diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 27cce5a49b..94172bb7ea 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+Sat Nov 23 13:38:00 2013  Kyle Stevens  <kstevens715@gmail.com>
+
+	* lib/csv.rb: If skip_lines is set to a String, convert it to a Regexp
+	  to prevent the alternative, which is that each line in the CSV gets
+	  converted to a Regexp when calling skip_lines#match.
+
 Sun Nov 24 01:03:00 2013  Kenta Murata  <mrkn@mrkn.jp>
 
 	* ext/bigdecimal/bigdecimal.c (BigDecimal_power): Use FIX2LONG instead
diff --git a/lib/csv.rb b/lib/csv.rb
index 804b941433..d66b84922a 100644
--- a/lib/csv.rb
+++ b/lib/csv.rb
@@ -1470,11 +1470,12 @@ class CSV
   # <b><tt>:skip_lines</tt></b>::         When set to an object responding to
   #                                       <tt>match</tt>, every line matching
   #                                       it is considered a comment and ignored
-  #                                       during parsing. When set to +nil+
-  #                                       no line is considered a comment.
-  #                                       If the passed object does not respond
-  #                                       to <tt>match</tt>, <tt>ArgumentError</tt>
-  #                                       is thrown.
+  #                                       during parsing. When set to a String,
+  #                                       it is first converted to a Regexp.
+  #                                       When set to +nil+ no line is considered
+  #                                       a comment. If the passed object does
+  #                                       not respond to <tt>match</tt>,
+  #                                       <tt>ArgumentError</tt> is thrown.
   #
   # See CSV::DEFAULT_OPTIONS for the default settings.
   #
@@ -2120,10 +2121,12 @@ class CSV
   # Stores the pattern of comments to skip from the provided options.
   #
   # The pattern must respond to +.match+, else ArgumentError is raised.
+  # Strings are converted to a Regexp.
   #
   # See also CSV.new
   def init_comments(options)
     @skip_lines = options.delete(:skip_lines)
+    @skip_lines = Regexp.new(@skip_lines) if @skip_lines.is_a? String
     if @skip_lines and not @skip_lines.respond_to?(:match)
       raise ArgumentError, ":skip_lines has to respond to matches"
     end
diff --git a/test/csv/test_features.rb b/test/csv/test_features.rb
index 8c2b3eb2b7..9324af7096 100755
--- a/test/csv/test_features.rb
+++ b/test/csv/test_features.rb
@@ -299,12 +299,19 @@ class TestCSV::Features < TestCSV
   def test_comment_rows_are_ignored
     sample_data = "line,1,a\n#not,a,line\nline,2,b\n   #also,no,line"
     c = CSV.new sample_data, :skip_lines => /\A\s*#/
-    assert_equal c.each.to_a, [["line", "1", "a"], ["line", "2", "b"]]
+    assert_equal [["line", "1", "a"], ["line", "2", "b"]], c.each.to_a
   end
 
   def test_quoted_skip_line_markers_are_ignored
     sample_data = "line,1,a\n\"#not\",a,line\nline,2,b"
     c = CSV.new sample_data, :skip_lines => /\A\s*#/
-    assert_equal c.each.to_a, [["line", "1", "a"], ["#not", "a", "line"], ["line", "2", "b"]]
+    assert_equal [["line", "1", "a"], ["#not", "a", "line"], ["line", "2", "b"]], c.each.to_a
   end
+
+  def test_string_works_like_a_regexp
+    sample_data = "line,1,a\n#(not,a,line\nline,2,b\n   also,#no,line"
+    c = CSV.new sample_data, :skip_lines => "#"
+    assert_equal [["line", "1", "a"], ["line", "2", "b"]], c.each.to_a
+  end
+
 end