diff --git a/src/libsyntax/parse/lexer/mod.rs b/src/libsyntax/parse/lexer/mod.rs
index 507bd9de2a1..b6a3788dacc 100644
--- a/src/libsyntax/parse/lexer/mod.rs
+++ b/src/libsyntax/parse/lexer/mod.rs
@@ -172,6 +172,11 @@ impl<'a> StringReader<'a> {
         self.span_diagnostic.span_err(sp, m)
     }
 
+    /// Suggest some help with a given span.
+    pub fn help_span(&self, sp: Span, m: &str) {
+        self.span_diagnostic.span_help(sp, m)
+    }
+
     /// Report a fatal error spanning [`from_pos`, `to_pos`).
     fn fatal_span_(&self, from_pos: BytePos, to_pos: BytePos, m: &str) -> ! {
         self.fatal_span(codemap::mk_sp(from_pos, to_pos), m)
@@ -182,6 +187,11 @@ impl<'a> StringReader<'a> {
         self.err_span(codemap::mk_sp(from_pos, to_pos), m)
     }
 
+    /// Suggest some help spanning [`from_pos`, `to_pos`).
+    fn help_span_(&self, from_pos: BytePos, to_pos: BytePos, m: &str) {
+        self.help_span(codemap::mk_sp(from_pos, to_pos), m)
+    }
+
     /// Report a lexical error spanning [`from_pos`, `to_pos`), appending an
     /// escaped character to the error message
     fn fatal_span_char(&self, from_pos: BytePos, to_pos: BytePos, m: &str, c: char) -> ! {
@@ -728,19 +738,24 @@ impl<'a> StringReader<'a> {
                         return match e {
                             'n' | 'r' | 't' | '\\' | '\'' | '"' | '0' => true,
                             'x' => self.scan_byte_escape(delim, !ascii_only),
-                            'u' if self.curr_is('{') => {
-                                let valid = self.scan_unicode_escape(delim);
-                                if valid && ascii_only {
-                                    self.err_span_(
-                                        escaped_pos,
-                                        self.last_pos,
+                            'u' => {
+                                let valid = if self.curr_is('{') {
+                                    self.scan_unicode_escape(delim) && !ascii_only
+                                } else {
+                                    self.err_span_(start, self.last_pos,
+                                        "incorrect unicode escape sequence");
+                                    self.help_span_(start, self.last_pos,
+                                        "format of unicode escape sequences is `\\u{…}`");
+                                    false
+                                };
+                                if ascii_only {
+                                    self.err_span_(start, self.last_pos,
                                         "unicode escape sequences cannot be used as a byte or in \
                                         a byte string"
                                     );
-                                    false
-                                } else {
-                                   valid
                                 }
+                                valid
+
                             }
                             '\n' if delim == '"' => {
                                 self.consume_whitespace();
@@ -757,16 +772,13 @@ impl<'a> StringReader<'a> {
                                     if ascii_only { "unknown byte escape" }
                                     else { "unknown character escape" },
                                     c);
-                                let sp = codemap::mk_sp(escaped_pos, last_pos);
                                 if e == '\r' {
-                                    self.span_diagnostic.span_help(
-                                        sp,
+                                    self.help_span_(escaped_pos, last_pos,
                                         "this is an isolated carriage return; consider checking \
                                          your editor and version control settings")
                                 }
                                 if (e == '{' || e == '}') && !ascii_only {
-                                    self.span_diagnostic.span_help(
-                                        sp,
+                                    self.help_span_(escaped_pos, last_pos,
                                         "if used in a formatting string, \
                                         curly braces are escaped with `{{` and `}}`")
                                 }
@@ -848,14 +860,12 @@ impl<'a> StringReader<'a> {
             valid = false;
         }
 
-        self.bump(); // past the ending }
-
         if valid && (char::from_u32(accum_int).is_none() || count == 0) {
             self.err_span_(start_bpos, self.last_pos, "illegal unicode character escape");
             valid = false;
         }
 
-
+        self.bump(); // past the ending }
         valid
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/parse-fail/issue-23620-invalid-escapes.rs b/src/test/parse-fail/issue-23620-invalid-escapes.rs
index 7930ea75bf5..1790b9164b7 100644
--- a/src/test/parse-fail/issue-23620-invalid-escapes.rs
+++ b/src/test/parse-fail/issue-23620-invalid-escapes.rs
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ fn main() {
     //~^ ERROR unicode escape sequences cannot be used as a byte or in a byte string
 
     let _ = b'\u';
-    //~^ ERROR unknown byte escape: u
+    //~^ ERROR incorrect unicode escape sequence
+    //~^^ ERROR unicode escape sequences cannot be used as a byte or in a byte string
 
     let _ = b'\x5';
     //~^ ERROR numeric character escape is too short
@@ -35,11 +36,12 @@ fn main() {
     let _ = b"\u{a4a4} \xf \u";
     //~^ ERROR unicode escape sequences cannot be used as a byte or in a byte string
     //~^^ ERROR illegal character in numeric character escape:
-    //~^^^ ERROR unknown byte escape: u
+    //~^^^ ERROR incorrect unicode escape sequence
+    //~^^^^ ERROR unicode escape sequences cannot be used as a byte or in a byte string
 
     let _ = "\u{ffffff} \xf \u";
     //~^ ERROR illegal unicode character escape
     //~^^ ERROR illegal character in numeric character escape:
     //~^^^ ERROR form of character escape may only be used with characters in the range [\x00-\x7f]
-    //~^^^^ ERROR unknown character escape: u
+    //~^^^^ ERROR incorrect unicode escape sequence
 }