diff --git a/src/ex_getln.c b/src/ex_getln.c
index cbddfea..6462b00 100644
--- a/src/ex_getln.c
+++ b/src/ex_getln.c
@@ -1581,6 +1581,7 @@
     int		indent,		// indent for inside conditionals
     int		clear_ccline)	// clear ccline first
 {
+    static int	depth = 0;	    // call depth
     int		c;
     int		i;
     int		j;
@@ -1611,6 +1612,9 @@
     int		cmdline_type;
     int		wild_type;
 
+    // one recursion level deeper
+    ++depth;
+
     if (ccline.cmdbuff != NULL)
     {
 	// Being called recursively.  Since ccline is global, we need to save
@@ -1641,6 +1645,13 @@
     if (init_ccline(firstc, indent) != OK)
 	goto theend;	// out of memory
 
+    if (depth == 50)
+    {
+	// Somehow got into a loop recursively calling getcmdline(), bail out.
+	emsg(_(e_command_too_recursive));
+	goto theend;
+    }
+
     ExpandInit(&xpc);
     ccline.xpc = &xpc;
 
@@ -2576,6 +2587,7 @@
     {
 	char_u *p = ccline.cmdbuff;
 
+	--depth;
 	if (did_save_ccline)
 	    restore_cmdline(&save_ccline);
 	else