diff --git a/src/message.c b/src/message.c
index 591691f..bb3517c 100644
--- a/src/message.c
+++ b/src/message.c
@@ -3055,7 +3055,8 @@
     {
 	char_u *tofree = NULL;
 
-	if (maxlen > 0 && STRLEN(p) > (size_t)maxlen)
+	if (maxlen > 0 && vim_strlen_maxlen((char *)p, (size_t)maxlen)
+							     >= (size_t)maxlen)
 	{
 	    tofree = vim_strnsave(p, (size_t)maxlen);
 	    p = tofree;
diff --git a/src/proto/strings.pro b/src/proto/strings.pro
index 50bbf29..6022088 100644
--- a/src/proto/strings.pro
+++ b/src/proto/strings.pro
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 void del_trailing_spaces(char_u *ptr);
 void vim_strncpy(char_u *to, char_u *from, size_t len);
 void vim_strcat(char_u *to, char_u *from, size_t tosize);
+size_t vim_strlen_maxlen(char *s, size_t maxlen);
 int vim_stricmp(char *s1, char *s2);
 int vim_strnicmp(char *s1, char *s2, size_t len);
 char_u *vim_strchr(char_u *string, int c);
diff --git a/src/strings.c b/src/strings.c
index edcae6f..9174265 100644
--- a/src/strings.c
+++ b/src/strings.c
@@ -525,6 +525,19 @@
 	mch_memmove(to + tolen, from, fromlen + 1);
 }
 
+/*
+ * A version of strlen() that has a maximum length.
+ */
+    size_t
+vim_strlen_maxlen(char *s, size_t maxlen)
+{
+    size_t i;
+    for (i = 0; i < maxlen; ++i)
+	if (s[i] == NUL)
+	    break;
+    return i;
+}
+
 #if (!defined(HAVE_STRCASECMP) && !defined(HAVE_STRICMP)) || defined(PROTO)
 /*
  * Compare two strings, ignoring case, using current locale.
@@ -582,7 +595,7 @@
  * 128 to 255 correctly.  It also doesn't return a pointer to the NUL at the
  * end of the string.
  */
-    char_u  *
+    char_u *
 vim_strchr(char_u *string, int c)
 {
     char_u	*p;
diff --git a/src/testdir/test_cmdline.vim b/src/testdir/test_cmdline.vim
index 78f9ba2..91ff6f1 100644
--- a/src/testdir/test_cmdline.vim
+++ b/src/testdir/test_cmdline.vim
@@ -654,6 +654,17 @@
   call assert_fails('call getcompletion("abc", [])', 'E1174:')
 endfunc
 
+func Test_multibyte_expression()
+  " This was using uninitialized memory.
+  let lines =<< trim END
+      set verbose=6
+      norm @=ٷ
+      qall!
+  END
+  call writefile(lines, 'XmultiScript', 'D')
+  call RunVim('', '', '-u NONE -n -e -s -S XmultiScript')
+endfunc
+
 " Test for getcompletion() with "fuzzy" in 'wildoptions'
 func Test_getcompletion_wildoptions()
   let save_wildoptions = &wildoptions
diff --git a/src/version.c b/src/version.c
index 4ccbd53..6e652c6 100644
--- a/src/version.c
+++ b/src/version.c
@@ -696,6 +696,8 @@
 static int included_patches[] =
 {   /* Add new patch number below this line */
 /**/
+    1144,
+/**/
     1143,
 /**/
     1142,