			
diff --git a/ext/standard/tests/strings/strip_tags.phpt b/ext/standard/tests/strings/strip_tags.phpt
index 023a6257e45..9c55bc64651 100644
--- a/ext/standard/tests/strings/strip_tags.phpt
+++ b/ext/standard/tests/strings/strip_tags.phpt
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ strip_tags() function
 	echo "\n";
 	echo strip_tags('NEAT <? echo \'\\\'\'?> STUFF');
 	echo "\n";
+	echo strip_tags('TESTS ?!!?!?!!!?!!');
+	echo "\n";
 ?>
 --EXPECT--
 NEAT  STUFF
@@ -24,3 +26,4 @@ NEAT  STUFF
 NEAT  STUFF
 NEAT  STUFF
 NEAT  STUFF
+TESTS ?!!?!?!!!?!!