diff --git a/doc/ca65.sgml b/doc/ca65.sgml
index ebd6c7135..f3a3c218f 100644
--- a/doc/ca65.sgml
+++ b/doc/ca65.sgml
@@ -2084,7 +2084,11 @@ Here's a list of all control commands and a description, what they do:
 
   This will put the string "Hello world" followed by a binary zero into
   the current segment. There may be more strings separated by commas, but
-  the binary zero is only appended once (after the last one).
+  the binary zero is only appended once (after the last one). Strings will
+  be translated using the current character mapping definition.
+
+See: <tt><ref id=".BYTE" name=".BYTE"></tt>,<tt><ref id=".CHARMAP" name=".CHARMAP"></tt>,
+     <tt><ref id=".LITERAL" name=".LITERAL"></tt>
 
 
 <sect1><tt>.ASSERT</tt><label id=".ASSERT"><p>
@@ -2180,7 +2184,8 @@ Here's a list of all control commands and a description, what they do:
 <sect1><tt>.BYT, .BYTE</tt><label id=".BYTE"><p>
 
   Define byte sized data. Must be followed by a sequence of (byte ranged)
-  expressions or strings.
+  expressions or strings. Strings will be translated using the current
+  character mapping definition.
 
   Example:
 
@@ -2189,6 +2194,9 @@ Here's a list of all control commands and a description, what they do:
         .byt    "world", $0D, $00
   </verb></tscreen>
 
+See: <tt><ref id=".ASCIIZ" name=".ASCIIZ"></tt>,<tt><ref id=".CHARMAP" name=".CHARMAP"></tt>
+     <tt><ref id=".LITERAL" name=".LITERAL"></tt>
+
 
 <sect1><tt>.CASE</tt><label id=".CASE"><p>
 
@@ -2207,8 +2215,10 @@ Here's a list of all control commands and a description, what they do:
 
 <sect1><tt>.CHARMAP</tt><label id=".CHARMAP"><p>
 
-  Apply a custom mapping for characters. The command is followed by two
-  numbers. The first one is the index of the source character (range 0..255);
+  Apply a custom mapping for characters for the commands <tt><ref id=".ASCIIZ"
+  name=".ASCIIZ"></tt> and <tt><ref id=".BYTE" name=".BYTE"></tt>. The command
+  is followed by two numbers. The first one is the index of the source character
+  (range 0..255);
   the second one is the mapping (range 0..255). The mapping applies to all
   character and string constants <em/when/ they generate output; and, overrides
   a mapping table specified with the <tt><ref id="option-t" name="-t"></tt>
@@ -3356,6 +3366,22 @@ Here's a list of all control commands and a description, what they do:
   </verb></tscreen>
 
 
+<sect1><tt>.LITERAL</tt><label id=".LITERAL"><p>
+
+  Define byte sized data. Must be followed by a sequence of (byte ranged)
+  expressions or strings. Strings will disregard the current character
+  mapping definition and will be interpreted literally.
+
+  Example:
+
+  <tscreen><verb>
+        .literal    "Hello "
+        .literal    "world", $0D, $00
+  </verb></tscreen>
+
+See: <tt><ref id=".ASCIIZ" name=".ASCIIZ"></tt>,<tt><ref id=".BYTE" name=".BYTE"></tt>
+
+
 <sect1><tt>.LOBYTES</tt><label id=".LOBYTES"><p>
 
   Define byte sized data by extracting only the low byte (that is, bits 0-7) from
diff --git a/src/ca65/pseudo.c b/src/ca65/pseudo.c
index df0482a5a..7e24d814d 100644
--- a/src/ca65/pseudo.c
+++ b/src/ca65/pseudo.c
@@ -566,8 +566,8 @@ static void DoBss (void)
 
 
 
-static void DoByte (void)
-/* Define bytes */
+static void DoByteBase (int EnableTranslation)
+/* Define bytes or literals */
 {
     /* Element type for the generated array */
     static const char EType[1] = { GT_BYTE };
@@ -579,8 +579,12 @@ static void DoByte (void)
     /* Parse arguments */
     while (1) {
         if (CurTok.Tok == TOK_STRCON) {
-            /* A string, translate into target charset and emit */
-            TgtTranslateStrBuf (&CurTok.SVal);
+            /* A string, translate into target charset
+               if appropriate */
+            if (EnableTranslation) {
+                TgtTranslateStrBuf (&CurTok.SVal);
+            }
+            /* Emit */
             EmitStrBuf (&CurTok.SVal);
             NextTok ();
         } else {
@@ -613,6 +617,14 @@ static void DoByte (void)
 
 
 
+static void DoByte (void)
+/* Define bytes with translation */
+{
+    DoByteBase (1);
+}
+
+
+
 static void DoCase (void)
 /* Switch the IgnoreCase option */
 {
@@ -1415,6 +1427,14 @@ static void DoList (void)
 
 
 
+static void DoLiteral (void)
+/* Define bytes without translation */
+{
+    DoByteBase (0);
+}
+
+
+
 static void DoLoBytes (void)
 /* Define bytes, extracting the lo byte from each expression in the list */
 {
@@ -2103,6 +2123,7 @@ static CtrlDesc CtrlCmdTab [] = {
     { ccNone,           DoLineCont      },
     { ccNone,           DoList          },
     { ccNone,           DoListBytes     },
+    { ccNone,           DoLiteral       },
     { ccNone,           DoUnexpected    },      /* .LOBYTE */
     { ccNone,           DoLoBytes       },
     { ccNone,           DoUnexpected    },      /* .LOCAL */
diff --git a/src/ca65/scanner.c b/src/ca65/scanner.c
index 0452bb368..0a7d433b2 100644
--- a/src/ca65/scanner.c
+++ b/src/ca65/scanner.c
@@ -234,6 +234,7 @@ struct DotKeyword {
     { ".LINECONT",      TOK_LINECONT            },
     { ".LIST",          TOK_LIST                },
     { ".LISTBYTES",     TOK_LISTBYTES           },
+    { ".LITERAL",       TOK_LITERAL             },
     { ".LOBYTE",        TOK_LOBYTE              },
     { ".LOBYTES",       TOK_LOBYTES             },
     { ".LOCAL",         TOK_LOCAL               },
diff --git a/src/ca65/token.h b/src/ca65/token.h
index a94254bfd..02fc8d491 100644
--- a/src/ca65/token.h
+++ b/src/ca65/token.h
@@ -210,6 +210,7 @@ typedef enum token_t {
     TOK_LINECONT,
     TOK_LIST,
     TOK_LISTBYTES,
+    TOK_LITERAL,
     TOK_LOBYTE,
     TOK_LOBYTES,
     TOK_LOCAL,