diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index c5719e795..2ec286681 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -1235,10 +1235,11 @@ compiled({epithet: "stooge"});
       <p>
         If ERB-style delimiters aren't your cup of tea, you can change Underscore's
         template settings to use different symbols to set off interpolated code.
-        Define an <b>interpolate</b> regex, and an (optional) <b>evaluate</b> regex
-        to match expressions that should be inserted and evaluated, respectively.
-        If no <b>evaluate</b> regex is provided, your templates will only be 
-        capable of interpolating values. 
+        Define an <b>interpolate</b> regex to match expressions that should be 
+        interpolated verbatim, an <b>escape</b> regex to match expressions that should 
+        be inserted after being HTML escaped, and an <b>evaluate</b> regex to match
+        expressions that should be evaluated without insertion into the resulting
+        string. You may define or omit any combination of the three.
         For example, to perform
         <a href="http://github.com/janl/mustache.js#readme">Mustache.js</a>
         style templating:
diff --git a/test/utility.js b/test/utility.js
index c609dc2c3..30ba3a940 100644
--- a/test/utility.js
+++ b/test/utility.js
@@ -144,6 +144,9 @@ $(document).ready(function() {
 
     var mustache = _.template("Hello {{planet}}!");
     equals(mustache({planet : "World"}), "Hello World!", "can mimic mustache.js");
+
+    var templateWithNull = _.template("a null undefined {{planet}}");
+    equals(templateWithNull({planet : "world"}), "a null undefined world", "can handle missing escape and evaluate settings");
   });
 
 });
diff --git a/underscore.js b/underscore.js
index 8111346a2..76e3f7910 100644
--- a/underscore.js
+++ b/underscore.js
@@ -892,6 +892,11 @@
     escape      : /<%-([\s\S]+?)%>/g
   };
 
+  // When customizing `templateSettings`, if you don't want to define an
+  // interpolation, evaluation or escaping regex, we need one that is
+  // guaranteed not to match.
+  var noMatch = /.^/;
+
   // JavaScript micro-templating, similar to John Resig's implementation.
   // Underscore templating handles arbitrary delimiters, preserves whitespace,
   // and correctly escapes quotes within interpolated code.
@@ -901,13 +906,13 @@
       'with(obj||{}){__p.push(\'' +
       str.replace(/\\/g, '\\\\')
          .replace(/'/g, "\\'")
-         .replace(c.escape, function(match, code) {
+         .replace(c.escape || noMatch, function(match, code) {
            return "',_.escape(" + code.replace(/\\'/g, "'") + "),'";
          })
-         .replace(c.interpolate, function(match, code) {
+         .replace(c.interpolate || noMatch, function(match, code) {
            return "'," + code.replace(/\\'/g, "'") + ",'";
          })
-         .replace(c.evaluate || null, function(match, code) {
+         .replace(c.evaluate || noMatch, function(match, code) {
            return "');" + code.replace(/\\'/g, "'")
                               .replace(/[\r\n\t]/g, ' ')
                               .replace(/\\\\/g, '\\') + ";__p.push('";